What is the "right" way to bring a Windows Forms Application to the foreground?

Question

I am writing a Windows Forms Application in C#. I need to be able to bring it to the foreground. After some Googling and experimentation, I have a working solution that looks pretty hacky.

I would like to know the elegant way to do this, if there is one. I need the app to restore and come to the foreground whether it was minimized, or not minimized but in background.

Current code looks like this:

WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
BringToFront();
Focus();

Answer 1

Have you tried Form.Activate?

This code seems to do what you want, by restoring the form to normal size if minimized and then activating it to set the focus:

if (this.WindowState == FormWindowState.Minimized)
{
    this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
}

this.Activate();

Warning: this is annoying! If it's just an app for your personal use, as you say, maybe you can live with it. :)

Answer 2

You can set .TopMost to true, call DoEvents(), and then set .TopMost back to false. It's still hackish, but if Activate and Show aren't working it's better than minimizing/re-showing.

Answer 3

     private static class User32
 {
  [DllImport("User32.dll")]
  internal static extern IntPtr SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);

  [DllImport("user32.dll")]
  internal static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);

  internal static readonly IntPtr InvalidHandleValue = IntPtr.Zero;
  internal const int SW_MAXIMIZE = 3;
 }
 public void Activate()
 {
  Process currentProcess = Process.GetCurrentProcess();
  IntPtr hWnd = currentProcess.MainWindowHandle;
  if (hWnd != User32.InvalidHandleValue)
  {
   User32.SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);
   User32.ShowWindow(hWnd, User32.SW_MAXIMIZE);
  }
 }