How to pass WindowState from desktop shortcut into WPF app?

Question

How can I control the initial WindowState (Normal, Minimized, Maximized) of a WPF main window from a desktop shortcut?

The "Run:" combobox of the shortcut's properties dialog let's me choose between "Normal window", "Minimized" and "Maximized". But this option seems to be completely ignored by WPF apps. With WinForms this was automatically supported with no additional code.

Is there a way to access this option from the launched WPF process? I know I can specify the ProcessStartInfo.WindowStyle property when launching new processes. But how can I access this option from the process being launched?

Miriam

Answer 1

System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().StartInfo.WindowStyle

Swanherd

Answer 2

Use NativeMethods.StartupInfo.GetInitialWindowStyle() to get just the initial window state or NativeMethods.StartupInfo.FromCurrentProcess to access the entire information.

static partial class NativeMethods
{
    public static class StartupInfo
    {
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        public class STARTUPINFO
        {
            public readonly UInt32 cb;  
            private IntPtr lpReserved;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public readonly string lpDesktop;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public readonly string lpTitle;
            public readonly UInt32 dwX;
            public readonly UInt32 dwY;
            public readonly UInt32 dwXSize;
            public readonly UInt32 dwYSize;
            public readonly UInt32 dwXCountChars;
            public readonly UInt32 dwYCountChars;
            public readonly UInt32 dwFillAttribute;
            public readonly UInt32 dwFlags;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U2)] public readonly UInt16 wShowWindow;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U2)] public readonly UInt16 cbReserved2;
            private IntPtr lpReserved2;
            public readonly IntPtr hStdInput;
            public readonly IntPtr hStdOutput;
            public readonly IntPtr hStdError;
        }

        public readonly static STARTUPINFO FromCurrentProcess = null;

        const uint STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW = 0x00000001;
        const ushort SW_HIDE = 0;
        const ushort SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1;
        const ushort SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2;
        const ushort SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3;
        const ushort SW_MINIMIZE = 6;
        const ushort SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7;
        const ushort SW_FORCEMINIMIZE = 11;

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
        static extern void GetStartupInfoW(IntPtr startupInfoPtr);

        static StartupInfo() //Static constructor
        {
            FromCurrentProcess = new STARTUPINFO();
            int length = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(STARTUPINFO));
            IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);

            Marshal.StructureToPtr(FromCurrentProcess, ptr, false);
            GetStartupInfoW(ptr);
            Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptr, FromCurrentProcess);
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
        }

        public static ProcessWindowStyle GetInitialWindowStyle()
        {
            if ((FromCurrentProcess.dwFlags & STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW) == 0) return ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;

            switch (FromCurrentProcess.wShowWindow)
            {
                case SW_HIDE: return ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
                case SW_SHOWNORMAL: return ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
                case SW_MINIMIZE:
                case SW_FORCEMINIMIZE:
                case SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE:
                case SW_SHOWMINIMIZED: return ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
                case SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED: return ProcessWindowStyle.Maximized;
                default: return ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
            }
        }
    } 
}

Maggie