How to hide close button in WPF window?

Question

I'm writing a modal dialog in WPF. How do I set a WPF window to not have a close button? I'd still like for its WindowState to have a normal title bar.

I found ResizeMode, WindowState, and WindowStyle, but none of those properties allow me to hide the close button but show the title bar, as in modal dialogs.

Answer 1

WPF doesn't have a built-in property to hide the title bar's Close button, but you can do it with a few lines of P/Invoke.

First, add these declarations to your Window class:

private const int GWL_STYLE = -16;
private const int WS_SYSMENU = 0x80000;
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern int GetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern int SetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex, int dwNewLong);

Then put this code in the Window's Loaded event:

var hwnd = new WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle;
SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE, GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE) & ~WS_SYSMENU);

And there you go: no more Close button. You also won't have a window icon on the left side of the title bar, which means no system menu, even when you right-click the title bar - they all go together.

Important note: all this does is hide the button. The user can still close the window! If the user presses Alt+F4, or closes the app via the taskbar, the window will still close.

If you don't want to allow the window to close before the background thread is done, then you could also override OnClosing and set Cancel to true, as Gabe suggested.

Answer 2

I just got to similar problem and Joe White's solution seems to me simple and clean. I reused it and defined it as an attached property of Window

public class WindowBehavior
{
    private static readonly Type OwnerType = typeof (WindowBehavior);

    #region HideCloseButton (attached property)

    public static readonly DependencyProperty HideCloseButtonProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "HideCloseButton",
            typeof (bool),
            OwnerType,
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(false, new PropertyChangedCallback(HideCloseButtonChangedCallback)));

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(Window))]
    public static bool GetHideCloseButton(Window obj) {
        return (bool)obj.GetValue(HideCloseButtonProperty);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(Window))]
    public static void SetHideCloseButton(Window obj, bool value) {
        obj.SetValue(HideCloseButtonProperty, value);
    }

    private static void HideCloseButtonChangedCallback(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var window = d as Window;
        if (window == null) return;

        var hideCloseButton = (bool)e.NewValue;
        if (hideCloseButton && !GetIsHiddenCloseButton(window)) {
            if (!window.IsLoaded) {
                window.Loaded += HideWhenLoadedDelegate;
            }
            else {
                HideCloseButton(window);
            }
            SetIsHiddenCloseButton(window, true);
        }
        else if (!hideCloseButton && GetIsHiddenCloseButton(window)) {
            if (!window.IsLoaded) {
                window.Loaded -= ShowWhenLoadedDelegate;
            }
            else {
                ShowCloseButton(window);
            }
            SetIsHiddenCloseButton(window, false);
        }
    }

    #region Win32 imports

    private const int GWL_STYLE = -16;
    private const int WS_SYSMENU = 0x80000;
    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern int GetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex);
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern int SetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex, int dwNewLong);

    #endregion

    private static readonly RoutedEventHandler HideWhenLoadedDelegate = (sender, args) => {
        if (sender is Window == false) return;
        var w = (Window)sender;
        HideCloseButton(w);
        w.Loaded -= HideWhenLoadedDelegate;
    };

    private static readonly RoutedEventHandler ShowWhenLoadedDelegate = (sender, args) => {
        if (sender is Window == false) return;
        var w = (Window)sender;
        ShowCloseButton(w);
        w.Loaded -= ShowWhenLoadedDelegate;
    };

    private static void HideCloseButton(Window w) {
        var hwnd = new WindowInteropHelper(w).Handle;
        SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE, GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE) & ~WS_SYSMENU);
    }

    private static void ShowCloseButton(Window w) {
        var hwnd = new WindowInteropHelper(w).Handle;
        SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE, GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE) | WS_SYSMENU);
    }

    #endregion

    #region IsHiddenCloseButton (readonly attached property)

    private static readonly DependencyPropertyKey IsHiddenCloseButtonKey =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttachedReadOnly(
            "IsHiddenCloseButton",
            typeof (bool),
            OwnerType,
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(false));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsHiddenCloseButtonProperty =
        IsHiddenCloseButtonKey.DependencyProperty;

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(Window))]
    public static bool GetIsHiddenCloseButton(Window obj) {
        return (bool)obj.GetValue(IsHiddenCloseButtonProperty);
    }

    private static void SetIsHiddenCloseButton(Window obj, bool value) {
        obj.SetValue(IsHiddenCloseButtonKey, value);
    }

    #endregion

}

Then in XAML you just set it like this:

<Window 
    x:Class="WafClient.Presentation.Views.SampleWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:u="clr-namespace:WafClient.Presentation.Behaviors"
    ResizeMode="NoResize"
    u:WindowBehavior.HideCloseButton="True">
    ...
</Window>

Answer 3

Set WindowStyle property to None which will hide the control box along with the title bar. No need to kernal calls.

