ALT + TAB problem in MDI Application

[Susrivastava]

Hi.

I first posted this on Windows Vista forum. From there I was redirected to
Windows - XP forum. And from there I am being redirected to C# forum. So just
hoping that this time round somebody responds to this question instead of
again redirecting me to some other forum.

I am working on WinXP. I have a C#.NET(2.0) Windows application developed on
..NET
2005. The application is an MDI application, having an UltraMDITabbedManager
control from Infragistics, which controls the child windows in form of tabs.
Apart from these tabs, there are some dialogs which appear on user actions.
Some of these are modal, whereas others are modal-less. Now the problem which
occurs is that whenever a child form is invoked, and the user does an ALT+TAB
to move to some other open window(eg. an Internet Explorer window), and then
returns back to the application using ALT+TAB, then instead of the whole
application being displayed, only the outer child window appears, and that
too on the other application (Internet Explorer window as an example in my
case).

I have tried making the MDIContainer form as the Owner of the child window.
I have tried making the invoking tab as the Owner of the child window.
I have also tried setting the TopMost property of the child window to false.

But still I am not able to get this issue resolved. And this is happening in
case of both modal as well as modal-less child windows. Please suggest what
is it that I am missing?

 

[Leon]

Hi.

I first posted this on Windows Vista forum. From there I was redirected to
Windows - XP forum. And from there I am being redirected to C# forum. So just
hoping that this time round somebody responds to this question instead of
again redirecting me to some other forum.

I am working on WinXP. I have a C#.NET(2.0) Windows application developed on
.NET
2005. The application is an MDI application, having an UltraMDITabbedManager
control from Infragistics, which controls the child windows in form of tabs.
Apart from these tabs, there are some dialogs which appear on user actions.
Some of these are modal, whereas others are modal-less. Now the problem which
occurs is that whenever a child form is invoked, and the user does an ALT+TAB
to move to some other open window(eg. an Internet Explorer window), and then
returns back to the application using ALT+TAB, then instead of the whole
application being displayed, only the outer child window appears, and that
too on the other application (Internet Explorer window as an example in my
case).

I have tried making the MDIContainer form as the Owner of the child window.
I have tried making the invoking tab as the Owner of the child window.
I have also tried setting the TopMost property of the child window to false.

But still I am not able to get this issue resolved. And this is happening in
case of both modal as well as modal-less child windows. Please suggest what
is it that I am missing?

I *do* hope you ment Ctrl+Tab and not alt+Tab (which is switch
application)

If you ment _CTRL+TAB_.. i've never had any problems with the
infragistics controls on that part.

..L.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I *do* hope you ment Ctrl+Tab and not alt+Tab (which is switch
application)

According to his post, it looks like Alt+Tab is EXACTLY what he's talking
about:

 

[Leon]

According to his post, it looks like Alt+Tab is EXACTLY what he's talking
about:

Yeah - that's why I asked ...

 

[Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]]

Hi.

I first posted this on Windows Vista forum. From there I was redirected to
Windows - XP forum. And from there I am being redirected to C# forum. So
just
hoping that this time round somebody responds to this question instead of
again redirecting me to some other forum.

Sorry to disappoint you, but you really are better off asking this on an
Infragistics forum. Almost all Infragistics users use C# and WinXP at least
part of the time, most C# programmers never use Infragistics.

 

[Susrivastava]

Hi Ben,

Infragistics might not be able to answer it as I think this is something
related to the Windows behavior which MS can answer better. This similar
problem might replicate in other apps which don't use Infragistics controls.
It would be great if someone who has faced such a problem comes up with a
reply for this question.

 

[Susrivastava]

Yeah Leon.. I asked about ALT+TAB and not CTRL+TAB since the problematic
behavior is outside my application.

 

[jp2msft]

Hi Susrivastava,

It looks like Leon (above) has had success with ALT+TAB in Infragistics (I
personally don't know what it is).

I'd suggest creating a small sample application that does this (MDI Parent,
2 Child Forms with no controls on them). See if this same behavior happens on
your sample application. If the sample application gives you the same
problems, you could zip the code up for that and offer it for someone else
with Infragistics (like Leon) to review.

Hope that helps!
~Joe

 

[Susrivastava]

Hi jp2msft

I tried on a sample application. I created an MDI application having one
MDIParent form. Placed the UltraMDITabbedManager on it, and added 2 forms as
tabs(like being done in my application). I also created a new form, which I
display on the click of a button on one of the forms. But to my dismay, the
problem did not replicate on this sample application. I am not sure what else
can I do to replicate it.