Question

In my Win32 VCL application I am using ShellExecute to launch a number of smaller Delphi console applications. Is there a way to control the position of those console windows? I would like to launch them centered on screen.

Answer 1

If you have control over the console application, You could set the console window position from inside the console application itself:

program Project1;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
  Windows,
  MultiMon;

function GetConsoleWindow: HWND; stdcall; external kernel32 name 'GetConsoleWindow';

procedure SetConsoleWindowPosition;
var
  ConsoleHwnd: HWND;
  R: TRect;
begin
  ConsoleHwnd := GetConsoleWindow;
  // Center the console window
  GetWindowRect(ConsoleHwnd, R);
  SetWindowPos(ConsoleHwnd, 0,
    (GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXVIRTUALSCREEN) - (R.Right - R.Left)) div 2,
    (GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYVIRTUALSCREEN) - (R.Bottom - R.Top)) div 2,
    0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE);
end;

begin
  SetConsoleWindowPosition;  
  // Other code...
  Readln;
end.

If you can’t recompile the console application, you could use FindWindow('ConsoleWindowClass', '<path to the executable>') to obtain the console window handle (the Title parameter could vary if it was set via SetConsoleTitle).
The downside with this approach, is that the console window is seen “jumping” from it’s default position to it’s new position (tested with Windows XP).