How do I make a WinForms app go Full Screen

Question

I have a WinForms app that I am trying to make full screen  somewhat like what VS does in full screen mode    Currently I am setting FormBorderStyle to None and WindowState to Maximized which gives me a little more space  but it doesn t cover over the taskbar if it is visible   What do I need to do to use that space as well   For bonus points  is there something I can do to make my MenuStrip autohide to give up that space as well

User · Answer

And for the menustrip-question  try set   MenuStrip1 Parent   Nothing   when in fullscreen mode  it should then disapear   And when exiting fullscreenmode  reset the menustrip1 parent to the form again and the menustrip will be normal again

User · Answer

On the Form Move Event add this   private void Frm Move  object sender  EventArgs e        Top   0  Left   0      Size   new System Drawing Size Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds Width  Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds Height

User · Answer

You can use the following code to fit your system screen and task bar is visible       private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e                      hide max min and close button at top right of Window         this FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None             fill the screen         this Bounds   Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds          No need to use       this TopMost   true    That line interferes with alt tab to switch to other application    TopMost  means the window stays on top of other windows  unless they are also marked  TopMost

User · Answer

A tested and simple solution  I ve been looking for an answer for this question in SO and some other sites  but one gave an answer was very complex to me and some others answers simply doesn t work correctly  so after a lot code testing I solved this puzzle   Note  I m using Windows 8 and my taskbar isn t on auto-hide mode   I discovered that setting the WindowState to Normal before performing any modifications will stop the error with the not covered taskbar   The code  I created this class that have two methods  the first enters in the  full screen mode  and the second leaves the  full screen mode   So you just need to create an object of this class and pass the Form you want to set full screen as an argument to the EnterFullScreenMode method or to the LeaveFullScreenMode method   class FullScreen       public void EnterFullScreenMode Form targetForm                targetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Normal          targetForm FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None          targetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized             public void LeaveFullScreenMode Form targetForm                targetForm FormBorderStyle   System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle Sizable          targetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Normal            Usage example      private void fullScreenToolStripMenuItem Click object sender  EventArgs e                FullScreen fullScreen   new FullScreen             if  fullScreenMode    FullScreenMode No      FullScreenMode is an enum                       fullScreen EnterFullScreenMode this               fullScreenMode   FullScreenMode Yes                    else                       fullScreen LeaveFullScreenMode this               fullScreenMode   FullScreenMode No                    I have placed this same answer on another question that I m not sure if is a duplicate or not of this one   Link to the other question  How to display a Windows Form in full screen on top of the taskbar

User · Answer

And for the menustrip-question  try set   MenuStrip1 Parent   Nothing   when in fullscreen mode  it should then disapear   And when exiting fullscreenmode  reset the menustrip1 parent to the form again and the menustrip will be normal again

User · Answer

On the Form Move Event add this   private void Frm Move  object sender  EventArgs e        Top   0  Left   0      Size   new System Drawing Size Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds Width  Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds Height

User · Answer

And for the menustrip-question  try set   MenuStrip1 Parent   Nothing   when in fullscreen mode  it should then disapear   And when exiting fullscreenmode  reset the menustrip1 parent to the form again and the menustrip will be normal again

User · Answer

To the base question  the following will do the trick  hiding the taskbar   private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        this TopMost   true      this FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None      this WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized      But  interestingly  if you swap those last two lines the Taskbar remains visible  I think the sequence of these actions will be hard to control with the properties window

User · Answer

To the base question  the following will do the trick  hiding the taskbar   private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        this TopMost   true      this FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None      this WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized      But  interestingly  if you swap those last two lines the Taskbar remains visible  I think the sequence of these actions will be hard to control with the properties window

