Binaryworld - Determine maximum size and the position of a maximized form ... [ VB -> Forms & Controls ]

When the user resizes a form with the mouse or the keyboard, or maximizes it, Windows sends the form a WM_GETMINMAXINFO message, with lParam pointing to a MINMAXINFO structure that the form must fill with information about the minimum and maximum size that it is willing to be resized. Using a subclassing technique you can trap this message and fill the structure yourself, instead of letting VB fill it with default values.

The following example shows how you can prevent a form from being resized larger than 600x400 pixels, and smaller than 300x200 pixels. Moreover, when the form is maximized, it will be centered on the screen:

Click here to copy the following block

' REQUIRES THE MSGHOOK.DLL COMPONENT
'
Const WM_GETMINMAXINFO = &H24
Private Type POINTAPI
  X As Long
  Y As Long
End Type
Private Type MINMAXINFO
  ptReserved As POINTAPI
  ptMaxSize As POINTAPI
  ptMaxPosition As POINTAPI
  ptMinTrackSize As POINTAPI
  ptMaxTrackSize As POINTAPI
End Type
Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As Any, _
  source As Any, ByVal numBytes As Long)

Dim WithEvents FormHook As MsgHook

Private Sub Form_Load()
  ' start form subclassing
  Set FormHook = New MsgHook
  FormHook.StartSubclass hWnd
End Sub

Private Sub FormHook_AfterMessage(ByVal uMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
  ByVal lParam As Long, retValue As Long)
  If uMsg = WM_GETMINMAXINFO Then
    ' Windows is querying the form for its
    ' minimum and maximum size and position.
    Dim mmInfo As MINMAXINFO
    ' Read contents of structure pointed to by lParam.
    CopyMemory mmInfo, ByVal lParam, Len(mmInfo)
    With mmInfo
      ' ptMaxSize is the size of the maximized form.
      .ptMaxSize.X = 600
      .ptMaxSize.Y = 400
      ' ptMaxPosition is the position of the maximized form.
      .ptMaxPosition.X = ((Screen.Width / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX) - 600) \ _
        2
      .ptMaxPosition.Y = ((Screen.Height / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY) - 400) \ _
        2
      ' ptMinTrackSize is the minimum size of a form when resizing with
      ' the mouse.
      .ptMinTrackSize.X = 300
      .ptMinTrackSize.Y = 200
      ' ptMinTrackSize is the maximum size of a form when resizing with
      ' the mouse.
      ' (It is usually equal to ptMaxSize.)
      .ptMaxTrackSize.X = 600
      .ptMaxTrackSize.Y = 400
    End With
    ' Copy back in the original structure in memory.
    CopyMemory ByVal lParam, mmInfo, Len(mmInfo)
    ' Must return zero to inform that the structure has been modified.
    retValue = 0
  End If
End Sub