Tech Articles


Resizing a Response Window or User Object


Here is a technique you can use to resize a response window or userobject as needed. It makes use of the GetWindowLong and SetWindowLong Windows API methods. The oldest reference I found to this is from Eric Aling back in 2000.

In a nutshell, you are changing the border around the object to one which Windows allows to be resized. What's even nicer about this is the standard resize events are triggered so you can reposition/change objects within the window as well (PFC resize service for example). From Eric's original post:

"The Get function retrieves the complete definition of the window in 
a big long variable. All the bits in this long value describe the window. 
So there are bits for the type of border (which indicates if a window is 
resizable), menu, colors etc.etc. We can modify this long value, altering 
the design of the window. Using the SetWindowLong() we update the window with 
our specific modifications."

I used this in ancestor code of a userobject I use to create visible panels within the main window.

// Unicode declarations, used 'A' for ANSI
function long GetWindowLongW (long hWindow, integer nIndex) Library "user32.dll"
function long SetWindowLongW (long hWindow, integer nIndex, long dwNewLong) library "user32.dll"

// code in my post constructor event
n_cst_numerical lnv_num // PFC numeric service
long        ll_Styles
boolean        lb_Control

constant long    WS_THICKFRAME = 262144
constant long    WS_SYSMENU = 524288

ll_styles = GetWindowLongw(handle(THIS), -16)
if ll_styles <> 0 then

    ll_styles = lnv_num.of_BitWiseOr(ll_styles, WS_THICKFRAME)
// don't need control menu but leave this for reference 
//    if ab_Control then 
//        ll_styles = lnv_num.of_BitWiseOr(ll_styles, WS_SYSMENU)
//    end if

    SetWindowLongW(handle(THIS), -16, ll_styles)
end if
At first my UO cannot be resized.

Non resizable window

 

 

 

Now it can!

Resizable window

 

 

 

I've seen other references to these API calls for manipulating windows for other things but I have not investigated further.

Comments (0)
There are no comments posted here yet

Find Articles by Tag

Jenkins PowerScript (PS) Installation Web API Event UI DataWindow JSON Windows OS Debugger ActiveX Open Source Performance Design Data Event Handler PowerBuilder .NET Std Framework NativePDF Service Trial Linux OS .NET Assembly SqlModelMapper Error Database Elevate Conference Authorization SnapDevelop SnapObjects DataWindow PBNI Export Encryption API Icon Graph Automated Testing iOS OrcaScript DevOps Database Table CoderObject Import JSON CrypterObject Platform 64-bit Testing Database Table Schema Encoding OAuth 2.0 Stored Procedure Migration Expression Resize Filter Script SQL Server Event Handling PDF PowerBuilder Compiler UI Modernization Mobile TLS/SSL Database Connection Branch & Merge PBVM Database Object Array PFC Source Code Visual Studio Debug File SDK SOAP OLE TFS Export JSON RibbonBar TreeView Model Variable JSONGenerator OAuth PowerServer Web Windows 10 Icons SQL DLL Menu DataType DragDrop Bug .NET DataStore C# Syntax Repository Excel REST 32-bit Android CI/CD Deployment Configuration License PowerServer Mobile PostgreSQL ODBC driver Web Service Proxy Validation Database Painter Charts PowerBuilder (Appeon) Window Git BLOB TortoiseGit Authentication JSONParser HTTPClient UI Themes Messagging PBDOM RibbonBar Builder COM Database Table Data IDE PDFlib Class PostgreSQL Text Sort SVN WebBrowser ODBC Source Control Outlook RESTClient Transaction SqlExecutor XML MessageBox RichTextEdit Control Interface Application WinAPI GhostScript Debugging Oracle Database Profile InfoMaker Azure External Functions JSON Import