Show a GUI only when another Window is Active... Topic is solved

[fenchai]

...BUT also keep it active if GUI is active.

I have been trying to do this a long time ago.

Code: Select all

Window_Focuser:
	IfWinNotActive, ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
		WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, Off, EVO_WIN
		WinSet, Bottom,, EVO_WIN
		else,
		WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, On, EVO_WIN
		return

This is what I have come up with. The problem is that I also need the GUI to be clickable. After I click it, it just becomes unstable, it disappears or gets lost and after a while, it gets back on. The GUI is also meant to be an active window, it has dropdownlists to choose, etc.

[Hellbent]

Have you tried setting the window as the owner of your gui?

[fenchai]

Have you tried setting the window as the owner of your gui?

Does +Owner work for GUI and 3rd party Window? I think its only for GUIs

[Hellbent]

Does +Owner work for GUI and 3rd party Window? I think its only for GUIs

Yeah it works.

[fenchai]

thankyou that worked! I didn't know O.O

[Hellbent]

thankyou that worked! I didn't know O.O

You can set another window as the parent too, but caution is needed with that.

[fenchai]

thankyou that worked! I didn't know O.O

You can set another window as the parent too, but caution is needed with that.

what do you mean with caution? like be careful or is it another code?

Also sorry to bother but everything works BUT when I activate main window, the GUI does not get activated. (it stays at bottom) but I think owner+ works because minimizing and restoring main window will do the same for the GUI.

[Hellbent]

what do you mean with caution? like be careful or is it another code?

By caution I mean that the gui will only exist in the client area of the parent so if you were to try to move the gui out of the way off the window it will be lost in limbo, also while playing around with this a while ago I found that position of the gui can cause it to not show up at all, there are a few other things that I saw as well but can't recall them all, testing will reveal if it is a good fit.

Also sorry to bother but everything works BUT when I activate main window, the GUI does not get activated. (it stays at bottom) but I think owner+ works because minimizing and restoring main window will do the same for the GUI.

I have only ever played around with this so I don't know all the ins and outs, but are you minimizing the gui its self? Because I think that it should pop up the gui otherwise, like I said though, I've only played around with doing it and haven't used it in a project yet so there could be things that I'm out of the loop on. There are work around hacks if needed though.

[fenchai]

That's not good. because I am looping it every 3 seconds to follow the main window (by moving the GUI) so far it's working and it's not sending the GUI into limbo.

Also nope, I never minimize or restore the GUI. Since it is on +owner mode, whenever I minimize the main window (which I often do not do), it minimizes the gui and if I restore main window, it will restore GUI also. But it is very strange that GUI does not pop. Gui has no settings other than +toolwindow and -caption. the GUI is always besides the main window (by my moving looping code from above ☝) but when I open say notepad.exe it covers the gui even when main window is active.

[Hellbent]

That's not good. because I am looping it every 3 seconds to follow the main window (by moving the GUI) so far it's working and it's not sending the GUI into limbo.

Are you talking about doing that with the window as the parent of your gui?
If you are, then you don't need to do anything like that, the gui will follow the window on it's own, it's part of the window.

[fenchai]

That's not good. because I am looping it every 3 seconds to follow the main window (by moving the GUI) so far it's working and it's not sending the GUI into limbo.

Are you talking about doing that with the window as the parent of your gui?
If you are, then you don't need to do anything like that, the gui will follow the window on it's own, it's part of the window.

I tried that and it didn't work. The GUI stays at the center of the screen and in the background like bottom of every other window. also looks like owner+ does not work because GUI does not respond to parent minimize or restore actions.

The code below works well but has some problems...

• GUI getting covered by other windows even when parent is active window.

• When reactivating the Parent Window GUI will not show because of the problem above.

• Looks like GUI is not able to be an active window unless activated. This is what is causing the above problems
  • • Looks like Right-Clicking the GUI script Tray makes the GUI Activate to solve above problem
    Apart from that everything works!
    

    Code: Select all

    #NoEnv
    SetBatchLines, -1
    SendMode Input
    SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
    #SingleInstance, force
    
    ; builds menu
    Menu, Tray, NoStandard
    Menu, Tray, Icon, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\EVOLUTIO_0000.ico
    Menu, Tray, Add, About, About_B
    Menu, Tray, Add
    Menu, Tray, Add, Reload_B
    Menu, Tray, Add
    Menu, Tray, Add, Exit, Exit_B
    
    ;default variables
    EVOLUTIO_width := 1028 ; width of parent
    EVOLUTIO_height := 794 ; height of parent
    
    IfWinExist ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    	SetTimer, ExitAppIfEVOLUTIOisOff, 150 ; exits app if parent window does not exist
    	SetTimer, FocusListadeClientes, 150 ; this is something that has nothing to do with the problem please omit
    	SetTimer, Window_coordChecker, 500 ; this checks parent coords and other stuff.
    	SetTimer, Window_coordSnapper, 150 ;this checks and compares old parent coords with new parent codes, if they aren't equal, it moves the gui.
    	gosub, Initiate_Gui
    
    return
    
    Window_coordChecker:
    	WinGetPos, xpos, ypos,xw,yw,ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    	old_xpos := xpos
    	old_ypos := ypos
    	old_xw := xw
    	old_yw := yw
    	return
    
