VB.NET - Move form to next monitor and maximise

Question

Does anyone know how to move a form to the next window to the right (or cycle around if current monitor is the last one) and maximize it? I've been playing around and written some code (self taught, so please be kind) which moves the form if it is in a "Normal" windowstate, but I'm stuck on the maximizing part. I would have thought WindowState = Maximized would do it, but setting that on the form results in the move function not responding.

Below is the code I have so far:

Module Monitor

    Public totalMonitors As Integer = System.Windows.Forms.Screen.AllScreens.Count

    Private xPositionForMonitors As New Dictionary(Of Integer, Integer)
    Private yPositionForMonitors As New Dictionary(Of Integer, Integer)
    Private currentMonitorIndex As Integer
    Private newMonitorIndex As Integer

    Public Sub buildMonitorArray()

        For m As Integer = 0 To (totalMonitors - 1)
            xPositionForMonitors.Add(m, System.Windows.Forms.Screen.AllScreens(m).WorkingArea.Location.X)
            yPositionForMonitors.Add(m, System.Windows.Forms.Screen.AllScreens(m).WorkingArea.Location.Y)
        Next

    End Sub

    Public Sub moveToNextMonitor(targWindow As Form)

        identifyCurrentMonitor(targWindow)
        targWindow.SetDesktopLocation(xPositionForMonitors(newMonitorIndex) + 1, 0)

    End Sub

    Private Sub identifyCurrentMonitor(targWindow As Form)

        For c As Integer = 0 To (totalMonitors - 1)
            If targWindow.Location.X + 10 > xPositionForMonitors(c) Then
                currentMonitorIndex = c
            End If
        Next

        newMonitorIndex = currentMonitorIndex + 1
        If newMonitorIndex = totalMonitors Then newMonitorIndex = 0

    End Sub

End Module

Currently, I'm calling the buildMonitorArray function on form load, and then using moveToNextMonitor(Me) on the form.

Did you set the WindowState to FormWindowState.Maximized after the moveToNextMonitor? — Steve, Dec 08 '14 at 22:54
In Windows 7/8, it's just Windows Key + Shift Key + Right Arrow to move to the monitor on the right, and Windows Key + Up Arrow to maximize. — Joel Coehoorn, Dec 08 '14 at 23:52

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 08 '14 at 23:48

You need to set the WindowState to Normal before you move it and then set it back to its original state once it is moved. I have converted your code to a class so that you don't have to worry about calling the buildMonitorArray method before you move any forms. To call your method, you will need to call Monitor.moveToNextMonitor since this is now a class. If you still prefer to use a module, then you can just port the code changes over into your module and it should still work the same way.

Public Class Monitor

Shared Sub New()
    buildMonitorArray()
End Sub

Public Shared totalMonitors As Integer = System.Windows.Forms.Screen.AllScreens.Count

Private Shared xPositionForMonitors As New Dictionary(Of Integer, Integer)
Private Shared yPositionForMonitors As New Dictionary(Of Integer, Integer)

Public Shared Sub buildMonitorArray()
    For m As Integer = 0 To (totalMonitors - 1)
        xPositionForMonitors.Add(m, System.Windows.Forms.Screen.AllScreens(m).WorkingArea.Location.X)
        yPositionForMonitors.Add(m, System.Windows.Forms.Screen.AllScreens(m).WorkingArea.Location.Y)
    Next
End Sub

Public Shared Sub moveToNextMonitor(targWindow As Form)
    Dim newMonitorIndex As Integer = identifyCurrentMonitor(targWindow)
    Dim originalState = targWindow.WindowState
    Try
        If originalState <> FormWindowState.Normal Then
            targWindow.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal
        End If
        targWindow.SetDesktopLocation(xPositionForMonitors(newMonitorIndex) + 1, 0)
    Finally
        targWindow.WindowState = originalState
    End Try
End Sub

Private Shared Function identifyCurrentMonitor(targWindow As Form) As Integer
    Dim currentMonitorIndex As Integer
    Dim newMonitorIndex As Integer
    For c As Integer = 0 To (totalMonitors - 1)
        If targWindow.Location.X + 10 > xPositionForMonitors(c) Then
            currentMonitorIndex = c
        End If
    Next

    newMonitorIndex = currentMonitorIndex + 1
    If newMonitorIndex = totalMonitors Then newMonitorIndex = 0
    Return newMonitorIndex
End Function

End Class

Thanks so much user3308241 :) Works brilliantly. I kinda get the idea behind the class after looking at the code, but like I said... self taught. Where would be the best place to start learning this OOP? — Clinton Thorncraft, Dec 09 '14 at 22:19
This class is not actually a really good example of OOP because everything is shared. I am self-taught as well, and I started with the book Visual Basic.net for dummies. Since then, I have read a lot of other programming books and made a great career out of developing software. Nowadays, you can learn just about everything through the web. If you are interested in developing software professionally, I would recommend learning C# because it is more widely used than vb.net. Best of luck to you. — user3308241, Dec 10 '14 at 23:05

VB.NET - Move form to next monitor and maximise

1 Answers1