How to bring a window to the front

Question

We have a Java application that needs to be brought to the foreground when a telecontrol mechanism activates something in the application   In order to get this  we have realized in the called method of the class which represents the frame of our application  extension of a JFrame  following implementation   setVisible true   toFront      Under Windows XP  this works the first time it is called  on the second time only the tab in the taskbar flashes  the frame doesn t come to the front anymore  Same goes for Win2k  On Vista it seems to work fine   Do you have any ideas

User · Answer

Hj  all methods of yours are not working for me  in Fedora KDE 14  I have a dirty way to do bring a window to front  while we re waiting for Oracle to fix this issue   import java awt MouseInfo  import java awt Point  import java awt Robot  import java awt event InputEvent   public class FrameMain extends javax swing JFrame              private final javax swing JFrame mainFrame   this     private void toggleVisible         setVisible  isVisible         if  isVisible            toFront          requestFocus          setAlwaysOnTop true         try             remember the last location of mouse         final Point oldMouseLocation   MouseInfo getPointerInfo   getLocation               simulate a mouse click on title bar of window         Robot robot   new Robot            robot mouseMove mainFrame getX     100  mainFrame getY     5           robot mousePress InputEvent BUTTON1 DOWN MASK           robot mouseRelease InputEvent BUTTON1 DOWN MASK              move mouse to old location         robot mouseMove  int  oldMouseLocation getX     int  oldMouseLocation getY             catch  Exception ex              just ignore exception  or you can handle it as you want         finally           setAlwaysOnTop false                                   And  this works perfectly in my Fedora KDE 14   -

User · Answer

The rules governing what happens when you  toFront   a JFrame are the same in windows and in linux    -  if a window of the existing application is currently the focused window  then focus swaps to the requested window -  if not  the window merely flashes in the taskbar  BUT     -  new windows automatically get focus  So let s exploit this   You want to bring a window to the front  how to do it   Well     Create an empty non-purpose window Show it Wait for it to show up on screen  setVisible does that  When shown  request focus for the window you actually want to bring the focus to hide the empty window  destroy it   Or  in java code       unminimize if necessary this setExtendedState this getExtendedState    amp   JFrame ICONIFIED       don t blame me  blame my upbringing    or better yet  blame java   final JFrame newFrame   new JFrame    newFrame add new JLabel  boembabies  is this in front        newFrame pack    newFrame setVisible true   newFrame toFront     this toFront    this requestFocus        I m not 100  positive invokeLater is necessary  but it seems to be on    WinXP  I d be lying if I said I understand why SwingUtilities invokeLater new Runnable        Override public void run         newFrame setVisible false

User · Answer

I had the same problem with bringing a JFrame to the front under Ubuntu  Java 1 6 0 10   And the only way I could resolve it is by providing a WindowListener  Specifically  I had to set my JFrame to always stay on top whenever toFront   is invoked  and provide windowDeactivated event handler to setAlwaysOnTop false       So  here is the code that could be placed into a base JFrame  which is used to derive all application frames    Override public void setVisible final boolean visible         make sure that frame is marked as not disposed if it is asked to be visible   if  visible          setDisposed false            let s handle visibility      if   visible     isVisible         have to check this condition simply because super setVisible true  invokes toFront if frame was already visible       super setVisible visible               and bring frame to the front   in a strange and weird way   if  visible          toFront            Override public void toFront       super setVisible true     int state   super getExtendedState      state  amp    JFrame ICONIFIED    super setExtendedState state     super setAlwaysOnTop true     super toFront      super requestFocus      super setAlwaysOnTop false       Whenever your frame should be displayed or brought to front call frame setVisible true    Since I moved to Ubuntu 9 04 there seems to be no need in having a WindowListener for invoking super setAlwaysOnTop false  -- as can be observed  this code was moved to the methods toFront   and setVisible     Please note that method setVisible   should always be invoked on EDT

User · Answer

There are numerous caveats in the javadoc for the toFront   method which may be causing your problem    But I ll take a guess anyway  when  only the tab in the taskbar flashes   has the application been minimized  If so the following line from the javadoc may apply    If this Window is visible  brings this Window to the front and may make it the focused Window

