Question

I want to prevent the user from maximizing the Windows Form to full screen so I have disabled the Maximize button. However, I want to be able to have the user ‘restore’ the Form. When they click the Restore button I want it to show a different, smaller, minified, form, which will show them a maximize button which will return the use to the original form.

Is there a way to do this?

Thanks.

edit: You don’t understand, I’m not preventing the user from resizing the form. Whats happening is when the click the restore button, it will hide the form and open a new one with less controls on it. When they click maximize on the smaller form, it will return to the original form.

Answer 1

I looked at a similar problem to this at work and the only solutions I could find involved setting undocumented window styles, which I was not inclined to do.

Therefore the best solution to your problem I would think would be to hide the current minimize/maximize/restore buttons and add your own using some ownerdraw or other commands.

Looking at this from a user interaction perspective I would want the minimize/maximize/restore buttons to do exactly the same thing for your application as they do for all others. Overriding that functionality would create confusion for your users, hence why I would recommend creating different buttons either on the title bar or somewhere else on your interface that perform this function.