How to open a program into a XAML c# window

Question

I am using Visual Studio 2015 RC (WPF application C#) and I want my program to open any of my apps (with the click of a button) into my app window, the code below is unfinished.

The problem happens only when I click the button, notepad opens randomly in it's own window, and not in my app's canvas.

Main.Window.xaml:

<Window x:Class="stackoverflowquestion1.MainWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:local="clr-namespace:stackoverflowquestion1" mc:Ignorable="d" Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525"> <Grid> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="0*"/> <ColumnDefinition/> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <Menu x:Name="menu" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="22" Margin="2,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="497" Grid.Column="1"> <Button x:Name="button" Click="button_Click" Width="187">Click here to open Notepad Below</Button> </Menu> <Canvas Grid.ColumnSpan="2" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="257" Margin="10,52,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="489" Background="Black"/> </Grid></Window>

MainWindow.xaml.cs:

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Threading.Tasks; using System.Windows; using System.Windows.Controls; using System.Windows.Data; using System.Windows.Documents; using System.Windows.Input; using System.Windows.Media; using System.Windows.Media.Imaging; using System.Windows.Navigation; using System.Windows.Shapes; namespace stackoverflowquestion1 { public partial class MainWindow : Window { public MainWindow() { InitializeComponent(); } private void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { Process.Start("notepad.exe"); } } }

thx, this almost worked, managed to make my button launch a new window, perhaps i can make notepad move to the windows location and resize to the size of the window instead of opening the program in the window? — Adan
– Adan, Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 8:05

Adan · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 09:14:21Z

0

found the answer, here is the code:

using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Threading; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace WindowsFormsApplication1 { public partial class Form1 : Form { public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); } private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { Process p = Process.Start("notepad.exe"); p.WaitForInputIdle(); // Allow the process to open it's window SetParent(p.MainWindowHandle, this.Handle); } [DllImport("user32.dll")] static extern IntPtr SetParent(IntPtr hWndChild, IntPtr hWndNewParent); } }

final notes, i used a windows forms application c#, NOT windows WPF application, phew im so glad i found the answer haha gl everyone

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 9:14

Adan

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7 Comments

Damien_The_Unbeliever Over a year ago

is it legal to have a cross-process parent/child or owner/owned relationship: "... it is technically legal. It is also technically legal to juggle chainsaws ... they become near-impossible to manage if one or both of the windows involved is unaware that it is participating in a cross-process window tree"

Damien_The_Unbeliever Over a year ago

Oh, and one further quote: "things will definitely stop working if you change that other window from a top-level window to a child window" - which is exactly what you've done here.

Adan Over a year ago

@Damien_The_Unbeliever what?

Damien_The_Unbeliever Over a year ago

You're doing something that is dangerous and wrong. If a program is written expecting that it has a top-level window, it will not have been written to expect your program to come along and change its window into a child window. For something as simple as notepad, it may appear to work correctly but you shouldn't assume that it will work correctly.

Adan Over a year ago

@Damien_The_Unbeliever, this was the only solution ive seen so far :/ got any ideas?

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CAPSLOCK · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-06 19:33:33Z

0

If you are really using WPF, You could replace the this.Handle for Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle

edited Jun 6, 2019 at 19:33

CAPSLOCK

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answered Jun 6, 2019 at 16:48

Alisson Freitas

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