User · Answer

Windows has the facility to prevent windows from stealing focus  instead it flashes the taskbar icon   In XP it s on by default  the only place I ve seen to change it is using TweakUI  but there is a registry setting somewhere    In Vista they may have changed the default and or exposed it as a user accessible setting with the out-of-the-box UI   Preventing windows from forcing themselves to the front and taking focus is a feature since Windows 2K  and I  for one  am thankful for it    That said  I have a little Java app I use to remind me to record my activities while working  and it makes itself the active window every 30 minutes  configurable  of course    It always works consistently under Windows XP and never flashes the title bar window   It uses the following code  called in the UI thread as a result of a timer event firing   if getState    Frame NORMAL    setState Frame NORMAL     toFront    repaint       the first line restores if minimized    actually it would restore it if maximized too  but I never have it so    While I usually have this app minimized  quite often it s simply behind my text editor   And  like I said  it always works   I do have an idea on what your problem could be - perhaps you have a race condition with the setVisible   call   toFront   may not be valid unless the window is actually displayed when it is called  I have had this problem with requestFocus   before   You may need to put the toFront   call in a UI listener on a window activated event   2014-09-07  At some point in time the above code stopped working  perhaps at Java 6 or 7  After some investigation and experimentation I had to update the code to override the window s toFront method do this  in conjunction with modified code from what is above    setVisible true   toFront    requestFocus    repaint          public  Override void toFront         int sta   super getExtendedState    amp   JFrame ICONIFIED  amp  JFrame NORMAL       super setExtendedState sta       super setAlwaysOnTop true       super toFront        super requestFocus        super setAlwaysOnTop false       As of Java 8 20  this code seems to be working fine

User · Answer

Hj  all methods of yours are not working for me  in Fedora KDE 14  I have a dirty way to do bring a window to front  while we re waiting for Oracle to fix this issue   import java awt MouseInfo  import java awt Point  import java awt Robot  import java awt event InputEvent   public class FrameMain extends javax swing JFrame              private final javax swing JFrame mainFrame   this     private void toggleVisible         setVisible  isVisible         if  isVisible            toFront          requestFocus          setAlwaysOnTop true         try             remember the last location of mouse         final Point oldMouseLocation   MouseInfo getPointerInfo   getLocation               simulate a mouse click on title bar of window         Robot robot   new Robot            robot mouseMove mainFrame getX     100  mainFrame getY     5           robot mousePress InputEvent BUTTON1 DOWN MASK           robot mouseRelease InputEvent BUTTON1 DOWN MASK              move mouse to old location         robot mouseMove  int  oldMouseLocation getX     int  oldMouseLocation getY             catch  Exception ex              just ignore exception  or you can handle it as you want         finally           setAlwaysOnTop false                                   And  this works perfectly in my Fedora KDE 14   -

User · Answer

This simple method worked for me perfectly in Windows 7       private void BringToFront             java awt EventQueue invokeLater new Runnable                  Override             public void run                     if jFrame    null                        jFrame toFront                        jFrame repaint

User · Answer

To avoid the window losing focus when its returning to visible after being hidden all that is needed is   setExtendedState JFrame NORMAL     Like so   defaultItem addActionListener new ActionListener                 public void actionPerformed ActionEvent e                    showWindow                    setExtendedState JFrame NORMAL

User · Answer

Here s a method that REALLY works  tested on Windows Vista   D     frame setExtendedState JFrame ICONIFIED      frame setExtendedState fullscreen   JFrame MAXIMIZED BOTH   JFrame NORMAL     The fullscreen variable indicates if you want the app to run full screen or windowed   This does not flash the task bar  but bring the window to front reliably

User · Answer

Windows has the facility to prevent windows from stealing focus  instead it flashes the taskbar icon   In XP it s on by default  the only place I ve seen to change it is using TweakUI  but there is a registry setting somewhere    In Vista they may have changed the default and or exposed it as a user accessible setting with the out-of-the-box UI   Preventing windows from forcing themselves to the front and taking focus is a feature since Windows 2K  and I  for one  am thankful for it    That said  I have a little Java app I use to remind me to record my activities while working  and it makes itself the active window every 30 minutes  configurable  of course    It always works consistently under Windows XP and never flashes the title bar window   It uses the following code  called in the UI thread as a result of a timer event firing   if getState    Frame NORMAL    setState Frame NORMAL     toFront    repaint       the first line restores if minimized    actually it would restore it if maximized too  but I never have it so    While I usually have this app minimized  quite often it s simply behind my text editor   And  like I said  it always works   I do have an idea on what your problem could be - perhaps you have a race condition with the setVisible   call   toFront   may not be valid unless the window is actually displayed when it is called  I have had this problem with requestFocus   before   You may need to put the toFront   call in a UI listener on a window activated event   2014-09-07  At some point in time the above code stopped working  perhaps at Java 6 or 7  After some investigation and experimentation I had to update the code to override the window s toFront method do this  in conjunction with modified code from what is above    setVisible true   toFront    requestFocus    repaint          public  Override void toFront         int sta   super getExtendedState    amp   JFrame ICONIFIED  amp  JFrame NORMAL       super setExtendedState sta       super setAlwaysOnTop true       super toFront        super requestFocus        super setAlwaysOnTop false       As of Java 8 20  this code seems to be working fine

