AppBar - Windows 7

[jixz]

I'm trying to make a simple appbar on the right side of the screen. I have accomplished this many times before.. but I can't seem to get it working in Windows 7. The placement seems right, and as far as I can tell the messages seem to be in the right order. I have tried both Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None as well as Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.FixedToolWindow. What am I doing wrong?

Public Class Form1

    Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowPos" (ByVal hwnd As IntPtr, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Integer, ByVal x As Integer, ByVal y As Integer, ByVal cx As Integer, ByVal cy As Integer, ByVal wFlags As Integer) As Integer
    Public Declare Auto Function MoveWindow Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, ByVal X As Int32, ByVal Y As Int32, ByVal nWidth As Int32, ByVal nHeight As Int32, ByVal bRepaint As Boolean) As Boolean
    Declare Function SHAppBarMessage Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "SHAppBarMessage" (ByVal dwMessage As Integer, ByRef pData As APPBARDATA) As Integer
    Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Integer, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Integer, ByVal X As Integer, ByVal Y As Integer, ByVal cX As Integer, ByVal cY As Integer, ByVal wFlags As Integer) As Integer

    Structure APPBARDATA
        Dim cbSize As Integer
        Dim hwnd As Integer
        Dim uCallbackMessage As [Delegate]
        Dim uEdge As Integer
        Dim rc As RECT
        Dim lParam As Integer ' message specific
    End Structure
    Structure RECT
        Dim Left As Integer
        Dim Top As Integer
        Dim Right As Integer
        Dim Bottom As Integer
    End Structure

    Const ABE_LEFT As Integer = 0
    Const ABE_TOP As Integer = &H1
    Const ABE_RIGHT As Integer = 2
    Const ABE_BOTTOM As Integer = 3

    Const ABM_NEW As Integer = 0
    Const ABM_REMOVE As Integer = 1
    Const ABM_QUERYPOS As Integer = 2
    Const ABM_SETPOS As Integer = &H3
    Const ABM_GETSTATE As Integer = 4
    Const ABM_GETTASKBARPOS As Integer = 5
    Const ABM_ACTIVATE As Integer = 6
    Const ABM_GETAUTOHIDEBAR As Integer = 7
    Const ABM_SETAUTOHIDEBAR As Integer = 8
    Const ABM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED As Integer = 9

    Const ABS_AUTOHIDE As Integer = 1
    Const ABS_ALWAYSONTOP As Integer = 2

    Const HWND_NOTTOPMOST As Integer = -2
    Const HWND_TOPMOST As Integer = -1
    Const HWND_TOP As Integer = 0
    Const SHOWNORMAL As Integer = 5

    Const SWP_NOSIZE As Integer = &H1
    Const SWP_NOMOVE As Short = &H2
    Const SWP_NOZORDER As Integer = 4
    Const SWP_NOACTIVATE As Integer = &H10
    Const SWP_DRAWFRAME As Integer = &H20
    Const SWP_SHOWWINDOW As Integer = &H40
    Dim abd As APPBARDATA

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Me.TopMost = True
        Me.Size = New Size(150, 350)
        Me.FormBorderStyle = Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.FixedToolWindow

        Dim combinedwidth As Integer = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Width
        Dim height As Integer = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Height
        Dim top As Integer = 0

        SHAppBarMessage(ABM_NEW, abd)
        abd.hwnd = Me.Handle.ToInt32
        abd.cbSize = Len(abd)
        With abd
            .uEdge = ABE_RIGHT
            .rc.Top = top
            .rc.Right = (combinedwidth)
            .rc.Left = .rc.Right - Me.Width
            .rc.Bottom = height

            SHAppBarMessage(ABM_QUERYPOS, abd)
            'abd.rc.Left = abd.rc.Right - Me.Width
            SHAppBarMessage(ABM_SETPOS, abd)
            'MoveWindow(abd.hwnd, .rc.Left, .rc.Top, .rc.Right - .rc.Left, .rc.Bottom, True)
            SetWindowPos(abd.hwnd, HWND_TOP, .rc.Left, .rc.Top, .rc.Right - .rc.Left, .rc.Bottom, SWP_SHOWWINDOW Or SWP_NOACTIVATE)
        End With
    End Sub
End Class

[TT(n)]

I think it's a timing issue. This works for me on Windows 7 Ultimate.

