Question

I’m sorry if this has been asked but I cannot find an answer to it. I may not be searching the right terms.

I have a console program that needs to be run in the background. The user needs the console to stay open white it runs, but need it to not become the active window when it starts. They would like to continue what they are currently working on and not have to minimize the console every time it starts.

This console application runs multiple times, each time with a new console window. How can I “hide” the console behind the current running task/window?

Answer 1

You can programmatically minimize/restore console windows using below code:

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Class1
    {
        [System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll")]
        private static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
        private const int SW_MINIMIZE = 6;
        private const int SW_MAXIMIZE = 3;
        private const int SW_RESTORE = 9;

        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            IntPtr winHandle =
                System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle;
            ShowWindow(winHandle, SW_MINIMIZE);
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);
            ShowWindow(winHandle, SW_RESTORE);
        }
    }
}

If you’re using Process.Start to start the console app, better use this:

System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo process= new
    System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(@"MyApplication.exe");
process.WindowStyle=System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
process.UseShellExecute=false; // Optional
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(process);