Setting the start position for OpenFileDialog/SaveFileDialog

Question

For any custom dialog (form) in a WinForm application I can set its size and position before I display it with:

form.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual         


        

Answer 1

Here's how I did it:

The point where I want to display the OpenFileDialog:

Thread posThread = new Thread(positionOpenDialog);
posThread.Start();

DialogResult dr = ofd.ShowDialog();

The repositioning code:

[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "FindWindow", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindowByCaption(IntPtr ZeroOnly, string lpWindowName);

[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SetWindowPos")]
public static extern IntPtr SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, int hWndInsertAfter, int x, int Y, int cx, int cy, int wFlags);


/// 

/// Find the OpenFileDialog window when it appears, and position it so
/// that we can see both dialogs at once.  There is no easier way to
/// do this (&^%$! Microsoft!).
/// 
private void positionOpenDialog ()
{
    int count = 0;
    IntPtr zero = (IntPtr)0;
    const int SWP_NOSIZE = 0x0001;
    IntPtr wind;

    while ((wind = FindWindowByCaption(zero, "Open")) == (IntPtr)0)
        if (++count > 100)
            return;             // Find window failed.
        else
            Thread.Sleep(5);

    SetWindowPos(wind, 0, Right, Top, 0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE);
}

I start a thread that looks for a window with the "Open" title. (Typically found in 3 iterations or 15 milliseconds.) Then I set its position with the obtained handle. (See SetWindowPos documentation for the position/size parameters.)

Kludgy.