    Window_coordSnapper:
    	WinGetPos, xpos, ypos,xw,yw,ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    	If (xw != EVOLUTIO_width) & (yw != EVOLUTIO_height)
    	{
    		return ; stop condition
    	} 
    	else if (old_xpos != xpos) || (old_ypos != ypos) 
    	{
    			;~ ToolTip, %xw% and %yw%
    			moveX := xpos+1030
    			moveY := ypos+0
    			WinMove, EVO_WIN,,%moveX%,%moveY%
    			;~ ToolTip
    		} return
    
    ExitAppIfEVOLUTIOisOff:
    	IfWinNotExist ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    		ExitApp
    		return
    
    FocusListadeClientes:
    	IfWinActive, Lista de clientes
    	{
    		Send, {Tab}
    		WinWaitClose, Lista de clientes
    	} else{
    		return
    	} return
    
    Initiate_Gui:
    
    		Gui, 1: margin, 5,5
    		Gui, 1: +ToolWindow -Caption ;-SysMenu 
    		Gui, 1: font, cblack s13 bold
    		Gui, 1: Color, silver ;1A6DAE
    		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gAYUDA, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\Seller.png
    		Gui, 1: Add, DropDownList, y+1 w60 vSellerChoice Choose1, 1|11|12|13|2|22|23|33
    		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gDESCUENTO, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\discount.png
    		Gui, 1: Add, DropDownList, y+1 w60 vDiscountChoice Choose2, 10|20|25|other
    		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gFACTURAR, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\print.png
    		Gui, 1: +Owner EVOLUTIO.exe
    		
    		Gui, 1: Show, NoActivate AutoSize, EVO_WIN
    		
    return

    The rest of the script are labels so nothing important.

[Hellbent]

That's not good. because I am looping it every 3 seconds to follow the main window (by moving the GUI) so far it's working and it's not sending the GUI into limbo.

Are you talking about doing that with the window as the parent of your gui?
If you are, then you don't need to do anything like that, the gui will follow the window on it's own, it's part of the window.

I tried that and it didn't work. The GUI stays at the center of the screen and in the background like bottom of every other window. also looks like owner+ does not work because GUI does not respond to parent minimize or restore actions.

The code below works well but has some problems...

• GUI getting covered by other windows even when parent is active window.

• When reactivating the Parent Window GUI will not show because of the problem above.

• Looks like GUI is not able to be an active window unless activated. This is what is causing the above problems
  • • Looks like Right-Clicking the GUI script Tray makes the GUI Activate to solve above problem
    Apart from that everything works!
    

    Code: Select all

    #NoEnv
    SetBatchLines, -1
    SendMode Input
    SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
    #SingleInstance, force
    
    ; builds menu
    Menu, Tray, NoStandard
    Menu, Tray, Icon, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\EVOLUTIO_0000.ico
    Menu, Tray, Add, About, About_B
    Menu, Tray, Add
    Menu, Tray, Add, Reload_B
    Menu, Tray, Add
    Menu, Tray, Add, Exit, Exit_B
    
    ;default variables
    EVOLUTIO_width := 1028 ; width of parent
    EVOLUTIO_height := 794 ; height of parent
    
    IfWinExist ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    	SetTimer, ExitAppIfEVOLUTIOisOff, 150 ; exits app if parent window does not exist
    	SetTimer, FocusListadeClientes, 150 ; this is something that has nothing to do with the problem please omit
    	SetTimer, Window_coordChecker, 500 ; this checks parent coords and other stuff.
    	SetTimer, Window_coordSnapper, 150 ;this checks and compares old parent coords with new parent codes, if they aren't equal, it moves the gui.
    	gosub, Initiate_Gui
    
    return
    
    Window_coordChecker:
    	WinGetPos, xpos, ypos,xw,yw,ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    	old_xpos := xpos
    	old_ypos := ypos
    	old_xw := xw
    	old_yw := yw
    	return
    
    Window_coordSnapper:
    	WinGetPos, xpos, ypos,xw,yw,ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    	If (xw != EVOLUTIO_width) & (yw != EVOLUTIO_height)
    	{
    		return ; stop condition
    	} 
    	else if (old_xpos != xpos) || (old_ypos != ypos) 
    	{
    			;~ ToolTip, %xw% and %yw%
    			moveX := xpos+1030
    			moveY := ypos+0
    			WinMove, EVO_WIN,,%moveX%,%moveY%
    			;~ ToolTip
    		} return
    
    ExitAppIfEVOLUTIOisOff:
    	IfWinNotExist ahk_exe EVOLUTIO.exe
    		ExitApp
    		return
    
    FocusListadeClientes:
    	IfWinActive, Lista de clientes
    	{
    		Send, {Tab}
    		WinWaitClose, Lista de clientes
    	} else{
    		return
    	} return
    
    Initiate_Gui:
    