User · Answer

You need to set your window to be topmost

User · Answer

A tested and simple solution  I ve been looking for an answer for this question in SO and some other sites  but one gave an answer was very complex to me and some others answers simply doesn t work correctly  so after a lot code testing I solved this puzzle   Note  I m using Windows 8 and my taskbar isn t on auto-hide mode   I discovered that setting the WindowState to Normal before performing any modifications will stop the error with the not covered taskbar   The code  I created this class that have two methods  the first enters in the  full screen mode  and the second leaves the  full screen mode   So you just need to create an object of this class and pass the Form you want to set full screen as an argument to the EnterFullScreenMode method or to the LeaveFullScreenMode method   class FullScreen       public void EnterFullScreenMode Form targetForm                targetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Normal          targetForm FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None          targetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized             public void LeaveFullScreenMode Form targetForm                targetForm FormBorderStyle   System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle Sizable          targetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Normal            Usage example      private void fullScreenToolStripMenuItem Click object sender  EventArgs e                FullScreen fullScreen   new FullScreen             if  fullScreenMode    FullScreenMode No      FullScreenMode is an enum                       fullScreen EnterFullScreenMode this               fullScreenMode   FullScreenMode Yes                    else                       fullScreen LeaveFullScreenMode this               fullScreenMode   FullScreenMode No                    I have placed this same answer on another question that I m not sure if is a duplicate or not of this one   Link to the other question  How to display a Windows Form in full screen on top of the taskbar

User · Answer

I recently made an Mediaplayer application and I used API-calls to make sure the taskbar was hidden when the program was running fullscreen and then restored the taskbar when the program was not in fullscreen or not had focus or was exited   Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowA   ByVal lpClassName As String  ByVal lpWindowName As String  As Integer Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowExA   ByVal hWnd1 As Integer  ByVal hWnd2 As Integer  ByVal lpsz1 As String  ByVal lpsz2 As String  As Integer Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib  user32   ByVal hwnd As Integer  ByVal nCmdShow As Integer  As Integer  Sub HideTrayBar       Try           Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow tWnd  0          ShowWindow bWnd  0      Catch ex As Exception          Error hiding the taskbar  do what you want here       End Try End Sub Sub ShowTraybar       Try         Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow bWnd  1          ShowWindow tWnd  1      Catch ex As Exception      Error showing the taskbar  do what you want here                       End Try   End Sub

User · Answer

I worked on Zingd idea and made it simpler to use  I also added the standard F11 key to toggle fullscreen mode  Setup Everything is now in the FullScreen class  so you don t have to declare a bunch of variables in your Form  You just instanciate a FullScreen object in your form s constructor   FullScreen fullScreen   public Form1         InitializeComponent        fullScreen   new FullScreen this      Please note this assumes the form is not maximized when you create the FullScreen object  Usage You just use one of the classe s functions to toggle the fullscreen mode   fullScreen Toggle     or if you need to handle it explicitly   fullScreen Enter    fullScreen Leave     Code using System Windows Forms    class FullScreen        Form TargetForm       FormWindowState PreviousWindowState       public FullScreen Form targetForm                TargetForm   targetForm          TargetForm KeyPreview   true          TargetForm KeyDown    TargetForm KeyDown             private void TargetForm KeyDown object sender  KeyEventArgs e                if  e KeyData    Keys F11                        Toggle                         public void Toggle                 if  TargetForm WindowState    FormWindowState Maximized                        Leave                      else                       Enter                                 public void Enter                 if  TargetForm WindowState    FormWindowState Maximized                        PreviousWindowState   TargetForm WindowState              TargetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Normal              TargetForm FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None              TargetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized                             public void Leave                 TargetForm FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle Sizable          TargetForm WindowState   PreviousWindowState

User · Answer

And for the menustrip-question  try set   MenuStrip1 Parent   Nothing   when in fullscreen mode  it should then disapear   And when exiting fullscreenmode  reset the menustrip1 parent to the form again and the menustrip will be normal again

