How to find which com-port is occupied by serial mouse
Here is how I detect mouse in C# (adapted code from this answer)
var info = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
var guid = new Guid("{4d36e96f-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}"); // mouses
info = SetupDiGetClassDevsW(ref guid, null, IntPtr.Zero, 0);
if ((int)info == -1) // INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE
throw new Exception(string.Format("Error({0}) SetupDiGetClassDevsW", Marshal.GetLastWin32Error()));
// enumerate mouses
var device = new SP_DEVINFO_DATA();
device.cbSize = (UInt32)Marshal.SizeOf(device);
for (uint i = 0; ; i++)
{
// get device info
if (!SetupDiEnumDeviceInfo(info, i, out device))
{
var error = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
if (error == 259) // ERROR_NO_MORE_ITEMS
break;
else
throw new Exception(string.Format("Error({0}) SetupDiEnumDeviceInfo", error));
}
string id = GetStringPropertyForDevice(info, device, 1); // SPDRP_HARDWAREID
if (id != null && id.Contains("*PNP0F09")) // Microsoft BallPoint Serial Mouse
{
// ...
// here I want to check com-port, how?
// ...
}
}
}
finally
{
if (info != IntPtr.Zero)
SetupDiDestroyDeviceInfoList(info);
}
Edit
Removing C# tag. Looking for general info (any language).
You can use Process Monitor from SysInternalSuite and open device manager then find out from where does the device manager getting its values
I tried it on USB Mouse and was able to get (on USB Input Device) as shown below
1. Open Mouse Properties (From Control Panel)
2. Open ProcMon
3. Click on the target icon and choose the mouse properties window
4. From the Mouse Properties window open the Hardware tab
5. In ProcMon Click on File-> Captuer Events
6. In ProcMon Edit->Find and look for "com" without quotation mark
7. Double click the found row (If you where able to find it)
Another solution would be to get device information using device manager command line utility devcon and parse the information from the output stream
More information on devcon:
* http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272
* https://superuser.com/questions/414280/how-do-i-view-a-list-of-devices-from-the-command-line-in-windows
Hope this help
The subroutine that generates the "Location" string in Device Manager is devmgr.dll!GetLocationInformation.
The path in it that interests you - generating the value that is appended in brackets - can be represented with the following code (based on Hex-Rays' decompilation):
int __stdcall GetLocationInformation(DEVINST dnDevInst, wchar_t *lpsResult,
int cchBufferMax, HMACHINE hMachine)
{
int dwUiNumber;
HKEY hKey;
DWORD pulLength;
wchar_t sRawLocationInfo[260];
sRawLocationInfo[0] = 0;
DWORD Type = REG_SZ;
pulLength = 520;
if ( !CM_Open_DevNode_Key_Ex(dnDevInst, KEY_READ, 0, 1u, &hKey, 1u, hMachine) )
{
RegQueryValueExW(hKey, L"LocationInformationOverride", 0, &Type,
sRawLocationInfo, &pulLength);
RegCloseKey(hKey);
}
if ( !sRawLocationInfo[0] )
{
pulLength = 520;
CM_Get_DevNode_Registry_Property_ExW(
dnDevInst,
CM_DRP_LOCATION_INFORMATION,
0,
sRawLocationInfo,
&pulLength,
0,
hMachine);
}
pulLength = 4;
if ( CM_Get_DevNode_Registry_Property_ExW(
dnDevInst,
CM_DRP_UI_NUMBER,
0,
&dwUiNumber,
&pulLength,
0,
hMachine)
|| pulLength <= 0 )
{
<...> //this block always returns
}
else
{
<...>
if ( sRawLocationInfo[0] )
{
lstrcatW(lpsResult, L" (");
lstrcatW(lpsResult, sRawLocationInfo);
lstrcatW(lpsResult, L")");
}
return 0;
}
}
In a nutshell, the bracketed value is the device node's LocationInformationOverride or LocationInformation property and is only produced if the UiNumber property is absent (or bogus).
The CM_Open_DevNode_Key_Ex and CM_Get_DevNode_Registry_Property_ExW functions are marked "reserved" in the docs. You can
find their signatures e.g. in CM_Open_DevNode_Key_Ex - FileLog and Enumerate Properties of an Installed Device - The Code Project, respectively, or
use the publicly-documented CM_Open_DevNode_Key and CM_Get_DevNode_Registry_Property instead. They are exactly the same as the former ones save for missing the hMachine argument (they essentially directly call them substituting NULL for it).