    		Gui, 1: margin, 5,5
    		Gui, 1: +ToolWindow -Caption ;-SysMenu 
    		Gui, 1: font, cblack s13 bold
    		Gui, 1: Color, silver ;1A6DAE
    		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gAYUDA, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\Seller.png
    		Gui, 1: Add, DropDownList, y+1 w60 vSellerChoice Choose1, 1|11|12|13|2|22|23|33
    		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gDESCUENTO, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\discount.png
    		Gui, 1: Add, DropDownList, y+1 w60 vDiscountChoice Choose2, 10|20|25|other
    		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gFACTURAR, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\print.png
    		Gui, 1: +Owner EVOLUTIO.exe
    		
    		Gui, 1: Show, NoActivate AutoSize, EVO_WIN
    		
    return

    The rest of the script are labels so nothing important.

This won't work

Code: Select all

Gui, 1: +Owner EVOLUTIO.exe

You need to get the handle of the window you want to set as the owner.

You can do that with this

Code: Select all

The_Hwnd := WinActive()  ; you need to fill in the windows title or some other related info. See link below

https://autohotkey.com/docs/commands/WinActive.htm

Once you have the handle you use that to set the window as the owner of your gui

Code: Select all

Gui, 1: +Owner%The_Hwnd%

[fenchai]

Does +Owner need to be before or after Showing GUI? anyways I tested both before and after.

there is an error that no parent or owner exists

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, force 

	The_Hwnd := WinActive("ahk_class Notepad")
	
		Gui, 1: margin, 5,5
		;~ Gui, 1: +ToolWindow -Caption ;-SysMenu 
		Gui, 1: font, cblack s13 bold
		Gui, 1: Color, silver ;1A6DAE
		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gnull, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\Seller.png
		Gui, 1: Add, DropDownList, y+1 w60 vSellerChoice Choose1, 1|11|12|13|2|22|23|33
		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gnull, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\discount.png
		Gui, 1: Add, DropDownList, y+1 w60 vDiscountChoice Choose2, 10|20|25|other
		Gui, 1: Add, Picture, y+10 w50 h-1 gnull, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Google Drive\AHK\R-EVOLUTIO\print.png
		Gui, 1: +Owner%The_Hwnd%
		Gui, 1: Show, NoActivate AutoSize, EVO_WIN


return

null:
return

[Hellbent]

Here this should fix it.

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force

IfWinNotExist, ahk_class Notepad
{
	msgbox, The window doesn't exist`nThe script will now exit
	ExitApp
}
WinGet, The_Hwnd , ID, ahk_class Notepad
Gui,1: +Owner%The_Hwnd%
Gui,1:Show,w300 h100, test

return
GuiClose:
	ExitApp
	

[fenchai]

Here this should fix it.

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force

IfWinNotExist, ahk_class Notepad
{
	msgbox, The window doesn't exist`nThe script will now exit
	ExitApp
}
WinGet, The_Hwnd , ID, ahk_class Notepad
Gui,1: +Owner%The_Hwnd%
Gui,1:Show,w300 h100, test

return
GuiClose:
	ExitApp
	

Wow that worked, the GUI now pops when Parent window is on and also stays on top of the parent window. that's great! this solved my issue with my older script!

But I don't understand why you say that with this +owner, I don't need to make the GUI move in a loop. I mean this +Owner setting only works for copying minimize and restore from Parent window right? since the GUI stays in the center and does not move when the parent is moving.

by the loop, what it does is that it moves the GUI to the top right side of the parent and IF parent changes position, then GUI moves.

[Hellbent]

But I don't understand why you say that with this +owner, I don't need to make the GUI move in a loop. I mean this +Owner setting only works for copying minimize and restore from Parent window right? since the GUI stays in the center and does not move when the parent is moving.

I said parent
Parent != Owner

here is a example of setting " Scite4AutoHotkey " as the parent.

You can do this with notepad but the result is not desired as the edit field covers the gui.

Try using this on different windows and see what you get.

Code: Select all

#SingleInstance, Force

WinGet, TargetHwnd , ID , ahk_class SciTEWindow
Gui, 1: +HwndGuiHwnd
Gui, 1: Color, 222222

DllCall( "SetParent" , "uint" , GuiHwnd , "uint" , TargetHwnd )

Gui,1:Show, w300 h100, test
return
GuiClose:
*^ESC::
	ExitApp
	

[fenchai]

I think "uint" is supposed to be "unit"? (if left unchanged nothing happens) after I changed that the GUI shows but it's just a normal GUI, does not react to scite minimizing or restoring or moving. It's just a normal GUI

[gregster]

I don't think so... Uint stands for unsigned integer: https://autohotkey.com/docs/commands/DllCall.htm#unsigned
But Unit is no valid type: https://autohotkey.com/docs/commands/DllCall.htm#types

[Hellbent]

I think "uint" is supposed to be "unit"? (if left unchanged nothing happens) after I changed that the GUI shows but it's just a normal GUI, does not react to scite minimizing or restoring or moving. It's just a normal GUI

uint means unsigned integer, something that you don't normally have to worry about when using ahk.