Develop Reference

Getting a console window out of "select mode" to prevent a crash

In my C# application, I am trying to prevent a crash in my application, basically, I am using a Console window as a log display window. I already solved the "Close Button" issue by disabling the close window, and I show/hide the menu with Show and Hide calls, all of that is working just fine.
My final hurtle is if Text Selection is active and the window attempting to be hidden.
I either need to:
A. Kick the window out of select mode. (not sure how I would do this, since selection pauses all output.)
B. Disable the "Edit" menu in the same way I disabled the Close menu, in a hope that it would also disable the mouse selection, but I have yet to find any way to remove the "Edit" menu, and I am not even sure that would prevent mouse selection.
C. This seems the most obvious, disable mouse selection, and this is the one I have currently in my code, but it's not working, so I am not sure what I am missing.
The Code in Question:
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
....
[DllImport("Kernel32.dll", ExactSpelling = true)]
private static extern int SetConsoleMode(IntPtr hWnd, int wFlag);
....
public static void HideConsoleLog () {
if (handle != IntPtr.Zero) {
SetConsoleMode(handle, 0x0080); // ENABLE_EXTENDED_FLAGS 0x0080
ShowWindow(handle, (int)WinCntrlOpt.SW_HIDE);
LogVisible = false;
}
}
According to the Documentation:
ENABLE_EXTENDED_FLAGS 0x0080 Required to enable or disable extended
flags. See ENABLE_INSERT_MODE and ENABLE_QUICK_EDIT_MODE.
And...
ENABLE_QUICK_EDIT_MODE 0x0040 This flag enables the user to use the
mouse to select and edit text.
To enable this mode, use ENABLE_QUICK_EDIT_MODE |
ENABLE_EXTENDED_FLAGS. To disable this mode, use ENABLE_EXTENDED_FLAGS
without this flag.
So, it seems I am doing this correctly, and it does run, but it does not prevent mouse selection. I do know that not to long ago, Microsoft tinkered with Consoles, and I don't know if that's broke this or not.
There is a similar question on stack exchange, but that nether gives a working solution, and is in-fact the reverse to what I am trying to do and in C or C++. I can interpolate, but it's basically what I am already trying here.
It seems to be the same suggestion, use ENABLE_EXTENDED_FLAGS without any other flags to disable the option, and that's what I have. But it doesn't work.
So, I am either scratching at the wrong solution or am not doing something else correctly.
The effect is, while the console window is open, you can use the mouse to select text which automatically puts the console in that "select mode" that Microsoft's tinkering added. That's not a problem, but it's when it's left IN that mode, and you select "Show Log" (a check-marked toggle menu option in the main application window) The console window does indeed hide, but then the main window locks up and the application crashes. (my guess is because the window is blocked by that select mode.) It doesn't crash when the 'select mode' is not active.
I would also like to try this from the same documentation:
ENABLE_MOUSE_INPUT 0x0010 If the mouse pointer is within the borders
of the console window and the window has the keyboard focus, mouse
events generated by mouse movement and button presses are placed in
the input buffer. These events are discarded by ReadFile or
ReadConsole, even when this mode is enabled.
Problem is, it says:
When a console is created, all input modes except ENABLE_WINDOW_INPUT
are enabled by default.
So, how do I disable it?
I am fine with any solution that either kicks it out of select mode, or prevents it to begin with, and I have here what I have tried.

When the "Show Log" menu option is selected, the window is going to minimize.
Before the window minimizes, you have to check whether the user has selected any input to prevent the crash. You can check whether the user is selecting anything by using GetConsoleSelectionInfo.
The CONSOLE_SELECTION_INFO out parameter should be equal to 0x00, and if it's not, you need to process the selection. As the documentation from GetConsoleMode/SetConsoleMode shows, you either need to call ReadFile or ReadConsole to discard the selection event that might be going on.
When you've implemented this, it shouldn't crash anymore.

How to prevent auto closing of soft input panel in UWP?