Answer 4

This won't get rid of the close button, but it will stop someone closing the window.

Put this in your code behind file:

protected override void OnClosing(CancelEventArgs e)
{
   base.OnClosing(e);
   e.Cancel = true;
}

Answer 5

To disable close button you should add the following code to your Window class (the code was taken from here, edited and reformatted a bit):

protected override void OnSourceInitialized(EventArgs e)
{
    base.OnSourceInitialized(e);

    HwndSource hwndSource = PresentationSource.FromVisual(this) as HwndSource;

    if (hwndSource != null)
    {
        hwndSource.AddHook(HwndSourceHook);
    }

}

private bool allowClosing = false;

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern IntPtr GetSystemMenu(IntPtr hWnd, bool bRevert);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool EnableMenuItem(IntPtr hMenu, uint uIDEnableItem, uint uEnable);

private const uint MF_BYCOMMAND = 0x00000000;
private const uint MF_GRAYED = 0x00000001;

private const uint SC_CLOSE = 0xF060;

private const int WM_SHOWWINDOW = 0x00000018;
private const int WM_CLOSE = 0x10;

private IntPtr HwndSourceHook(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref bool handled)
{
    switch (msg)
    {
        case WM_SHOWWINDOW:
            {
                IntPtr hMenu = GetSystemMenu(hwnd, false);
                if (hMenu != IntPtr.Zero)
                {
                    EnableMenuItem(hMenu, SC_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED);
                }
            }
            break;
        case WM_CLOSE:
            if (!allowClosing)
            {
                handled = true;
            }
            break;
    }
    return IntPtr.Zero;
}

This code also disables close item in System menu and disallows closing the dialog using Alt+F4.

You will probably want to close the window programmatically. Just calling Close() will not work. Do something like this:

allowClosing = true;
Close();

Answer 6

I was trying Viachaslau's answer since I like the idea of not removing the button but disabling it, but for some reason it did not always work: the close button was still enabled but no errors whatsoever.

This on the other hand always worked (error checking omitted):

[DllImport( "user32.dll" )]
private static extern IntPtr GetSystemMenu( IntPtr hWnd, bool bRevert );
[DllImport( "user32.dll" )]
private static extern bool EnableMenuItem( IntPtr hMenu, uint uIDEnableItem, uint uEnable );

private const uint MF_BYCOMMAND = 0x00000000;
private const uint MF_GRAYED = 0x00000001;
private const uint SC_CLOSE = 0xF060;
private const int WM_SHOWWINDOW = 0x00000018;

protected override void OnSourceInitialized( EventArgs e )
{
  base.OnSourceInitialized( e );
  var hWnd = new WindowInteropHelper( this );
  var sysMenu = GetSystemMenu( hWnd.Handle, false );
  EnableMenuItem( sysMenu, SC_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED );
}

Answer 7

The property to set is => WindowStyle="None"

<Window x:Class="mdaframework.MainWindow"
            xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
            xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
            Title="Start" Height="350" Width="525" ResizeMode="NoResize"  WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen" WindowStyle="None">

Answer 8

I just add my implementation of Joe White's answer using Interactivity Behavior (you need to reference System.Windows.Interactivity).

code:

public class HideCloseButtonOnWindow : Behavior<Window>
{
    #region bunch of native methods

    private const int GWL_STYLE = -16;
    private const int WS_SYSMENU = 0x80000;

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern int GetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern int SetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex, int dwNewLong);

    #endregion

    protected override void OnAttached()
    {
        base.OnAttached();
        AssociatedObject.Loaded += OnLoaded;
    }

    protected override void OnDetaching()
    {
        AssociatedObject.Loaded -= OnLoaded;
        base.OnDetaching();
    }

    private void OnLoaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        var hwnd = new WindowInteropHelper(AssociatedObject).Handle;
        SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE, GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE) & ~WS_SYSMENU);
    }
}

usage:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication2.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
        xmlns:w="clr-namespace:WpfApplication2">

    <i:Interaction.Behaviors>
        <w:HideCloseButtonOnWindow />
    </i:Interaction.Behaviors>

</Window>

Answer 9

Let the user "close" the window but really just hide it.

In the window's OnClosing event, hide the window if already visible:

    If Me.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible Then
        Me.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Hidden
        e.Cancel = True
    End If

Each time the Background thread is to be executed, re-show background UI window:

    w.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible
    w.Show()

When terminating execution of program, make sure all windows are/can-be closed:

Private Sub CloseAll()
    If w IsNot Nothing Then
        w.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Collapsed ' Tell OnClosing to really close
        w.Close()
    End If
End Sub