Stick/Dock 2 forms together

[sijun]

Hi, any1 know how to stick 2 forms together?
kinda like how winamp & the equaliser stick together

[wanhobi]

Did you ever figure this out? I've seen many links that do not link to the code they should.

Try doing a search for WINAMP and forms.

good luck

j

[AGB]

I can move the forms together, this might help...

Put this in the declarations section of the main form

Function Mve(SIDE As String)
Form2.Show

If SIDE = "right" Then 'check what side
Form2.Move Form1.Left + Form1.Width, Form1.Top 'move it

ElseIf SIDE = "left" Then
Form2.Move Form1.Left - Form2.Width, Form1.Top

ElseIf SIDE = "top" Then
Form2.Move Form1.Left, Form1.Top - Form2.Height

ElseIf SIDE = "bottom" Then
Form2.Move Form1.Left, Form1.Top + Form1.Height

End If
End Function


Then just all that function Eg.

command1_click()
Mve("right")
end sub

Hope this helps

[Nucleus]

I have done for work, so can't give away the code, but in essence you have to use subclassing, here is the windows proc to get you started, then combine it with the approach AGB provided. Can get tricky.

Code in module:

Option Explicit
 
Private lHWndProc As Long
Private lHWnd As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowLongA" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function CallWindowProc Lib "user32" Alias "CallWindowProcA" _
(ByVal lpPrevWndFunc As Long, ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal Msg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function CopyFromLParamToRect Lib "user32" Alias "CopyRect" (lpDestRect As RECT, ByVal lpSourceRect As Long) As Long
 
Type RECT
  Left   As Long
  Top    As Long
  Right  As Long
  Bottom As Long
End Type
 
Dim r As RECT
 
Const GWL_WNDPROC = (-4)
Const WM_MOVING = 534
Const WM_ENTERSIZEMOVE = 561
Const WM_EXITSIZEMOVE = 562
 
Public Sub HookForm(frmHandle As Long)
    lHWnd = frmHandle
    If lHWndProc = 0 Then
        lHWndProc = GetWindowLong(lHWnd, GWL_WNDPROC) 'get handle of old window proc
        SetWindowLong lHWnd, GWL_WNDPROC, AddressOf WndProc 'set to replacement wndproc
    End If
End Sub
 
Public Sub UnhookForm()
    If lHWndProc Then
        SetWindowLong lHWnd, GWL_WNDPROC, lHWndProc 'reset wnd proc to original
        lHWndProc = 0
    End If
End Sub
 
Public Function WndProc(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal uMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
    Select Case uMsg
        Case WM_ENTERSIZEMOVE
            Debug.Print "form started to move"
            'Put any code you want when form starts to move here
            'Debug.Print "Position: "; Form1.Left / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX, Form1.Top / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
            
        Case WM_MOVING
            Debug.Print "Form moving..."
            'Put any code you want while form is moving here
            Call CopyFromLParamToRect(r, lParam)
            'Debug.Print "Position: "; r.Left, r.Top
            
        Case WM_EXITSIZEMOVE
            Debug.Print "Form stopped moving"
            'Debug.Print "Position: "; Form1.Left / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX, Form1.Top / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
            'Put any code you want when form finishes moving here
            
    End Select
    WndProc = CallWindowProc(lHWndProc, hwnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam)
End Function

Code in form:

Private Sub Form_Load()
HookForm (Me.hwnd)
End Sub

[trippah]

my way is easier than Nucleus way but works pretty cheap, but works =P

i have a timer with interval of 10~20, and on each timer event, it checks to see if the form.top = form2.top and form.left+formwidth = form2.left, if not, then move it there.

then i have 2 buttons which one will enable timer, and one to disable it, which will make it "dock and undock"

you will notice a slight gap in between them if you move the form relatively fast, since the timer of 10, even 1 is not fast enough? though there is not much difference between 1 and 20, so i use 10~20.

[metalguy]

heres a beginner sort of code for when it loads up:

dim form1L as integer
dim form1H as integer
dim form2H as integer
dim i as integer

form1.show
form2.show

form1H = form1.height
form1L = form1.left

form2H = form2.height


i = form1H - form2H
form2.left = form1L

form2.Height = i

[dongaman]

Nucleus:
Your code have a compile error in

SetWindowLong lHWnd, GWL_WNDPROC, AddressOf WndProc 'set to replacement wndproc

It said "Invilad use of AddressOf operator".
And i also met such problem when i use AddressOf operator.
Can U explain this???

[Nucleus]

What version of VB are you using?

[Serge]

In order for you to use SetWindowLong and the call back function API to subclass, it has to be (declared as Public) in a module.

[DaoK]

AGB your code is great but the form2 have all the time the focus so it's not very usefull

[Nucleus]

Serge, are you sure, that code wortks fine on my box?

[Serge]

Yes, I am sure.

This is straight from MSDN

Error: Invalid use of AddressOf operator

The AddressOf operator modifies an argument to pass the address of a function rather than passing the result of the function call. This error has the following cause and solution:

· You tried to use AddressOf with the name of a class method.

Only the names of Visual Basic procedures in a .bas module can be modified with AddressOf. You can't specify a class method.

· The procedure name modified by AddressOf is defined in a module in a different project.
· You tried to modify the name a DLL function or a function defined in a type library with AddressOf.
· DLL and type library functions can't be modified with AddressOf.

The procedure definition must be in a module in the current project. Move the definition to a module in this project or include its current module in the project.

[Nucleus]

What I was getting at was that I don't think it has to be declared as public.

[Serge]

No, it doesn't, if you create your own public function in the module that calls SetWindowLong.