"Overlay Form"

[ManniAT]

Hi,

is it possible (C#) to display a small window (somekind of a modeless dialog) on top of all other running programms.
Let me explain what I want to do:
I control an application - running in the foreground.
My app is in the background.
Sometimes I have the need to inform the user about special circumstands.
BUT - I should not interrupt him totaly - because I don't know if he is willing to switch to my app a the very momet.
So what I want are two things:
A.) inform him about the situation at the very moment - and remove the icon if the situation has changed
B.) inform him that my app needs interaction - when he clicks my "Icon-Window" I will bring my app to the foreground

An Icon in the titlebar or so is not possible for two reasons:
a.) the foreground app runs in fullscreen (not Titlebar - no Menubar)
b.) the user should be able to hit the "Icon" with the finger

So what I need is somekind of a "big icon" (32x32 or something like that) which displays on top of the other app.
This "icon" should notify me if the user "clicks" it.

My first idea was to have somekind of a 32x32 sized "Topmost-window" - but how to make such a thing?
A "MessageBox" is not suitable since the user should still be able to interact with the other application ----
----and that without loosing my "Icon".

Thanks in advance

Manfred

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

What platform are you running on? if it's Pocket PC then the bubble
notification control may be suitable as you can indicate your status on the
titlebar and offer a pop-up bubble with more detail which can still be
dismissed by the user. See OpenNETCF.WindowsCE.Forms.Notification -
www.opennetcf.org/sdf/ (or Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.Notification in .NETCF
v2.0)

Peter

 

[ManniAT]

Hi Peter,

I was also messing around with that.
The interop is pretty simple -- my only problem - I found no way to get an image in there.
But that does not matter - there are other problems.

A problem is that the user should not be able to close it (my app will do it if the response is done).
And I'm not very shure if this thing is systemmodal.

But the most common problem is the placement of it - it displays somewhere in the top middle of the screen.
Since there is data from the other app - it disturbs the user.

There is an app (PocketNav) - some kind of a task switcher - which displays icons over existing apps.
Allthough these icons are to small for my use I think (hope) there is a way that this can be done with other graphics also.

Thanks for the tip

Manfred

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

You can create a non-fullscreen form by setting the FormBorderStyle property
to None and set your size and position properties for the form as required.
If you want this form to remain top-most you'll need to do a little bit of
P/Invoke:-
http://www.peterfoot.net/CreateATopMostForm.aspx

Peter

 

[ManniAT]

Hi Peter,

setting the border to none seems to be the thing I'v been searching for.

Thank's for the information

Manfred