Keeping form always on top of fullscreen game

[gobblegob]

hi guys ,
i am making a screen capture program and i want my main form to stay on top
so the user can take a screen shot of full screen games, i have found lots of stuff to keep it on top of all window but nothing works for full screen games

Below is 1 i have tried

Private Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Private Const HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2
Private Const SWP_NOACTIVATE = &H10
Private Const SWP_SHOWWINDOW = &H40
Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, _
ByVal cx As Long, ByVal cy As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long


Private Sub SetWindowOnTop(f As Form, bAlwaysOnTop As Boolean)
   Dim iFlag As Long

   iFlag = IIf(bAlwaysOnTop, HWND_TOPMOST, HWND_NOTOPMOST)

   SetWindowPos f.hwnd, iFlag, f.Left / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX, f.Top / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY, _
                f.Width / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX, f.Height / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY, SWP_NOACTIVATE Or SWP_SHOWWINDOW
End Sub

Any help will be appreciated.
<<<Gobble>>>

[VBWheaties]

hi guys ,
i am making a screen capture program and i want my main form to stay on top
so the user can take a screen shot of full screen games, i have found lots of stuff to keep it on top of all window but nothing works for full screen games

Below is 1 i have tried

Private Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Private Const HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2
Private Const SWP_NOACTIVATE = &H10
Private Const SWP_SHOWWINDOW = &H40
Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, _
ByVal cx As Long, ByVal cy As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long


Private Sub SetWindowOnTop(f As Form, bAlwaysOnTop As Boolean)
   Dim iFlag As Long

   iFlag = IIf(bAlwaysOnTop, HWND_TOPMOST, HWND_NOTOPMOST)

   SetWindowPos f.hwnd, iFlag, f.Left / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX, f.Top / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY, _
                f.Width / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX, f.Height / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY, SWP_NOACTIVATE Or SWP_SHOWWINDOW
End Sub

Any help will be appreciated.
<<<Gobble>>>

add a timer and call setwindowontop. make your interval like 500 (for half a second).
other apps are probably calling setwindowontop as well, making your form go below theirs.
however, if you notice it flickering, then that means the other apps are doing the same thing (calling setwindowontop in a timer event).

[Bullitt]

Try this, I'm not sure it is working, because this comes from a program that I made a long time ago. It is programmed in vb 6. Let me know if it works.

Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, ByVal X As Long, ByVal Y As Long, ByVal cx As Long, ByVal cy As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long
Private Const SWP_NOMOVE = &H2
Private Const SWP_NOSIZE = &H1
Private Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Private Const HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2

Private Sub Form_Activate()
    SetOnTop (True)
End Sub


' Make the form topmost or not.
Private Sub SetOnTop(Optional ByVal on_top As Boolean = True)
    If on_top Then
        SetWindowPos hwnd, _
            HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, _
            SWP_NOMOVE + SWP_NOSIZE
    Else
        SetWindowPos hwnd, _
            HWND_NOTOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, _
            SWP_NOMOVE + SWP_NOSIZE
    End If
End Sub

[Killer42]

I'll be really curious to see whether you manage to do this. But to be honest, I don't think it's possible.

If by "full screen" you mean maximised, then obviously it's not a problem. But assuming you mean DirectX (or whatever the latest buzzword is) like games such as World of Warcraft use, I really doubt you'll be able to do so. They effectively take over the screen and push aside the usual windowing interface. So whatever you do with your window isn't likely to have much effect, unless you make it full-screen and push the game out of the way.

[gobblegob]

add a timer and call setwindowontop. make your interval like 500 (for half a second).
other apps are probably calling setwindowontop as well, making your form go below theirs.
however, if you notice it flickering, then that means the other apps are doing the same thing (calling setwindowontop in a timer event).

Good idea VBWheaties but yeah the games seem to be calling the same event because you can see the app flicker in the background.
I wonder if there is a way of forcing a a game into windowed mode

Thanks for the posts guys!!
<<<Gobble>>>