There are corresponding SetupDi equivalents, SetupDiOpenDevRegKey and SetupDiGetDeviceRegistryProperty, as well but note that this API is new in Vista and uses different data types.
Seeing that you use it already though means that this is probably the way to go for you unless you need XP support.
If my guess is right, the "USB Serial Port (COM6)" you see in Device Manager is actually the name of the parent device (=the device this one is connected to as seen in Device Manager in "view devices by connection" mode). If this is correct, the "COM6" is but a part of the name rather than some independent property.
A window should stay on top of all other windows. Is this somehow possible with plain x11/xlib? Googling for "Always on top" and "x11" / "xlib" didn't return anything useful.
I'd avoid toolkits like GTK+, if somehow possible.
I'm using Ubuntu with gnome desktop. In the window menu, there's an option "Always On Top". Is this provided by the X server or the window manager? If the second is the case, is there a general function that can be called for nearly any wm? Or how to do this in an "X11-generic" way?
Edit: I implemented fizzer's answer, now having following code:
XSelectInput(this->display, this->window,
ButtonPressMask |
StructureNotifyMask |
ExposureMask |
KeyPressMask |
PropertyChangeMask |
VisibilityChangeMask );
// ...
// In a loop:
if (XPending(this->display) >= 0)
{
XNextEvent(this->display, &ev);
switch(ev.type) {
// ...
case VisibilityNotify:
XRaiseWindow(this->display, this->window);
XFlush(this->display);
break;
// ...
}
}
But the eventhandling and raising nearly never gets executed even my mask is correct?!
#define _NET_WM_STATE_REMOVE 0 // remove/unset property
#define _NET_WM_STATE_ADD 1 // add/set property
#define _NET_WM_STATE_TOGGLE 2 // toggle property
Bool MakeAlwaysOnTop(Display* display, Window root, Window mywin)
{
Atom wmStateAbove = XInternAtom( display, "_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE", 1 );
if( wmStateAbove != None ) {
printf( "_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE has atom of %ld\n", (long)wmStateAbove );
} else {
printf( "ERROR: cannot find atom for _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE !\n" );
return False;
}
Atom wmNetWmState = XInternAtom( display, "_NET_WM_STATE", 1 );
if( wmNetWmState != None ) {
printf( "_NET_WM_STATE has atom of %ld\n", (long)wmNetWmState );
} else {
printf( "ERROR: cannot find atom for _NET_WM_STATE !\n" );
return False;
}
// set window always on top hint
if( wmStateAbove != None )
{
XClientMessageEvent xclient;
memset( &xclient, 0, sizeof (xclient) );
//
//window = the respective client window
//message_type = _NET_WM_STATE
//format = 32
//data.l[0] = the action, as listed below
//data.l[1] = first property to alter
//data.l[2] = second property to alter
//data.l[3] = source indication (0-unk,1-normal app,2-pager)
//other data.l[] elements = 0
//
xclient.type = ClientMessage;
xclient.window = mywin; // GDK_WINDOW_XID(window);
xclient.message_type = wmNetWmState; //gdk_x11_get_xatom_by_name_for_display( display, "_NET_WM_STATE" );
xclient.format = 32;
xclient.data.l[0] = _NET_WM_STATE_ADD; // add ? _NET_WM_STATE_ADD : _NET_WM_STATE_REMOVE;
xclient.data.l[1] = wmStateAbove; //gdk_x11_atom_to_xatom_for_display (display, state1);
xclient.data.l[2] = 0; //gdk_x11_atom_to_xatom_for_display (display, state2);
xclient.data.l[3] = 0;
xclient.data.l[4] = 0;
//gdk_wmspec_change_state( FALSE, window,
// gdk_atom_intern_static_string ("_NET_WM_STATE_BELOW"),
// GDK_NONE );
XSendEvent( display,
//mywin - wrong, not app window, send to root window!
root, // <-- DefaultRootWindow( display )
False,
SubstructureRedirectMask | SubstructureNotifyMask,
(XEvent *)&xclient );
XFlush(display);
return True;
}
return False;
}
You don't want to use XRaiseWindow() to try to stay on top. Some window managers will ignore it entirely. For those that don't, consider what happens if more than one app tries to do this. Boom! That's why the window manager is in charge of stacking windows, not the app.
