Making a Front Panel of a PPL VI Floating or Always on Top

Mr._Jim · ‎08-01-2023

Hey there, hopefully this is a pretty easy one for someone out there.

I have been banging my head against the wall and have not had any success yet, and I probably need to step away and have some other eyes on this.

The background:

I have a packed library that contains VIs used by a custom TestStand model plugin.

In a certain scenario, I want to display a large yellow banner that floats above every application in Windows.

This used to work some time ago using user32.dll, but at some point it stopped.

I have tried the old methods of user32.dll, FP.IsFrontMost, I've fussed around with .NET methods, but nothing seems to be working.

Am I missing something simple, and has anyone here done this before?

I'm using LabVIEW 2021 x64 and Windows 11.

Thanks,

Mr. Jim

zou · ‎08-01-2023

Download this tool:

George Zou

Mr._Jim · ‎08-01-2023

Thanks, Zou!

Rolf (@rolfk) managed to figure out how to do this properly with user32.dll.

I had tried this earlier, but Rolf's adjustments for data types seem to have fixed the issue.

It seems to be an annoyingly nuanced thing to get just right.

If someone else finds this post, and prior versions aren't working for them, here is what is working for me today.

If the snippet isn't working out for you, I'm also attaching a VI.

It's really just copied out of Rolph's version of WINUTIL.LLB.

Thanks again!

LabVIEW