Show Modal dialog always when the application is focused

Question

5.00/5 (2 votes)

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I have a modal dialog shown on click of a button in the main form

using the ShowDialog method i am able to show the child modal dialog on top of my main form.
But if i click outside my application suppose if i select some other application and come back to my application .. the main form is focused..

How shall i make my Child modal dialog focused when my application is seleced ??
Thanks in advance

Posted 8-Aug-12 5:43am

arun_pk

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Comments

[no name] 8-Aug-12 11:46am

Sounds like you are not really showing the dialog as modal.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Aug-12 13:50pm

I suspect that, too.
--SA

arun_pk 8-Aug-12 11:48am

private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Window1 aa = new Window1();
aa.ShowDialog();
}

i am doing it in this way

[no name] 8-Aug-12 11:57am

That code behaves exactly as it is supposed to on my system.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Aug-12 13:52pm

OP asked a right question below...
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Aug-12 14:22pm

Actually, I hope I found the resolution, please see.
--SA

arun_pk 8-Aug-12 12:02pm

can u press windows + D
then click on your application..
please lemme know how it behaves

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Aug-12 13:52pm

You should have better reply to the Wes's comment, to have them receive a notification.
--SA

[no name] 8-Aug-12 14:14pm

It behaves exactly like a modal dialog.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Aug-12 15:25pm

Did you see it? OP confirmed that my solution works!
A modal window does not become owned by the main window automatically, one should assign the owner, only then it works correctly. It was a good question, up-voted.
--SA

arun_pk 8-Aug-12 14:14pm

open the application.. click on button which open the child modal window
click windows key + d .. Now desktop is shown
again click back the application from taskbar ..
my main application is shown.
the child modal window is not focused
:(

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-Aug-12 14:24pm

Yes, yes, I understand it. You question (considering comments) is correctly formulated and shows your attention to important but often missing detail, so I voted 5 for the question (a very rare case these days!). I also provided an answer which should resolve the problem. Please try it and report back, accept the answer formally in case of success.
--SA

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-08T08:21:00

There are two Window properties which control the behavior of the activation of the application. If you use them properly, all the windows of the application will behave like one application, so no window of any other application cannot appear in between in Z order. This behavior will be achieved for all windows, not only the main and the modal ones.

First one is System.Windows.Window.Owner:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.window.owner.aspx[^].

To achieve right behavior, you need to leave the main window not owned (naturally), and all other windows should be owned by the main one. More complex ownership relation is quite possible but makes not much sense.

The second one is not so important, it only adds some consistency: you should set the Boolean property ShowInTaskbar to true for the main window, false for all others. Please see:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.window.showintaskbar.aspx[^].

Now, let's see at the documentation on ShowDialog:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.window.showdialog.aspx[^].

MSDN says:
A window that is opened by calling the ShowDialog method does not automatically have a relationship with the window that opened it; specifically, the opened window does not know which window opened it. This relationship can be established using the Owner property and managed using the OwnedWindows property.

So, you need to set the property Owner of the modal window as well, to get expected behavior. Please try. I don't understand why this is not done through ShowDialog, automatically, but the fact is: WPF application does not provide a default way of knowing the main window (you can develop such code yourself), and the method ShowDialog does not have a parameter to indicate ownership.

Please try it. If it does not resolve your problem, it would mean you screw up something somewhere else, but I don't thinks so. Please report back if it helps or not.

—SA