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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-14T18:04:36+00:00

I have a C Legacy app, this app opens and closes windows as time

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I have a C Legacy app, this app opens and closes windows as time goes on (its a server app).

On the same machine, I’m running a C# winforms app.

Here is my goal:
My C# app sends my C app a win32 message. The C app opens the window up. I want the newly opened C window to bring to front, IN FRONT OF my C# app.

Here is the process currently:

  • C# sends win32 message to C
  • C receives, and opens new window
  • C attempts to bring itself forward
  • (I’m wondering at this point if C# should be telling C to ‘bring yourself in front of me’)

edit I have everything finished except for the part where I get the C window to come to front somehow. I currently message the C app, and it opens the new window (in front of all other windows of the same .exe), but under my C# app.

I’ve tried using 

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool AllowSetForegroundWindow(ServerWindowHandle);

But had no luck with it. Do I somehow need to have my C app have “ownership” of my .net app? The C# app is getting launched via a programinvoke.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You didn’t mention what operating system you were using but through some searching I found that SetForegroundWindow apparently does not always work on Windows 7. A workaround is described here. Perhaps you could take some ideas from there and apply them in either the C or C# app to get a working solution?

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