how can I show or minimize an external program running in the taskbar from my vb.net application?

Question

_{Monday, August 20, 2012 9:22 PM}

I want my application to show and focus between the  applications in the taskbar, how can I?

i'm using vb.net on visual studio 2010.

All replies (4)

_{Monday, August 20, 2012 11:54 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

try this. it uses notepad, but it'll work for any windows app:

Public Class Form1

    Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32.dll" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As IntPtr
    Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As IntPtr, ByVal nCmdShow As Integer) As Integer
    Private Const SW_SHOWNORMAL As Integer = 1
    Private Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED As Integer = 2

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim iHwnd As IntPtr = FindWindow("notepad", vbNullString)
        ShowWindow(iHwnd, SW_SHOWMINIMIZED)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Dim iHwnd As IntPtr = FindWindow("notepad", vbNullString)
        ShowWindow(iHwnd, SW_SHOWNORMAL)
    End Sub

End Class

thanks for any help

---

_{Wednesday, August 22, 2012 7:02 PM ✅Answered}

thank you mr.Mr. Monkeyboy for your time

thank you mr. paul, that is my answer, but i have one more question please

ByVal lpClassName As String

how can I know the lpClassName for the window that I want to find???

any ideas will be very aprecciated :)

try this instead:

Dim iHwnd As IntPtr = FindWindow(vbNullString, "window title text here")

thanks for any help

---

_{Monday, August 20, 2012 11:25 PM | 1 vote}

This is the closest I could find but it's not what you're looking for

http://www.thescarms.com/vbasic/ShowWindow.aspx

You've taught me everything I know but not everything you know.

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_{Wednesday, August 22, 2012 6:22 PM}

thank you mr.Mr. Monkeyboy for your time

thank you mr. paul, that is my answer, but i have one more question please

ByVal lpClassName As String

how can I know the lpClassName for the window that I want to find???

any ideas will be very aprecciated :)