User · Answer

I recently made an Mediaplayer application and I used API-calls to make sure the taskbar was hidden when the program was running fullscreen and then restored the taskbar when the program was not in fullscreen or not had focus or was exited   Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowA   ByVal lpClassName As String  ByVal lpWindowName As String  As Integer Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowExA   ByVal hWnd1 As Integer  ByVal hWnd2 As Integer  ByVal lpsz1 As String  ByVal lpsz2 As String  As Integer Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib  user32   ByVal hwnd As Integer  ByVal nCmdShow As Integer  As Integer  Sub HideTrayBar       Try           Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow tWnd  0          ShowWindow bWnd  0      Catch ex As Exception          Error hiding the taskbar  do what you want here       End Try End Sub Sub ShowTraybar       Try         Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow bWnd  1          ShowWindow tWnd  1      Catch ex As Exception      Error showing the taskbar  do what you want here                       End Try   End Sub

User · Answer

I don t know if it will work on  NET 2 0  but it worked me on  NET 4 5 2  Here is the code   using System  using System Drawing  using System Windows Forms   public partial class Your Form Name   Form       public Your Form Name                 InitializeComponent                  CODE STARTS HERE      private System Drawing Size oldsize   new System Drawing Size 300  300       private System Drawing Point oldlocation   new System Drawing Point 0  0       private System Windows Forms FormWindowState oldstate   System Windows Forms FormWindowState Normal      private System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle oldstyle   System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle Sizable      private bool fullscreen   false           lt summary gt          Goes to fullscreen or the old state           lt  summary gt      private void UpgradeFullscreen                 if   fullscreen                        oldsize   this Size              oldstate   this WindowState              oldstyle   this FormBorderStyle              oldlocation   this Location              this WindowState   System Windows Forms FormWindowState Normal              this FormBorderStyle   System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle None              this Bounds   System Windows Forms Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds              fullscreen   true                    else                       this Location   oldlocation              this WindowState   oldstate              this FormBorderStyle   oldstyle              this Size   oldsize              fullscreen   false                          CODE ENDS HERE     Usage   UpgradeFullscreen       Goes to fullscreen UpgradeFullscreen       Goes back to normal state    You don t need arguments       Notice     You MUST place it inside your Form s class  Example  partial class Form1   Form      Code goes here        or it will not work because if you don t place it on any form  code this will create an exception

User · Answer

I recently made an Mediaplayer application and I used API-calls to make sure the taskbar was hidden when the program was running fullscreen and then restored the taskbar when the program was not in fullscreen or not had focus or was exited   Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowA   ByVal lpClassName As String  ByVal lpWindowName As String  As Integer Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowExA   ByVal hWnd1 As Integer  ByVal hWnd2 As Integer  ByVal lpsz1 As String  ByVal lpsz2 As String  As Integer Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib  user32   ByVal hwnd As Integer  ByVal nCmdShow As Integer  As Integer  Sub HideTrayBar       Try           Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow tWnd  0          ShowWindow bWnd  0      Catch ex As Exception          Error hiding the taskbar  do what you want here       End Try End Sub Sub ShowTraybar       Try         Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow bWnd  1          ShowWindow tWnd  1      Catch ex As Exception      Error showing the taskbar  do what you want here                       End Try   End Sub

User · Answer

You can use the following code to fit your system screen and task bar is visible       private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e                      hide max min and close button at top right of Window         this FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None             fill the screen         this Bounds   Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds          No need to use       this TopMost   true    That line interferes with alt tab to switch to other application    TopMost  means the window stays on top of other windows  unless they are also marked  TopMost

User · Answer

You need to set your window to be topmost

User · Answer

I worked on Zingd idea and made it simpler to use  I also added the standard F11 key to toggle fullscreen mode  Setup Everything is now in the FullScreen class  so you don t have to declare a bunch of variables in your Form  You just instanciate a FullScreen object in your form s constructor   FullScreen fullScreen   public Form1         InitializeComponent        fullScreen   new FullScreen this      Please note this assumes the form is not maximized when you create the FullScreen object  Usage You just use one of the classe s functions to toggle the fullscreen mode   fullScreen Toggle     or if you need to handle it explicitly   fullScreen Enter    fullScreen Leave     Code using System Windows Forms    class FullScreen        Form TargetForm       FormWindowState PreviousWindowState       public FullScreen Form targetForm                TargetForm   targetForm          TargetForm KeyPreview   true          TargetForm KeyDown    TargetForm KeyDown             private void TargetForm KeyDown object sender  KeyEventArgs e                if  e KeyData    Keys F11                        Toggle                         public void Toggle                 if  TargetForm WindowState    FormWindowState Maximized                        Leave                      else                       Enter                                 public void Enter                 if  TargetForm WindowState    FormWindowState Maximized                        PreviousWindowState   TargetForm WindowState              TargetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Normal              TargetForm FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None              TargetForm WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized                             public void Leave                 TargetForm FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle Sizable          TargetForm WindowState   PreviousWindowState