User · Answer

I tested your answers and only Stefan Reich s one worked for me  Although I couldn t manage to restore the window to its previous state  maximized normal   I found this mutation better   view setState java awt Frame ICONIFIED   view setState java awt Frame NORMAL     That is setState instead of setExtendedState

User · Answer

Windows has the facility to prevent windows from stealing focus  instead it flashes the taskbar icon   In XP it s on by default  the only place I ve seen to change it is using TweakUI  but there is a registry setting somewhere    In Vista they may have changed the default and or exposed it as a user accessible setting with the out-of-the-box UI   Preventing windows from forcing themselves to the front and taking focus is a feature since Windows 2K  and I  for one  am thankful for it    That said  I have a little Java app I use to remind me to record my activities while working  and it makes itself the active window every 30 minutes  configurable  of course    It always works consistently under Windows XP and never flashes the title bar window   It uses the following code  called in the UI thread as a result of a timer event firing   if getState    Frame NORMAL    setState Frame NORMAL     toFront    repaint       the first line restores if minimized    actually it would restore it if maximized too  but I never have it so    While I usually have this app minimized  quite often it s simply behind my text editor   And  like I said  it always works   I do have an idea on what your problem could be - perhaps you have a race condition with the setVisible   call   toFront   may not be valid unless the window is actually displayed when it is called  I have had this problem with requestFocus   before   You may need to put the toFront   call in a UI listener on a window activated event   2014-09-07  At some point in time the above code stopped working  perhaps at Java 6 or 7  After some investigation and experimentation I had to update the code to override the window s toFront method do this  in conjunction with modified code from what is above    setVisible true   toFront    requestFocus    repaint          public  Override void toFront         int sta   super getExtendedState    amp   JFrame ICONIFIED  amp  JFrame NORMAL       super setExtendedState sta       super setAlwaysOnTop true       super toFront        super requestFocus        super setAlwaysOnTop false       As of Java 8 20  this code seems to be working fine

User · Answer

Simplest way I ve found that doesn t have inconsistency across platforms   setVisible false   setVisible true

User · Answer

To avoid the window losing focus when its returning to visible after being hidden all that is needed is   setExtendedState JFrame NORMAL     Like so   defaultItem addActionListener new ActionListener                 public void actionPerformed ActionEvent e                    showWindow                    setExtendedState JFrame NORMAL

User · Answer

A possible solution is   java awt EventQueue invokeLater new Runnable          Override     public void run             myFrame toFront            myFrame repaint

User · Answer

This simple method worked for me perfectly in Windows 7       private void BringToFront             java awt EventQueue invokeLater new Runnable                  Override             public void run                     if jFrame    null                        jFrame toFront                        jFrame repaint

User · Answer

There are numerous caveats in the javadoc for the toFront   method which may be causing your problem    But I ll take a guess anyway  when  only the tab in the taskbar flashes   has the application been minimized  If so the following line from the javadoc may apply    If this Window is visible  brings this Window to the front and may make it the focused Window

User · Answer

There are numerous caveats in the javadoc for the toFront   method which may be causing your problem    But I ll take a guess anyway  when  only the tab in the taskbar flashes   has the application been minimized  If so the following line from the javadoc may apply    If this Window is visible  brings this Window to the front and may make it the focused Window

User · Answer

A possible solution is   java awt EventQueue invokeLater new Runnable          Override     public void run             myFrame toFront            myFrame repaint

User · Answer

I tested your answers and only Stefan Reich s one worked for me  Although I couldn t manage to restore the window to its previous state  maximized normal   I found this mutation better   view setState java awt Frame ICONIFIED   view setState java awt Frame NORMAL     That is setState instead of setExtendedState

