Start another app in back

[zexor]

Is it possible to open another app without losing focus of the current foreground app? I have a program that will open another app and test something on it then close it, and reopen it again and repeat. Can this be all done in the back while i am typing away on another app in the foreground without getting interrupted by the new app opening and changing focus?

i dont want the new app open minimized or anything, just quietly open in the background.

I tried using process startinfo.windowstyle and that doesnt help much.

[demausdauth]

You would want to use the backgroundworker to open the other process away from the ui thread.

[tom1859]

Simple...

Shell("C:\Example.exe", AppWinStyle.NormalNoFocus)

[zexor]

That still seem to come to the front and it gives an error when i try to open a shortcut .lnk file

[zexor]

backgroundworker doesnt have anything to do with openning app as background window without taking focus.

[tom1859]

You must use the .exe file, .ink's dont work and also appwinstyle.minizednofocus might work

[weirddemon]

You could always play around with the TopMost property of the form. Something simple would be:

Set TopMost to True, Launch new app, set TopMost to False.

[zexor]

i need lnk to work thats why i tried process.start

[tom1859]

Hmm
you could try opening the ink file, get the filelocation of that, then use the string in a Shell() command?