Question

I’m trying to generate a bitmap containing what would be displayed if a window were to be restored to the desktop. GetWindowRect returns it’s minimized size, GetWindowplacement returns where it would go. But I can’t find a api that tells me how big it would be.

How do I determine how big the window would be if restored?

Answer 1

GetWindowPlacement is indeed what you want. Use the rcNormalPosition which is a RECT containing the coordinates of the normalised position. Or, if WPF_RESTORETOMAXIMIZED is in the window placement flags then use the work area of the monitor with which the window is associated.

Having said that, GetWindowPlacement can sometimes return misleading information in rcNormalPosition on Windows 7. I’ve come across this when you use the half screen Aero snap feature. After you do that, and if the window is still normalised when you ask the question, you will find that GetWindowPlacement returns in rcNormalPosition a RECT that does not match the Aero snap position. Deal with that by simply using GetWindowRect if the window is normalised.