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First Posted 5 Aug 2002
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X-Window Manager like dragging and resizing of windows

By | 21 Sep 2005 | Article
This article shows how to make use of a mouse hook to allow simple dragging and resizing of windows.

Introduction

Hooks are a powerful feature of Windows and can be used to trap nearly all events in the Windows environment. This example shows how to trap mouse events and implements a simple window manager. It allows you to move and resize windows, easily following the style of many window managers in the UNIX X-Window environment.

With this tool, any window on your Desktop can easily be dragged with the left-mouse button while holding down the ALT key, starting anywhere in the window's client area. In the same way, it is possible to resize any window while dragging with the right mouse-button, holding down ALT. That's in my opinion far more comfortable than aiming with the mouse for the border or a corner of the window :)

The tool consists of two parts. First the main program that loads the second part - a DLL that will subsequently be injected in other processes to trap mouse events. For details about this, you may refer to other great articles at CodeProject as for example Hooks and DLLs by Joseph M. Newcomer in the DLL-section. The main program further installs a tray icon (warning: programmer's art :) ), that allows the user to quit the tool.

History

  • 06.08.2003

    Initial version.

  • 17.04.2003

    Bug fix: proper handling of Alt-key release while dragging or sizing (thanks Whosit).

  • 10.09.2005

    Bug fix: don't move or resize windows that are maximized (thanks TWink).

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here

About the Author

Markus Rollmann

Web Developer

Germany Germany

Member



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QuestionOK to fork? Pinmemberfoobarz11:31 29 Dec '08  
AnswerRe: OK to fork? PinmemberMarkus Rollmann20:40 29 Dec '08  
GeneralWorks in Vista! PinmemberJXON19:49 4 Sep '08  
GeneralGreat! PinmemberMwob22:18 2 May '07  
GeneralRe: Great! PinmemberAlexHaan0:38 3 May '07  
GeneralAwesome Pinmemberaijfisuhhtrtl3:34 16 Apr '07  
GeneralPrevent Users from Resizing Windows Pinmembermrtm305011:14 9 Mar '07  
Generalis snapping possible Pinmembermmanson1329:26 19 Jan '07  
GeneralTwo suggestions PinsussAnonymous1:02 5 Oct '05  
GeneralRe: Two suggestions PinmemberMarkus Rollmann1:16 5 Oct '05  
GeneralCursor shape PinmemberEric Lapouge21:32 22 Sep '05  
GeneralBugs and Improvements PinmemberTwink13:54 7 Sep '05  
Well I love this program and would find it hard to live without it now, so I've started to get around to fixing someof the annoying things in it =)
 

To stop moving of maximised windows in wmmousedll.cpp just before the code

switch (opMode) {
case O_MOVE :
// we're dragging a window - calc the relative movement and
// reposition the window

 
put this
 
WINDOWPLACEMENT wndpl;
::GetWindowPlacement(hWnd, &wndpl);
if(wndpl.showCmd == SW_MAXIMIZE)
return CallNextHookEx(hhook, nCode, wParam, lParam);

 
Another addition is just after the code I added above is this piece of code
 
// get class
char dada[20];
GetClassName(hWnd,dada,20);
if(stricmp(dada, "TSSHELLWND") == 0) return CallNextHookEx(hhook, nCode, wParam, lParam);

 
You can replace TSSHELLWND with the class of any window you dont want to be able to drag around like this, in this case (TSSHELLWND) is remote desktop. This could be extended to have a UI letting you add more window classes (or even better exe names and paths, but I dunno how to do that)
 
This program stops Alt-Clicks getting through to the window at all, this is not desirable but would be hard to fix nicely.
 
One way is in the cases
case WM_RBUTTONDOWN :
case WM_LBUTTONDOWN :
 
You really count return 0; instead of 1.
 
Admittedly this has other problems, as sometimes I want to resize instead of alt-clicking a button and with my change it will perform both. I'm guessing a fix for this would be to send a mouse click to the window on mouse up if the mouse did not move instead of the return 0 fix.
 
-- modified at 20:00 Wednesday 7th September, 2005
GeneralRe: Bugs and Improvements PinmemberMarkus Rollmann0:30 10 Sep '05  
GeneralRe: Bugs and Improvements PinmemberTwink14:47 11 Sep '05  
Questionbug? Pinmemberp1ayer19:27 7 Jul '03  
AnswerRe: bug? PinmemberMarkus Rollmann20:23 7 Jul '03  
GeneralGreat technique PinmemberVernero Cifagni2:26 17 Apr '03  
Generalvery creative, so 5 points! PinmemberZhefu Zhang2:13 17 Apr '03  
General(update) PinmemberMarkus Rollmann1:59 17 Apr '03  
GeneralRe: (update) PinmemberWhosit3:37 17 Apr '03  
GeneralDoesnt forget right away PinmemberWhosit10:31 16 Apr '03  
GeneralRe: Doesnt forget right away PinmemberMarkus Rollmann10:40 16 Apr '03  
GeneralRe: Doesnt forget right away PinmemberWhosit10:47 16 Apr '03  
GeneralRe: Doesnt forget right away PinmemberMarkus Rollmann10:59 16 Apr '03  
GeneralChange for override PinmemberWhosit10:55 16 Apr '03  

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