Inveigled By Design

When you get set a WPF window’s WindowStyle to None, the window will cover up the task bar when you set its WindowState to Maximized. I’ve seen various approaches to handling this through:

• Overriding the WindowProc function and handling the WM_GETMINMAXINFO message
• Using the SystemParameters for the primary screen

Another approach that seems to work quite well is to use the functionality in the System.Windows.Forms and System.Windows.Interop libraries to get the screen working area size from the monitor it is being displayed on. Add System.Windows.Forms and System.Drawing in the project references. Then add a handler for the Window.Loaded event in the xaml:

Loaded="Window_Loaded"

Implement the Window_Loaded function as follows:

private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    IntPtr windowHandle;
    Rectangle workingArea;
    Screen screen;

    windowHandle = new WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle;
    screen = Screen.FromHandle(windowHandle);
    workingArea = screen.WorkingArea;

    Left = workingArea.Left;
    Top = workingArea.Top;
    Width = workingArea.Width;
    Height = workingArea.Height;
}

The WindowInteropHelper helps bridge the WPF/Forms gap by giving us a handle for the window. While there are some drawbacks to having to include the Windows.Forms and Drawing libraries, this should work for any screen the window is being displayed on.