center MessageBox in parent form

Question

Is there a easy way to center MessageBox in parent form in .net 2.0

Answer 1

From the first result returned by Google:

A Messagebox is always centered on the screen. You can provide an owner, but that is just for Z-order, not centering. The only way is to use Win32 hooks and center it yourself. You can find code doing that online if you search for it.

Much easier is to just write your own message box class and add centering functionality. Then you can also add default captioning, Do not show again-checkbox and making them modeless.

"Win32 hooks" probably refers to using SetWindowsHookEx as shown in this example.

Answer 2

I really needed this in C# and found Center MessageBox C#

Here's a nicely formatted version

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;   

public class MessageBoxEx
{
    private static IWin32Window _owner;
    private static HookProc _hookProc;
    private static IntPtr _hHook;

    public static DialogResult Show(string text)
    {
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(text);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(string text, string caption)
    {
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(text, caption);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons)
    {
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(text, caption, buttons);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon)
    {
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(text, caption, buttons, icon);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defButton)
    {
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(text, caption, buttons, icon, defButton);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defButton, MessageBoxOptions options)
    {
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(text, caption, buttons, icon, defButton, options);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(IWin32Window owner, string text)
    {
        _owner = owner;
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(owner, text);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(IWin32Window owner, string text, string caption)
    {
        _owner = owner;
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(owner, text, caption);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(IWin32Window owner, string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons)
    {
        _owner = owner;
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(owner, text, caption, buttons);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(IWin32Window owner, string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon)
    {
        _owner = owner;
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(owner, text, caption, buttons, icon);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(IWin32Window owner, string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defButton)
    {
        _owner = owner;
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(owner, text, caption, buttons, icon, defButton);
    }

    public static DialogResult Show(IWin32Window owner, string text, string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defButton, MessageBoxOptions options)
    {
        _owner = owner;
        Initialize();
        return MessageBox.Show(owner, text, caption, buttons, icon,
                               defButton, options);
    }

    public delegate IntPtr HookProc(int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

    public delegate void TimerProc(IntPtr hWnd, uint uMsg, UIntPtr nIDEvent, uint dwTime);

    public const int WH_CALLWNDPROCRET = 12;

    public enum CbtHookAction : int
    {
        HCBT_MOVESIZE = 0,
        HCBT_MINMAX = 1,
        HCBT_QS = 2,
        HCBT_CREATEWND = 3,
        HCBT_DESTROYWND = 4,
        HCBT_ACTIVATE = 5,
        HCBT_CLICKSKIPPED = 6,
        HCBT_KEYSKIPPED = 7,
        HCBT_SYSCOMMAND = 8,
        HCBT_SETFOCUS = 9
    }

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern bool GetWindowRect(IntPtr hWnd, ref Rectangle lpRect);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern int MoveWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int X, int Y, int nWidth, int nHeight, bool bRepaint);

    [DllImport("User32.dll")]
    public static extern UIntPtr SetTimer(IntPtr hWnd, UIntPtr nIDEvent, uint uElapse, TimerProc lpTimerFunc);

    [DllImport("User32.dll")]
    public static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern IntPtr SetWindowsHookEx(int idHook, HookProc lpfn, IntPtr hInstance, int threadId);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern int UnhookWindowsHookEx(IntPtr idHook);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern IntPtr CallNextHookEx(IntPtr idHook, int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern int GetWindowTextLength(IntPtr hWnd);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern int GetWindowText(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder text, int maxLength);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern int EndDialog(IntPtr hDlg, IntPtr nResult);

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    public struct CWPRETSTRUCT
    {
        public IntPtr lResult;
        public IntPtr lParam;
        public IntPtr wParam;
        public uint message;
        public IntPtr hwnd;
    } ;

    static MessageBoxEx()
    {
        _hookProc = new HookProc(MessageBoxHookProc);
        _hHook = IntPtr.Zero;
    }

    private static void Initialize()
    {
        if (_hHook != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            throw new NotSupportedException("multiple calls are not supported");
        }

        if (_owner != null)
        {
            _hHook = SetWindowsHookEx(WH_CALLWNDPROCRET, _hookProc, IntPtr.Zero, AppDomain.GetCurrentThreadId());
        }
    }

    private static IntPtr MessageBoxHookProc(int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
    {
        if (nCode < 0)
        {
            return CallNextHookEx(_hHook, nCode, wParam, lParam);
        }

        CWPRETSTRUCT msg = (CWPRETSTRUCT)Marshal.PtrToStructure(lParam, typeof(CWPRETSTRUCT));
        IntPtr hook = _hHook;

        if (msg.message == (int)CbtHookAction.HCBT_ACTIVATE)
        {
            try
            {
                CenterWindow(msg.hwnd);
            }
            finally
            {
                UnhookWindowsHookEx(_hHook);
                _hHook = IntPtr.Zero;
            }
        }

        return CallNextHookEx(hook, nCode, wParam, lParam);
    }

    private static void CenterWindow(IntPtr hChildWnd)
    {
        Rectangle recChild = new Rectangle(0, 0, 0, 0);
        bool success = GetWindowRect(hChildWnd, ref recChild);

        int width = recChild.Width - recChild.X;
        int height = recChild.Height - recChild.Y;

        Rectangle recParent = new Rectangle(0, 0, 0, 0);
        success = GetWindowRect(_owner.Handle, ref recParent);

        Point ptCenter = new Point(0, 0);
        ptCenter.X = recParent.X + ((recParent.Width - recParent.X) / 2);
        ptCenter.Y = recParent.Y + ((recParent.Height - recParent.Y) / 2);


        Point ptStart = new Point(0, 0);
        ptStart.X = (ptCenter.X - (width / 2));
        ptStart.Y = (ptCenter.Y - (height / 2));

        ptStart.X = (ptStart.X < 0) ? 0 : ptStart.X;
        ptStart.Y = (ptStart.Y < 0) ? 0 : ptStart.Y;

        int result = MoveWindow(hChildWnd, ptStart.X, ptStart.Y, width,
                                height, false);
    }

}