The way you do this is to use the protocols defined in the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH), see: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/wm-spec
Specifically here you want _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE which is how the "Always on Top" menu item works.
If you aren't using a toolkit you'll want to get used to scavenging in toolkit source code to figure out how to do things. In this case you could look at the function gdk_window_set_keep_above() in GTK+'s X11 backend. That will show how to use the _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE hint.
I wrote something like this in Xlib many years ago. It's a few lines of code. When your window is partially obscured you get a VisibilityNotify event, then call XRaiseWindow. Watch out for the case where two of your 'always on top' windows overlap.
Use Actual Title Buttons (http://www.actualtools.com/titlebuttons/) for example. It allows to stay any windows always on top , roll up, make transparency and etc..
Can we change/increase the size of console output to view large size of data in console application at once?
There seem to be different ways to Rome:
This should be the recommended way I would think, cause the name says it all: GetConsoleWindow as is demonstrated here.
A quick hack might be the windows API function SendInput. If you simulate Alt+Enter, you could probably fullscreen the active window.
Here are some propositions using API calls from user32.dll
Check out the SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx API. It takes a CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFOEX as input and that has a dwSize member which contains the size of the console screen buffer, in character columns and rows.
MSDN for SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx Function: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686039(v=VS.85).aspx
I once used a small hack that is first setting the console's output buffer and then trying to find the console window and resize it. It worked well on XP, I never tested it on newer Windows versions.
HANDLE h = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
SMALL_RECT sr;
sr.Top = 0;
sr.Left = 0;
sr.Bottom = 10;
sr.Right = 79;
SetConsoleWindowInfo(h, TRUE, &sr);
TCHAR title[512];
GetConsoleTitle(title, 512);
HWND hWnd = FindWindow(NULL, title);
if(hWnd != NULL) {
HWND hWndInsertAfter = NULL;
UINT nFlags = SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOZORDER;
#if 0 // Don't move?
nFlags |= SWP_NOMOVE;
#endif
SetWindowPos(hWnd, hWndInsertAfter , 40, 350, 0, 0, nFlags);
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);
}
If you are using the command prompt window, right click it's label on the task bar and click the Properties option.
I have a window, which I SetWindowPos(window, HWND_TOP, 0, 0, GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN), GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN), SWP_FRAMECHANGED);
It covers the whole screen, ok, but it takes a while (0.5 sec) to cover the taskbar as well.
Is there a way to come over the taskbar immediately? I found that setting HWND_TOPMOST does it immediately, but it stays above all the other windows, even if I switch the app - this is something I don't want. Also, if I first hide the window and then show it, it somehow forces the window to redraw and covers the taskbar immediately, but it flickers (because of the hiding). Is there another way?
Edit 2. There is even a better way for doing fullscreen, the chromium way, source taken from here:
http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/ui/views/win/fullscreen_handler.cc?revision=HEAD&view=markup
void FullscreenHandler::SetFullscreenImpl(bool fullscreen, bool for_metro) {
ScopedFullscreenVisibility visibility(hwnd_);
// Save current window state if not already fullscreen.
if (!fullscreen_) {
// Save current window information. We force the window into restored mode
// before going fullscreen because Windows doesn't seem to hide the
// taskbar if the window is in the maximized state.
saved_window_info_.maximized = !!::IsZoomed(hwnd_);
if (saved_window_info_.maximized)
::SendMessage(hwnd_, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_RESTORE, 0);
saved_window_info_.style = GetWindowLong(hwnd_, GWL_STYLE);
saved_window_info_.ex_style = GetWindowLong(hwnd_, GWL_EXSTYLE);
GetWindowRect(hwnd_, &saved_window_info_.window_rect);
}
fullscreen_ = fullscreen;
if (fullscreen_) {
// Set new window style and size.
