Version 17 of always on top

[the question of how an application can force some part of itself as the top level window is a FAQ]

Could someone please write something here about the topic?

ptk*

Win32

The API function needed is (see also [L1 ]):

  SetWindowPos(HWND hWnd,       // handle to window
               HWND hWndAfter,  // placement order handle
               int x, int y,    // position (horizontal, vertical)
               int cx, int cy,  // size (width, height) 
               UINT uFlags)     // positioning flags

The placement order handle can be either another HWND or once of the following constants:

HWND_BOTTOM (1) Moves to the bottom
HWND_NOTOPMOST (-2) Place above all non-topmost windows.
HWND_TOP (0) Move to the top
HWND_TOPMOST (-1) Move to the top and keep it there.

The Flags can be one of a number but for this page probably SWP_NOMOVE (2) and SWP_NOSIZE (1) are likely the most useful. So:

  SetWindowPos([winfo id .], HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE)

which turns out to be the code used by XRaiseWindow in win/tkWinWindow.c

Melissa Schrumpf recommends the GPLed WinCtl [L2 ] utility, which makes it possible to write

    exec WinCtlW.exe -id [wm frame .] topmost &

(or might there be more punctuation in the vicinity of the id?).

Martin Lemburg - 25th February 2002, 13:16 GMT

I found the original topmost package made by John Rosauer in 12.1997. It works only with tcl/tk v.8.0.

The URL is: ftp://ftp.dcade.de/pub/ml/tcl/packages/topmost10.zip [L3 ]

I created a stubs enabled topmost package, usable with tcl/tk 8.1.1 and higher.

The URL is:

ftp://ftp.dcade.de/pub/ml/tcl/packages/topmost20.zip [L4 ]

Usage:

   package require topmost 2.0;

   topmost widget ?boolean?

Much fun!

Martin Lemburg