I am facing an unexpected behavior of Keyboard showing and hiding in UWP app working on tablet with windows 10.
After carefully testing again and again i noticed that this issue comes when you have focus on input box and keyboard is opened for it. Now focusing next input needs layout adjustment so that it should not be hidden by keyboard. When you try to focus next element, by default previously opened keyboard hides and now i'm not able to open keyboard un till this new input box lose focus and manually gain focus again.
So for controlling this issue i want to prevent automatic hide and show of keyboard every time i switch focus to new textbox. It should open keyboard once the page load (already found solution using InputPane) and hiding should only be by clicking cancel (x) button.
Please check this video for clearly understanding the issue.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1c876uwytywio1t/Soft%20Keyboard%20Issue.mp4?dl=0
Please vote this suggestion if anyone else is also facing this issue.
https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/110705-universal-windows-platform/suggestions/34170142-inputpane-does-not-open-when-focus-is-shifted-to-n

This issue has been partially resolved in windows 10 version 1803 released on 30th April, 2018. In this version InputPane does not hide and show again and again when focus is shifted from one input element to other.

You may try to put a horizontal-stretched placeholder control (let say, StackPanel) at the bottom of your page, then let it the same size the on-screen keyboard does. That could prevent uncontrolled auto-hide trigger being fired (at least I did that trick on UWP mobile app):
// on the window initialization, remember the input pane
this._inputPane = InputPane.GetForCurrentView()
// then, subscribe to the events
_inputPane.Showing = (sender, args) =>
{
args.EnsuredFocusedElementInView = true; // skip default vertical-shift behavior
this._placeholderPane.Height = args.OccludedRect.Height;
}
_inputPane.Hiding = (sender, args) =>
{
this._placeholderPane.Height = 0;
}
Hope it helps on the Win10 desktop same way as it was on mobile one.
P.S. Yes, initially the placeholder pane is zero-height and collapsed.

Disabling or removing the close button from uwp app

Universal app does not allow to remove or disable the close button it seems. We can hide it by going full screen. But when moving cursor over it, brings title bar back. Is there any way to remove the close button?
Reason : I am working on screen time. After allowed time gets over, I want to block the screen. I should remove close button so that user cant get over my app.
Edit : Removing close button wont help completely. It is a part of work. I am just asking how to remove it.

In Windows 10 version 1703 (build 10.0.15063) and beyond, you can prevent the app from closing, using the SystemNavigationManagerPreview class.
Add this to your app manifest:
<Capabilities>
<rescap:Capability Name="confirmAppClose" />
</Capabilities
You need to have the rescap namespace at the Package element:
xmlns:rescap="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/foundation/windows10/restrictedcapabilities"
In the constructor of your main form, add:
var sysNavMgr = SystemNavigationManagerPreview.GetForCurrentView();
sysNavMgr.CloseRequested += OnCloseRequested;
OnCloseRequested can be implemented as follows:
private void OnCloseRequested(object sender, SystemNavigationCloseRequestedPreviewEventArgs e)
{
var deferral = e.GetDeferral();
e.Handled = true;
deferral.Complete();
}

With current released API, we are able to customize the color of these three buttons in title bar. But there is no property or method could be used to disable or remove these buttons.
In UWP, we can use ApplicationView.TitleBar | titleBar property to get the title bar like following:
ApplicationViewTitleBar titleBar = Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView().TitleBar;
This property's type is ApplicationViewTitleBar. It only has several properties that can customize the button's color like:
titleBar.ButtonBackgroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonForegroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonHoverBackgroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonHoverForegroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonInactiveBackgroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonInactiveForegroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonPressedBackgroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
titleBar.ButtonPressedForegroundColor = Windows.UI.Colors.White;
Using these properties may make the close button invisible like:
However this won't actually hide these buttons. Users can still minimize or maximize the app and when the pointer is over the top right corner, they will still see the close button.
From Windows 8.1, if we want users to use only an application and do nothing else including closing the application, we can use Kiosk Mode. For more info, please see Enable Kiosk Mode in Windows 8.1 and Set up a kiosk on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education. However this won't meet your requirement as you want to block the screen after allowed time gets over.
So UWP may not be the best choice for your requirement. You may try to implement it with classic desktop apps.

in App.Xaml.cs add this code :
// Collapse Title bar
CoreApplication.GetCurrentView().TitleBar.ExtendViewIntoTitleBar = true;
Window.Current.SetTitleBar(null);
ApplicationView view = ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView();
view.TryEnterFullScreenMode();

