Get user attention without stealing focus
Option A: You need to use FlashWindowEx from the windows API. This isn't available in .NET, so you need to use PInvoke.
Option B: Use a balloon tip from the system tray. This is built into .NET, but requires that your application use a notification icon, which you might not want. More details here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.notifyicon.showballoontip.aspx
Here is the example for how to use Option A:
pInvoke.net has the best example: http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32.FlashWindowEx
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
static extern bool FlashWindowEx(ref FLASHWINFO pwfi);
User-Defined Types:
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct FLASHWINFO
{
public UInt32 cbSize;
public IntPtr hwnd;
public UInt32 dwFlags;
public UInt32 uCount;
public UInt32 dwTimeout;
}
Notes:
//Stop flashing. The system restores the window to its original state.
public const UInt32 FLASHW_STOP = 0;
//Flash the window caption.
public const UInt32 FLASHW_CAPTION = 1;
//Flash the taskbar button.
public const UInt32 FLASHW_TRAY = 2;
//Flash both the window caption and taskbar button.
//This is equivalent to setting the FLASHW_CAPTION | FLASHW_TRAY flags.
public const UInt32 FLASHW_ALL = 3;
//Flash continuously, until the FLASHW_STOP flag is set.
public const UInt32 FLASHW_TIMER = 4;
//Flash continuously until the window comes to the foreground.
public const UInt32 FLASHW_TIMERNOFG = 12;
Tips & Tricks:
Please add some!
Sample Code:
/// <summary>
/// Flashes a window
/// </summary>
/// <param name="hWnd">The handle to the window to flash</param>
/// <returns>whether or not the window needed flashing</returns>
public static bool FlashWindowEx(IntPtr hWnd)
{
FLASHWINFO fInfo = new FLASHWINFO();
fInfo.cbSize = Convert.ToUInt32(Marshal.SizeOf(fInfo));
fInfo.hwnd = hWnd;
fInfo.dwFlags = FLASHW_ALL;
fInfo.uCount = UInt32.MaxValue;
fInfo.dwTimeout = 0;
return FlashWindowEx(ref fInfo);
}
...
/// Minor adjust to the code above
/// <summary>
/// Flashes a window until the window comes to the foreground
/// Receives the form that will flash
/// </summary>
/// <param name="hWnd">The handle to the window to flash</param>
/// <returns>whether or not the window needed flashing</returns>
public static bool FlashWindowEx(Form frm)
{
IntPtr hWnd = frm.Handle;
FLASHWINFO fInfo = new FLASHWINFO();
fInfo.cbSize = Convert.ToUInt32(Marshal.SizeOf(fInfo));
fInfo.hwnd = hWnd;
fInfo.dwFlags = FLASHW_ALL | FLASHW_TIMERNOFG;
fInfo.uCount = UInt32.MaxValue;
fInfo.dwTimeout = 0;
return FlashWindowEx(ref fInfo);
}
Here is the official Microsoft example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms679347(v=vs.85).aspx
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool FlashWindowEx(ref FLASHWINFO pwfi);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct FLASHWINFO
{
/// <summary>
/// The size of the structure in bytes.
/// </summary>
public uint cbSize;
/// <summary>
/// A Handle to the Window to be Flashed. The window can be either opened or minimized.
/// </summary>
public IntPtr hwnd;
/// <summary>
/// The Flash Status.
/// </summary>
public FlashWindowFlags dwFlags; //uint
/// <summary>
/// The number of times to Flash the window.
/// </summary>
public uint uCount;
/// <summary>
/// The rate at which the Window is to be flashed, in milliseconds. If Zero, the function uses the default cursor blink rate.
/// </summary>
public uint dwTimeout;
}
public enum FlashWindowFlags : uint
{
/// <summary>
/// Stop flashing. The system restores the window to its original state.
/// </summary>
FLASHW_STOP = 0,
/// <summary>
/// Flash the window caption.
/// </summary>
FLASHW_CAPTION = 1,
/// <summary>
/// Flash the taskbar button.
/// </summary>
FLASHW_TRAY = 2,
/// <summary>
/// Flash both the window caption and taskbar button.
/// This is equivalent to setting the FLASHW_CAPTION | FLASHW_TRAY flags.
/// </summary>
FLASHW_ALL = 3,
/// <summary>
/// Flash continuously, until the FLASHW_STOP flag is set.
/// </summary>
FLASHW_TIMER = 4,
/// <summary>
/// Flash continuously until the window comes to the foreground.
/// </summary>
FLASHW_TIMERNOFG = 12
}
public static bool FlashWindow(IntPtr hWnd,
FlashWindowFlags fOptions,
uint FlashCount,
uint FlashRate)
{
if(IntPtr.Zero != hWnd)
{
FLASHWINFO fi = new FLASHWINFO();
fi.cbSize = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FLASHWINFO));
fi.dwFlags = fOptions;
fi.uCount = FlashCount;
fi.dwTimeout = FlashRate;
fi.hwnd = hWnd;
return FlashWindowEx(ref fi);
}
return false;
}
public static bool StopFlashingWindow(IntPtr hWnd)
{
if(IntPtr.Zero != hWnd)
{
FLASHWINFO fi = new FLASHWINFO();
fi.cbSize = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FLASHWINFO));
fi.dwFlags = (uint)FlashWindowFlags.FLASHW_STOP;
fi.hwnd = hWnd;
return FlashWindowEx(ref fi);
}
return false;
}
In Windows 7, a progress bar on a form is represented in its taskbar button; you might leverage that. There's also got to be a way to simply highlight the taskbar button, like IM programs do when you get a new message.