how to find a window's SW_SHOW/SW_HIDE status

Question

I am trying to determine a window control\'s visibility that has been hidden or enabled with CWnd::ShowWindow(). (or ::ShowWindow(hWnd,nCmdShow))

I cannot simply use

Answer 1

Call GetWindowLong( handle, GWL_STYLE), check the returned value for WS_VISIBLE style presence.

Answer 2

I would use GetWindowPlacement, however I am not sure if I understood what you want. It fills in a WINDOWPLACEMENT structure and then use the showCmd member.

Answer 3

If it is a multi-tab dialog and not a control, then override as

void MyClass::OnShowWindow(BOOL bShow, UINT nStatus)
{
    m_nCmdShow = bShow;
    CDialog::OnShowWindow(bShow, nStatus);
}

In BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP, add ON_WM_SHOWWINDOW().

m_nCmdShow now has the status if the window is SW_SHOW or SW_HIDE.

Answer 4

Use GetWindowPlacement. It fills WINDOWPLACEMENT structure, which has field showCmd.

showCmd
Specifies the current show state of the window. This member can be one of the following values.

Answer 5

GetWindowPlacement() function will work only if the window is maximized or minimized. Otherwise, showCmd member will return SW_SHOWNORMAL also when window is hidden, as pointed out in this StackOverflow answer: WINDOWPLACEMENT's showCmd... always 1?

You can use the more straightforward boolean function IsWindowVisible() to get if the specified Window is in a visible state or not.

Answer 6

I don't know if there is a proper method for this task but I would try WindowFromPoint Function.

Remarks

The WindowFromPoint function does not retrieve a handle to a hidden or disabled window, even if the point is within the window. An application should use the ChildWindowFromPoint function for a nonrestrictive search.

For example I would convert control's corner coords into screen coords and then try to get it's handle from those points.