How to keep a window in front of another applications window - c++

Question

I needed to display flashing border in on top of chosen application's window (in my example the application is cmd.exe). I used layered windows for this purpose. Everything works fine, except the one thing: I can't bring target window (in my case - cmd.exe) in front if it is overlapped by another window (if another window is in the foreground). It works when I maximize/minimize target window, but doesn't work in case when target windows is overlapped. I can't restore in clicking on app's icon in the taskbar.
const COLORREF MY_COLOR_KEY = RGB(255, 128, 0);
HWND cmdHanlde = NULL;
constexpr unsigned int timerIdWindowUpdate = 1;
constexpr unsigned int timerIdFrameColor = 2;
bool tick = false;
bool minimized = false;
int APIENTRY wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance,
_In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
_In_ LPWSTR lpCmdLine,
_In_ int nCmdShow)
{
WNDCLASSEX wc = {};
wc.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
wc.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
wc.lpszClassName = L"MyTransparentFrame";
wc.hCursor = ::LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
wc.hbrBackground = NULL;
wc.lpfnWndProc = [](HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wp, LPARAM lp) -> LRESULT
{
switch (msg)
{
case WM_PAINT:
{
PAINTSTRUCT ps{};
HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hwnd, &ps);
RECT rc{}; GetClientRect(hwnd, &rc);
HPEN hPen = CreatePen(PS_SOLID, 5, tick ? RGB(255, 128, 1) : RGB(255, 201, 14));
HBRUSH hBrush = CreateSolidBrush(MY_COLOR_KEY);
HGDIOBJ hOldPen = SelectObject(hdc, hPen);
HGDIOBJ hOldBrush = SelectObject(hdc, hBrush);
Rectangle(hdc, rc.left, rc.top, rc.right, rc.bottom);
if (hOldPen)
SelectObject(hdc, hOldPen);
if (hOldBrush)
SelectObject(hdc, hOldBrush);
if (hPen)
DeleteObject(hPen);
if (hBrush)
DeleteObject(hBrush);
EndPaint(hwnd, &ps);
}
break;
case WM_TIMER:
{
if (wp == timerIdWindowUpdate)
{
WINDOWPLACEMENT windowPlacement = { sizeof(WINDOWPLACEMENT), };
if (::GetWindowPlacement(cmdHanlde, &windowPlacement))
{
if (windowPlacement.showCmd == SW_SHOWMINIMIZED
|| !IsWindowVisible(cmdHanlde))
{
minimized = true;
}
else
{
RECT rect = {};
DwmGetWindowAttribute(cmdHanlde, DWMWA_EXTENDED_FRAME_BOUNDS, &rect, sizeof(rect));
MONITORINFO monInfo;
monInfo.cbSize = sizeof(MONITORINFO);
GetMonitorInfoW(MonitorFromWindow(cmdHanlde, MONITOR_DEFAULTTONEAREST), &monInfo);
if (cmdHanlde != NULL && ::IsZoomed(cmdHanlde))
{
rect.left = monInfo.rcWork.left;
rect.top = monInfo.rcWork.top;
rect.bottom = monInfo.rcWork.bottom > rect.bottom ? rect.bottom : monInfo.rcWork.bottom;
rect.right = monInfo.rcWork.right > rect.right ? rect.right : monInfo.rcWork.right;
}
if (minimized)
{
::SetWindowPos(hwnd, cmdHanlde, rect.left, rect.top, rect.right - rect.left, rect.bottom - rect.top, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOACTIVATE);
minimized = false;
}
else
{
::SetWindowPos(cmdHanlde, hwnd, rect.left, rect.top, rect.right - rect.left, rect.bottom - rect.top, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOACTIVATE);
::SetWindowPos(hwnd, 0, rect.left, rect.top, rect.right - rect.left, rect.bottom - rect.top,
SWP_SHOWWINDOW);
}
}
}
}
else if (wp == timerIdFrameColor)
{
tick = !tick;
::RedrawWindow(hwnd, NULL, NULL, RDW_INVALIDATE);
}
break;
}
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
default:
return DefWindowProcW(hwnd, msg, wp, lp);
}
return 0;
};
RegisterClassEx(&wc);
HWND hwnd = CreateWindowExW(WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW | WS_EX_NOACTIVATE | WS_EX_LAYERED | WS_EX_TRANSPARENT, wc.lpszClassName, L"", WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_DISABLED,
0, 0, 0, 0, nullptr, nullptr, nullptr, nullptr);
::SetTimer(hwnd, timerIdWindowUpdate, 50, NULL);
::SetTimer(hwnd, timerIdFrameColor, 500, NULL);
SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hwnd, MY_COLOR_KEY, 255, LWA_COLORKEY);
ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_SHOW);
cmdHanlde = FindWindow(L"ConsoleWindowClass", L"C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe");
MSG msg;
while (GetMessage(&msg, nullptr, 0, 0))
{
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
return (int)msg.wParam;
}
So the question here is how to restore target window after it was overlapped by another window?

Answer 1

if (minimized) {
ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_HIDE);
minimized = false;
} else {
SetWindowPos(hwnd, 0, rect.left, rect.top, rect.right - rect.left,
rect.bottom - rect.top, SWP_NOZORDER);
SetWindowPos(hwnd, GetNextWindow(cmdHandle, GW_HWNDPREV), 0, 0, 0, 0,
SWP_SHOWWINDOW | SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE);
}