.Net Maximized Screen Ignores Taskbar

Question

I have a form I set to Maximize, but for some reason it's ignoring the taskbar and maximizing to the entire screen. Is that typical? Is there a work around?

I'm running windows XP with a dual monitor setup (taskbar in the first/primary window).

Answer 1

Set the form border to None before making it maximized.

This code will work in a single monitor:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
    this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
}

I haven't tested the dual monitor scenario since i don't have this at this moment. :P

EDIT: I didn't get it "Maximized Screen Ignores Taskbar". What does Ignores mean?

Do you want your form to cover the taskbar and fill the entire screen?

Answer 2

One thing I left out of the description--I'd turned off the maximize button. When I tested turning that property back on, the task bar showed up again. Apparently it assumes if you don't want a maximize button you are creating a kiosk-style application where you don't want your users to see anything but the application screen. Not exactly what I'd expect, but works I guess.

Answer 3

Is ShowInTaskbar property set to False?

Answer 4

If you don't want to re-enable the maximize button, you could manually set the size of the window :

private void Maximize()
{
    Screen screen = Screen.FromPoint(this.Location);
    this.Size = screen.WorkingArea.Size;
    this.Location = Point.Empty;
}

(WorkingArea is the area of the screen that can be used by applications, excluding the TaskBar and other toolbars)

Answer 5

If you are using FormBorderStyle.None then it is very simple to make sure it doesn't cover the taskbar when maximized:

this.MaximumSize = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Size;

It will probably work for other border styles and is probably the cleanest way to ensure your form does not cover the taskbar.