Vista - How do I make floating windows outside of my application?

Hello. In Expression Interactive Designer you can detach tool windows from
the docked area and put them outside of the application on your desktop if
you want. Or in certain programs like Outlook there is a little
popup/notification window in the bottom right of the screen when you recieve
a new email. How is this possible to do in WinFX/XAML? Is the markup for
these detached windows contained in the XAML for the main scene or is the
code in a seperate XAML file (scene) that is spawned by the main program? My
best guess is that it is a seperate window since any markup in the main xaml
would be a child of the main window and contained only inside of it?

Thank you,
Michael

Yes, you can easily create a custom control to do it because we don't have a
stock dockable window control. Check out the TearOffPanel control in the
SdkViewer application sample to get you started. It's in the Windows SDK.

For the window animations and transparency, use the new
HwndSourceParameters.UsesPerPixelOpacity that made it into the February CTP.
It goes something like this:

HwndSourceParameters param = new HwndSourceParameters("Toast",
0, 0);
param.UsesPerPixelOpacity = true;
param.ExtendedWindowStyle = WS_EX_TOPMOST | WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW;

HwndSource source = new HwndSource(param);
source.RootVisual = new Button();

ShowWindow(source.Handle, SW_SHOW);

More info about HwndSource at http://blogs.msdn.com/nickkramer/atom.aspx



"Michael Sheakoski" <MichaelSheakoski@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:363D5B71-8F1A-4666-BC5F-E91CB02D5C6A@microsoft.com...
> Hello. In Expression Interactive Designer you can detach tool windows
> from
> the docked area and put them outside of the application on your desktop if
> you want. Or in certain programs like Outlook there is a little
> popup/notification window in the bottom right of the screen when you
> recieve
> a new email. How is this possible to do in WinFX/XAML? Is the markup for
> these detached windows contained in the XAML for the main scene or is the
> code in a seperate XAML file (scene) that is spawned by the main program?
> My
> best guess is that it is a seperate window since any markup in the main
> xaml
> would be a child of the main window and contained only inside of it?
>
> Thank you,
> Michael

I use the same code you mentioned to make a transparent splash screen the
only stuff I can't work out is that the "HwndSource source" appears in the
taskbar

If I look in the documentation for CreateWindowEx() for the WS_EX_XXXX flags
it seems that the WS_EX_APPWINDOW is setted inside of the HwndSource()
constructor. This is what I don't want for a splash screen I created with WPF

The rest of your very helpfull sample is very nice for creating a smart
splash screen with WPF !!!

Instead of a button I use a Page for assign to RootVisual

--
Mfg Stefc


"Dennis Cheng [MSFT]" wrote:

> Yes, you can easily create a custom control to do it because we don't have a
> stock dockable window control. Check out the TearOffPanel control in the
> SdkViewer application sample to get you started. It's in the Windows SDK.
>
> For the window animations and transparency, use the new
> HwndSourceParameters.UsesPerPixelOpacity that made it into the February CTP.
> It goes something like this:
>
> HwndSourceParameters param = new HwndSourceParameters("Toast",
> 0, 0);
> param.UsesPerPixelOpacity = true;
> param.ExtendedWindowStyle = WS_EX_TOPMOST | WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW;
>
> HwndSource source = new HwndSource(param);
> source.RootVisual = new Button();
>
> ShowWindow(source.Handle, SW_SHOW);
>
> More info about HwndSource at http://blogs.msdn.com/nickkramer/atom.aspx
>
>
>
> "Michael Sheakoski" <MichaelSheakoski@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message news:363D5B71-8F1A-4666-BC5F-E91CB02D5C6A@microsoft.com...
> > Hello. In Expression Interactive Designer you can detach tool windows
> > from
> > the docked area and put them outside of the application on your desktop if
> > you want. Or in certain programs like Outlook there is a little
> > popup/notification window in the bottom right of the screen when you
> > recieve
> > a new email. How is this possible to do in WinFX/XAML? Is the markup for
> > these detached windows contained in the XAML for the main scene or is the
> > code in a seperate XAML file (scene) that is spawned by the main program?
> > My
> > best guess is that it is a seperate window since any markup in the main
> > xaml
> > would be a child of the main window and contained only inside of it?
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Michael
>
>
>