User · Answer

The rules governing what happens when you  toFront   a JFrame are the same in windows and in linux    -  if a window of the existing application is currently the focused window  then focus swaps to the requested window -  if not  the window merely flashes in the taskbar  BUT     -  new windows automatically get focus  So let s exploit this   You want to bring a window to the front  how to do it   Well     Create an empty non-purpose window Show it Wait for it to show up on screen  setVisible does that  When shown  request focus for the window you actually want to bring the focus to hide the empty window  destroy it   Or  in java code       unminimize if necessary this setExtendedState this getExtendedState    amp   JFrame ICONIFIED       don t blame me  blame my upbringing    or better yet  blame java   final JFrame newFrame   new JFrame    newFrame add new JLabel  boembabies  is this in front        newFrame pack    newFrame setVisible true   newFrame toFront     this toFront    this requestFocus        I m not 100  positive invokeLater is necessary  but it seems to be on    WinXP  I d be lying if I said I understand why SwingUtilities invokeLater new Runnable        Override public void run         newFrame setVisible false

User · Answer

I had the same problem with bringing a JFrame to the front under Ubuntu  Java 1 6 0 10   And the only way I could resolve it is by providing a WindowListener  Specifically  I had to set my JFrame to always stay on top whenever toFront   is invoked  and provide windowDeactivated event handler to setAlwaysOnTop false       So  here is the code that could be placed into a base JFrame  which is used to derive all application frames    Override public void setVisible final boolean visible         make sure that frame is marked as not disposed if it is asked to be visible   if  visible          setDisposed false            let s handle visibility      if   visible     isVisible         have to check this condition simply because super setVisible true  invokes toFront if frame was already visible       super setVisible visible               and bring frame to the front   in a strange and weird way   if  visible          toFront            Override public void toFront       super setVisible true     int state   super getExtendedState      state  amp    JFrame ICONIFIED    super setExtendedState state     super setAlwaysOnTop true     super toFront      super requestFocus      super setAlwaysOnTop false       Whenever your frame should be displayed or brought to front call frame setVisible true    Since I moved to Ubuntu 9 04 there seems to be no need in having a WindowListener for invoking super setAlwaysOnTop false  -- as can be observed  this code was moved to the methods toFront   and setVisible     Please note that method setVisible   should always be invoked on EDT

User · Answer

There are numerous caveats in the javadoc for the toFront   method which may be causing your problem    But I ll take a guess anyway  when  only the tab in the taskbar flashes   has the application been minimized  If so the following line from the javadoc may apply    If this Window is visible  brings this Window to the front and may make it the focused Window

User · Answer

Windows has the facility to prevent windows from stealing focus  instead it flashes the taskbar icon   In XP it s on by default  the only place I ve seen to change it is using TweakUI  but there is a registry setting somewhere    In Vista they may have changed the default and or exposed it as a user accessible setting with the out-of-the-box UI   Preventing windows from forcing themselves to the front and taking focus is a feature since Windows 2K  and I  for one  am thankful for it    That said  I have a little Java app I use to remind me to record my activities while working  and it makes itself the active window every 30 minutes  configurable  of course    It always works consistently under Windows XP and never flashes the title bar window   It uses the following code  called in the UI thread as a result of a timer event firing   if getState    Frame NORMAL    setState Frame NORMAL     toFront    repaint       the first line restores if minimized    actually it would restore it if maximized too  but I never have it so    While I usually have this app minimized  quite often it s simply behind my text editor   And  like I said  it always works   I do have an idea on what your problem could be - perhaps you have a race condition with the setVisible   call   toFront   may not be valid unless the window is actually displayed when it is called  I have had this problem with requestFocus   before   You may need to put the toFront   call in a UI listener on a window activated event   2014-09-07  At some point in time the above code stopped working  perhaps at Java 6 or 7  After some investigation and experimentation I had to update the code to override the window s toFront method do this  in conjunction with modified code from what is above    setVisible true   toFront    requestFocus    repaint          public  Override void toFront         int sta   super getExtendedState    amp   JFrame ICONIFIED  amp  JFrame NORMAL       super setExtendedState sta       super setAlwaysOnTop true       super toFront        super requestFocus        super setAlwaysOnTop false       As of Java 8 20  this code seems to be working fine

User · Answer

Simplest way I ve found that doesn t have inconsistency across platforms   setVisible false   setVisible true

User · Answer

Here s a method that REALLY works  tested on Windows Vista   D     frame setExtendedState JFrame ICONIFIED      frame setExtendedState fullscreen   JFrame MAXIMIZED BOTH   JFrame NORMAL     The fullscreen variable indicates if you want the app to run full screen or windowed   This does not flash the task bar  but bring the window to front reliably

User · Answer

A possible solution is   java awt EventQueue invokeLater new Runnable          Override     public void run             myFrame toFront            myFrame repaint

User · Answer

A possible solution is   java awt EventQueue invokeLater new Runnable          Override     public void run             myFrame toFront            myFrame repaint

[java] How to bring a window to the front?

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