Click here to Skip to main content
15,868,141 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C#
Article

Move window/form without Titlebar in C#

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.58/5 (92 votes)
26 Jul 2005GPL3 401.9K   7.1K   85   75
How to move a form without having a Titlebar in C#.

Introduction

This is my first article and I hope my English is OK. Have you ever wanted to move a window without a Titlebar in C#? Well, then you're right here.

Let's start

First you have to add the following code in the header of your project. This is needed to load the required DLL's to our project. According to MSDN ReleaseCapture: removes mouse capture from the object in the current document and SendMessage: sends the specified message to a window or windows. It calls the window procedure for the specified window and does not return until the window procedure has processed the message.

C#
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

If you've done this, you can add the const and the DLL functions:

C#
public const int WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN = 0xA1;
public const int HT_CAPTION = 0x2;

[DllImportAttribute("user32.dll")]
public static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, 
                 int Msg, int wParam, int lParam);
[DllImportAttribute("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool ReleaseCapture();

Then put the following two lines of code in the form's MouseDown event like this:

C#
private void Form1_MouseDown(object sender, 
        System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
{     
    if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
    {
        ReleaseCapture();
        SendMessage(Handle, WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN, HT_CAPTION, 0);
    }
}

Believe it or not - you've done it! Now run the App and try to move the form by clicking on the form and moving the mouse (you have to hold the button pressed!)

Hope you find it useful. Enjoy!

Thanks to Patric_J and John Wood for their replies! The code has been updated!

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The GNU General Public License (GPLv3)


Written By
Germany Germany
Born on August 6th 1982 in Neuss (NRW in Germany). Currently i'm 22 years old guy and my Hobby's are programming, bicycle and swim.

Comments and Discussions

 
SuggestionHandle does not exists ... in my case.. Pin
Taeho Kim15-May-18 6:13
Taeho Kim15-May-18 6:13 
QuestionThx Pin
Member 136107637-Jan-18 3:00
Member 136107637-Jan-18 3:00 
QuestionMy vote 5 Pin
Tien N19-Aug-17 6:43
Tien N19-Aug-17 6:43 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Dennis Fazekas8-Apr-17 7:57
Dennis Fazekas8-Apr-17 7:57 
AnswerFor the people who copy paste Pin
Member 1301397920-Feb-17 21:54
Member 1301397920-Feb-17 21:54 
PraiseThank You! Pin
Ikapel29-Jul-16 22:31
Ikapel29-Jul-16 22:31 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
mochoutian21-Oct-14 16:05
mochoutian21-Oct-14 16:05 
SuggestionAdd DragDetect() Pin
KevinSW31-Jul-14 20:57
KevinSW31-Jul-14 20:57 
GeneralMy Vote of 5 Pin
faysal_ubit27-Jun-14 20:55
faysal_ubit27-Jun-14 20:55 
GeneralAlso works with single objects inside the form! Pin
J&Geckos24-Feb-13 10:07
J&Geckos24-Feb-13 10:07 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
J&Geckos24-Feb-13 10:04
J&Geckos24-Feb-13 10:04 
Awesome! this is just what I needed for my LCARS project.

(and your English is perfect)
QuestionC# Show Hide Windows Forms Pin
Tishantha18-Jan-13 4:41
Tishantha18-Jan-13 4:41 
GeneralMy vote of 1000000000000000 Pin
Oraion13-Jan-13 15:12
Oraion13-Jan-13 15:12 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Sushant Shidore28-Oct-12 21:53
Sushant Shidore28-Oct-12 21:53 
QuestionHi... Pin
nileshbahirshet9-May-12 19:56
nileshbahirshet9-May-12 19:56 
AnswerRe: Hi... Pin
FreewareFire10-May-12 10:19
FreewareFire10-May-12 10:19 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Neoshao23-Dec-11 4:52
Neoshao23-Dec-11 4:52 
GeneralMy vote of 3 Pin
LimitedAtonement19-Nov-11 14:12
LimitedAtonement19-Nov-11 14:12 
GeneralRe: My vote of 3 Pin
Nitesh Kejriwal9-Jan-14 3:55
professionalNitesh Kejriwal9-Jan-14 3:55 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Horia Tudosie6-Oct-11 2:33
Horia Tudosie6-Oct-11 2:33 
QuestionSlick! Short and to the point. Pin
AVIDeveloper27-Jun-11 6:17
AVIDeveloper27-Jun-11 6:17 
GeneralDragmove Pin
stage616-May-11 6:02
stage616-May-11 6:02 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
deep124519-Feb-11 1:37
deep124519-Feb-11 1:37 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
shanawazway23-Jan-11 19:21
shanawazway23-Jan-11 19:21 
GeneralSlight modification for WPF :) Pin
xhutchinson17-Jan-11 18:45
xhutchinson17-Jan-11 18:45 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.