I'm trying to launch another application from C# application, is there a way to display this application inside the mainform of my application?
Thanks,
- 1This depends on the application you want to start. Does it allow to be instantiated as ActiveX object (e.g. like Word or Internet Explorer)?Dirk Vollmar– Dirk Vollmar2010-04-22 08:58:17 +00:00Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 8:58
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4 Answers
You can start other applications using Process.Start(...):
Process.Start(@"C:\Path\OtherApp.exe"); To embed the application within your form, check out this CodeProject article that demos a technique for hosting other application's windows within your form.
2 Comments
Oded
He is asking about embedding another application into his.
Simon P Stevens
@Oded: That's what the CodeProject article link is about. I'll edit to make that clearer.
You can try do this via reparenting. See my post on MSDN where I describe this for WPF: Composite "shell" application.
The technique itself would be the same for WinForms. Have a host area in your app. Change the top-level window's style of the target application to WS_CHILD. Call SetParent(), changing the parent of the target window to your host area.
Note that in Win32, only a top-level window has a menu. Thus, changing to WS_CHILD removes the menu.
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You can do it in that way :
[DllImport("user32.dll")] static extern IntPtr SetParent(IntPtr hWndChild, IntPtr hWndNewParent); [DllImport("user32.dll")] static extern int SetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex, int dwNewLong); [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)] private static extern bool MoveWindow(IntPtr hwnd, int x, int y, int cx, int cy, bool repaint); [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)] static extern void SwitchToThisWindow(IntPtr hWnd, bool fAltTab); [DllImport("user32.dll")] static extern IntPtr SetActiveWindow(IntPtr hWnd); private const int GWL_STYLE = (-16); private const int WS_VISIBLE = 0x10000000; private const int WS_MAXIMIZE = 0x01000000; private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { this.SuspendLayout(); Process notepad = new Process(); ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo("notepad.exe"); psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal; notepad.StartInfo = psi; notepad.Start(); this.ResumeLayout(); notepad.WaitForInputIdle(3000); IntPtr old = SetParent(notepad.MainWindowHandle, this.Handle); SetWindowLong(notepad.MainWindowHandle, GWL_STYLE, WS_VISIBLE + WS_MAXIMIZE); MoveWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle, 100, 100, 400, 400, true); SetActiveWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle); SwitchToThisWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle, true); } In this way you have Notepad app in your form ;)
Comments
In general, it's next to impossible to display any kind of 3rd party application inside of yours. If target app supports console interface, I would create my own interface for this app that will translate GUI commands to console commands of target app.