    Const ABE_LEFT As Int32 = 0
    Const ABE_TOP As Int32 = 1
    Const ABE_RIGHT As Int32 = 2
    Const ABE_BOTTOM As Int32 = 3
    Const ABM_NEW As Int32 = 0
    Const ABM_REMOVE As Int32 = 1
    Const ABM_QUERYPOS As Int32 = 2
    Const ABM_SETPOS As Int32 = 3
    Const ABM_GETSTATE As Int32 = 4
    Const ABM_GETTASKBARPOS As Int32 = 5
    Const ABM_ACTIVATE As Int32 = 6
    Const ABM_GETAUTOHIDEBAR As Int32 = 7
    Const ABM_SETAUTOHIDEBAR As Int32 = 8
    Const ABM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED As Int32 = 9
    Const ABS_AUTOHIDE As Int32 = 1
    Const ABS_ALWAYSONTOP As Int32 = 2
    Const HWND_NOTTOPMOST As Int32 = -2
    Const HWND_TOPMOST As Int32 = -1
    Const HWND_TOP As Int32 = 0
    Const SHOWNORMAL As Int32 = 5
    Private Structure APPBARDATA
        Public cbSize As Int32
        Public hwnd As IntPtr
        Public uCallbackMessage As [Delegate]
        Public uEdge As Int32
        Public rc As RECT
        Public lParam As Int32
    End Structure
    Private Structure RECT
        Public rLeft As Int32
        Public rTop As Int32
        Public rRight As Int32
        Public rBottom As Int32
    End Structure
    Private Enum EDGE As Int32
        Left = ABE_LEFT
        Top = ABE_TOP
        Right = ABE_RIGHT
        Bottom = ABE_BOTTOM
    End Enum
    Private Declare Function apiMoveWindow Lib "user32" Alias "MoveWindow" (ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, ByVal X As Int32, ByVal Y As Int32, ByVal nWidth As Int32, ByVal nHeight As Int32, ByVal bRepaint As Boolean) As Boolean
    Private Declare Function apiSHAppBarMessage Lib "shell32" Alias "SHAppBarMessage" (ByVal dwMessage As Int32, ByRef pData As APPBARDATA) As Int32
    Private abd As New APPBARDATA

    Private Sub Form1_MouseDoubleClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles Me.MouseDoubleClick
        Me.Close()
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        DockToEdge(EDGE.Right)
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        DockToEdge(EDGE.Left)
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        DockToEdge(EDGE.Top)
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button4_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button4.Click
        DockToEdge(EDGE.Bottom)
    End Sub

    Private Sub DockToEdge(ByVal edge As Int32)
        On Error Resume Next
        apiSHAppBarMessage(ABM_REMOVE, abd)
        abd = New APPBARDATA
        abd.cbSize = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(abd)
        abd.hwnd = Me.Handle
        abd.uEdge = edge
        If edge = ABE_LEFT OrElse edge = ABE_RIGHT Then
            Me.Height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Height
            Me.Width = 75
            abd.rc.rTop = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Top : abd.rc.rBottom = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Bottom
            If edge = ABE_LEFT Then
                abd.rc.rLeft = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Left
                abd.rc.rRight = abd.rc.rLeft + 75
            Else
                abd.rc.rRight = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Right
                abd.rc.rLeft = abd.rc.rRight - 75
            End If
        ElseIf edge = ABE_TOP OrElse edge = ABE_BOTTOM Then
            Me.Width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Width
            Me.Height = 25
            abd.rc.rLeft = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Left
            abd.rc.rRight = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Right
            If edge = ABE_TOP Then
                abd.rc.rTop = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Top
                abd.rc.rBottom = abd.rc.rTop + 25
            Else
                abd.rc.rBottom = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Bottom
                abd.rc.rTop = abd.rc.rBottom - 25
            End If
        End If
        apiSHAppBarMessage(ABM_NEW, abd)
        apiSHAppBarMessage(ABM_SETPOS, abd)
        Application.DoEvents() 'This seemed to work, although a thread also works
        apiMoveWindow(abd.hwnd, abd.rc.rLeft, abd.rc.rTop, abd.rc.rRight - abd.rc.rLeft, abd.rc.rBottom - abd.rc.rTop, True)
    End Sub

    Private Sub MoveFormOnThread()
        Threading.Thread.Sleep(25)
        apiMoveWindow(abd.hwnd, abd.rc.rLeft, abd.rc.rTop, abd.rc.rRight - abd.rc.rLeft, abd.rc.rBottom - abd.rc.rTop, True)
    End Sub

[dglienna]

Shouldn't be in Form_Load

[TT(n)]

It worked in Form_Load too, but this was just my sample with buttons to be simple. The problem was in the MoveWindow return value. I believe calling this function to early overlaps with the previous call to ABM_SETPOS, and so the work area is not ready yet. Calling ABM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED did not seem to flush anything although DoEvents does, unless you prefer a thread to move it.

Here is a sample with gradient look to it, more like the real taskbar.