C++ Version
// COLLAPSE THE TITLE BAR
Windows::ApplicationModel::Core::CoreApplication::GetCurrentView()->TitleBar->ExtendViewIntoTitleBar = true;
Window::Current->SetTitleBar(nullptr);
Windows::UI::ViewManagement::ApplicationView^ view = Windows::UI::ViewManagement::ApplicationView::GetForCurrentView();
view->TryEnterFullScreenMode();

WPF Window under all other windows after making window visible from being collapsed

I am having some very frustrating issues with my WPF window. The design I was going for is:
When the user minimizes the window it will minimize to a system tray icon (hide the window and icon on start bar). When the user right clicks on the icon, a context menu will show up with options and one of them will say open, which will open the app (show window again / unhide window agian). The user could also double click the icon as well.
Pretty simple right?
I have no issues minimzing to the task bar, I simply do the following on the closing event of the window:
e.Cancel = true;
this.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
However, I am having issues properly restoring the window. I simply do this on the context menu click or icon double click event:
this.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
this.Activate();
The issue is that the window is once again on the start bar with its icon but it is behind every single window the user has open. I want it so when the user goes to open the window it will be the top most window. I do not always want it to be the topmost, just only when they want to make it visible again.
I have tried many things like setting the show activate on the window to true, waiting a second after making it visible to then activate the window, activating the window multiple times (worked a few times but was maybe 1 out of 10 tries), etc..
I don't think showing / hiding a window should be this annoying and I am not really sure what I am doing wrong.
Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Only after posting this did I realize, the application minimizes first before hiding. When I show the window, it was showing as minimized.
After knowing this issue I was able to fix the issue. This may help others who do decide to hide the window after minimizing.
EDIT
Here is the code I used to hide the window (this is called after the event fires for state changed [minimized]):
Application.Current.MainWindow.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
Application.Current.MainWindow.WindowState = WindowState.Normal;
You will notice I set the window state back to normal after I hide it. Even though the window is hidden and not being rendered it will in memory restore the window location / size.
Then when I want to see the window again I just do:
Application.Current.MainWindow.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
Which will show the window just fine!
Hopes this helps someone out there!

Windows +D disabled but not working

I have two windows form MainForm and MinimizedMainForm. I want to disable Windows+D for both the forms. Parent of both forms is a third form FormBase. I have used following code for disabling the Windows+D
private const in GWL_HWNDPARENT =-8
IntPtr hprog = NativeMethods.FindWindowEx(NativeMethods.FindWindowEx(NativeMethods.FindWindow("Progman", "Program Manager"),
IntPtr.Zero, "SHELLDLL_DefView", ""),
IntPtr.Zero, "SysListView32", "FolderView");
NativeMethods.SetWindowLong(this.Handle, GWL_HWNDPARENT, hprog);
Problem I am facing is my MainForm is never getting minimized if I press Win+D.
and for first launch of MinimizedForm if I i press Win+D it doesnt get minimized.
But for second+ time Load of minimizedMainForm if I press Win+D , Form gets minimized. I have added above code on the FormLoad event of both the forms. MinimizedMainForm is opened when i click on panel on MainForm and vice versa. MainForm is the starting form of my project.
What should I do to stop the form from minimizing on 2nd+ loadForm events?

Maybe instead of preventing minimizing of window what can be minimized, you have to create window what can't be minimized instead: MinimizeBox = false ? (it can't be that simple I bet, but i can't write comments, so here comes a solution =D)

Basically Win + D is not for minimizing the windows but for showing desktop. Win+D = Show desktop. So even if your window does not have minimize box, it will get minimized.
Further, when you press Win+D, it is not your application which handles it but it is the windows itself which is handling it so it will never reach to your application at all so it makes no sense if you handle it in your application.
Try finding out some hack where your application is up, you stop windows from processing Win+D key.
There is a key in registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
changing values of hotkeys here will disable the Win+D combination but it is not recommended as you will have to restore it back when you application leaves the focus.
And yes, if you are making a widget, follow the requirements of creating a widget. It will automatically provide you such functionality