User · Answer

You need to set your window to be topmost

User · Answer

I recently made an Mediaplayer application and I used API-calls to make sure the taskbar was hidden when the program was running fullscreen and then restored the taskbar when the program was not in fullscreen or not had focus or was exited   Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowA   ByVal lpClassName As String  ByVal lpWindowName As String  As Integer Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib  user32  Alias  FindWindowExA   ByVal hWnd1 As Integer  ByVal hWnd2 As Integer  ByVal lpsz1 As String  ByVal lpsz2 As String  As Integer Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib  user32   ByVal hwnd As Integer  ByVal nCmdShow As Integer  As Integer  Sub HideTrayBar       Try           Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow tWnd  0          ShowWindow bWnd  0      Catch ex As Exception          Error hiding the taskbar  do what you want here       End Try End Sub Sub ShowTraybar       Try         Dim tWnd As Integer   0         Dim bWnd As Integer   0         tWnd   FindWindow  Shell TrayWnd   vbNullString          bWnd   FindWindowEx tWnd  bWnd   BUTTON   vbNullString          ShowWindow bWnd  1          ShowWindow tWnd  1      Catch ex As Exception      Error showing the taskbar  do what you want here                       End Try   End Sub

User · Answer

To the base question  the following will do the trick  hiding the taskbar   private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        this TopMost   true      this FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None      this WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized      But  interestingly  if you swap those last two lines the Taskbar remains visible  I think the sequence of these actions will be hard to control with the properties window

User · Answer

To the base question  the following will do the trick  hiding the taskbar   private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        this TopMost   true      this FormBorderStyle   FormBorderStyle None      this WindowState   FormWindowState Maximized      But  interestingly  if you swap those last two lines the Taskbar remains visible  I think the sequence of these actions will be hard to control with the properties window

User · Answer

You need to set your window to be topmost

User · Answer

I don t know if it will work on  NET 2 0  but it worked me on  NET 4 5 2  Here is the code   using System  using System Drawing  using System Windows Forms   public partial class Your Form Name   Form       public Your Form Name                 InitializeComponent                  CODE STARTS HERE      private System Drawing Size oldsize   new System Drawing Size 300  300       private System Drawing Point oldlocation   new System Drawing Point 0  0       private System Windows Forms FormWindowState oldstate   System Windows Forms FormWindowState Normal      private System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle oldstyle   System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle Sizable      private bool fullscreen   false           lt summary gt          Goes to fullscreen or the old state           lt  summary gt      private void UpgradeFullscreen                 if   fullscreen                        oldsize   this Size              oldstate   this WindowState              oldstyle   this FormBorderStyle              oldlocation   this Location              this WindowState   System Windows Forms FormWindowState Normal              this FormBorderStyle   System Windows Forms FormBorderStyle None              this Bounds   System Windows Forms Screen PrimaryScreen Bounds              fullscreen   true                    else                       this Location   oldlocation              this WindowState   oldstate              this FormBorderStyle   oldstyle              this Size   oldsize              fullscreen   false                          CODE ENDS HERE     Usage   UpgradeFullscreen       Goes to fullscreen UpgradeFullscreen       Goes back to normal state    You don t need arguments       Notice     You MUST place it inside your Form s class  Example  partial class Form1   Form      Code goes here        or it will not work because if you don t place it on any form  code this will create an exception

[c#] How do I make a WinForms app go Full Screen

Examples related to c#

Examples related to .net

Examples related to winforms