Setting HWND handle to a .NET Windows form

[MrBean]

My .NET form need the HWND handle because it's an child form within another application.

[Serge Lobko Lobanovsky]

are you talking about MDI children? Regards, Serge (Logic Software)

[MrBean]

If you are not able to help, please do not post relys or irrelevant questions in this thread - thank you !

[Duncan Edwards Jones]

System.Windows.Forms.Form.Handle Property Value An IntPtr that contains the window handle (HWND) of the control. (or form) '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd

[MrBean]

Yes... but that's a READ-ONLY property !

[Serge Lobko Lobanovsky]

MrBean wrote: If you are not able to help, please do not post relys or irrelevant questions man, i AM trying to figure out what you wanna accomplish. sorry if i bothered u with my "irrelevant" questions. if you want a .NET form to set its Owner to a not .NET form - the answer is you can't. if you want a .NET form to become an MDI child of a .NET form - the answer is tou can't. what i was trying to understand is for what purpose you need it so that i can judge if it is at least possible. you need to provide more info. Regards, Serge (Logic Software)

[Duncan Edwards Jones]

Yes - well, the window handle is assigned by the operating system when the window is created. '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd

[MrBean]

Dude, please read my question again... I want to set the *parent* handle. Not read the Window handle of my form...

[MrBean]

So in short (regardless if it's a MDI child or not)... I can't ;( I think I have given enough info... but can can try to write it different :) I'm making a .NET DLL which contains a single Windows Form. This form is used by an VB6 based application thru COM. The VB6-based application then use my DLL/form by calling a few standard methods and setting the form size, parent handle and such. It's the application way of supporting plug-ins. The plug-ins are shown as kind of controls on a form but not as a MDI form or ActiveX control - it's a kind of embedded form. This works today but only with VB6 DLLs (COM) and VB6 forms. So I basicly need to make a plug-in for the application but this time in .NET...

[Serge Lobko Lobanovsky]

Ok, now I see your problem. I am afraid you won't be able to implement it this way because of the different nature of forms in .NET and VB6. One solution that I can think of now is to implement your plugin DLL without a form, and create another DLL in Vb6 that will consume your plugin DLL methods, while providing a form for your application to show it as usual. hope that makes some sense :) Regards, Serge (Logic Software)

[Duncan Edwards Jones]

Then you will need the SetParent API call...and pass it the handle you get as per the earlier post. '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd

[MrBean]

I have tried the SetParent API function but without luck ;( The form is created but the parent-child relationship is not set somehow. Both this... m_MyForm = new MyForm SetParent(m_MyForm.Handle.ToInt32, m_ParentHandle) m_MyForm.Show() ...and... m_MyForm = new MyForm m_MyForm.Show() SetParent(m_MyForm.Handle.ToInt32, m_ParentHandle) ...doesn't work... something else I need to call or set ?

[James Simpson]

Have I got this correct: HWND passed into .NET Object to be displayed as a child of a .NET form in the DLL? Look into NativeWindow.FromHandle or Control.FromHandle. This should give you a .NET object from the handle and expose some more functionality. If you just want to display the HWND as a child of a Form created in .NET you can use a windows UI function from User32, SetWindowParent will be able to reparent the child form as a child of your .NET form. J James Simpson Web Developer imebgo@hotmail.com P S - This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated
Mitch Hedberg