SetWindowLong(hwnd_, GWL_STYLE,
saved_window_info_.style & ~(WS_CAPTION | WS_THICKFRAME));
SetWindowLong(hwnd_, GWL_EXSTYLE,
saved_window_info_.ex_style & ~(WS_EX_DLGMODALFRAME |
WS_EX_WINDOWEDGE | WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE | WS_EX_STATICEDGE));
// On expand, if we're given a window_rect, grow to it, otherwise do
// not resize.
if (!for_metro) {
MONITORINFO monitor_info;
monitor_info.cbSize = sizeof(monitor_info);
GetMonitorInfo(MonitorFromWindow(hwnd_, MONITOR_DEFAULTTONEAREST),
&monitor_info);
gfx::Rect window_rect(monitor_info.rcMonitor);
SetWindowPos(hwnd_, NULL, window_rect.x(), window_rect.y(),
window_rect.width(), window_rect.height(),
SWP_NOZORDER | SWP_NOACTIVATE | SWP_FRAMECHANGED);
}
} else {
// Reset original window style and size. The multiple window size/moves
// here are ugly, but if SetWindowPos() doesn't redraw, the taskbar won't be
// repainted. Better-looking methods welcome.
SetWindowLong(hwnd_, GWL_STYLE, saved_window_info_.style);
SetWindowLong(hwnd_, GWL_EXSTYLE, saved_window_info_.ex_style);
if (!for_metro) {
// On restore, resize to the previous saved rect size.
gfx::Rect new_rect(saved_window_info_.window_rect);
SetWindowPos(hwnd_, NULL, new_rect.x(), new_rect.y(),
new_rect.width(), new_rect.height(),
SWP_NOZORDER | SWP_NOACTIVATE | SWP_FRAMECHANGED);
}
if (saved_window_info_.maximized)
::SendMessage(hwnd_, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_MAXIMIZE, 0);
}
}
Edit.
It is probably better to create a fullscreen window as BrendanMcK pointed it out in a comment to this answer, see this link: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2005/05/05/414910.aspx ("How do I cover the taskbar with a fullscreen window?")
The new code using the link above would be:
HWND CreateFullscreenWindow(HWND hwnd)
{
HMONITOR hmon = MonitorFromWindow(hwnd,
MONITOR_DEFAULTTONEAREST);
MONITORINFO mi = { sizeof(mi) };
if (!GetMonitorInfo(hmon, &mi)) return NULL;
return CreateWindow(TEXT("static"),
TEXT("something interesting might go here"),
WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE,
mi.rcMonitor.left,
mi.rcMonitor.top,
mi.rcMonitor.right - mi.rcMonitor.left,
mi.rcMonitor.bottom - mi.rcMonitor.top,
hwnd, NULL, g_hinst, 0);
}
Old answer below - do not use it, stays only for the record on how NOT to do this.
You have to hide taskbar and menubar to see fullscreen immediately.
Here is the code (uses WTL), call SetFullScreen(true) to go into full screen mode:
template <class T, bool t_bHasSip = true>
class CFullScreenFrame
{
public:
bool m_fullscreen;
LONG m_windowstyles;
WINDOWPLACEMENT m_windowplacement;
CFullScreenFrame()
:
m_fullscreen(false),
m_windowstyles(0)
{ }
void SetFullScreen(bool fullscreen)
{
ShowTaskBar(!fullscreen);
T* pT = static_cast<T*>(this);
if (fullscreen) {
if (!m_fullscreen) {
m_windowstyles = pT->GetWindowLongW(GWL_STYLE);
pT->GetWindowPlacement(&m_windowplacement);
}
}
// SM_CXSCREEN gives primary monitor, for multiple monitors use SM_CXVIRTUALSCREEN.
RECT fullrect = { 0 };
SetRect(&fullrect, 0, 0, GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN), GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN));
WINDOWPLACEMENT newplacement = m_windowplacement;
newplacement.showCmd = SW_SHOWNORMAL;
newplacement.rcNormalPosition = fullrect;
if (fullscreen) {
pT->SetWindowPlacement(&newplacement);
pT->SetWindowLongW(GWL_STYLE, WS_VISIBLE);
pT->UpdateWindow();
} else {
if (m_fullscreen) {
pT->SetWindowPlacement(&m_windowplacement);
pT->SetWindowLongW(GWL_STYLE, m_windowstyles);
pT->UpdateWindow();
}
}
m_fullscreen = fullscreen;
}
void ShowTaskBar(bool show)
{
HWND taskbar = FindWindow(_T("Shell_TrayWnd"), NULL);
HWND start = FindWindow(_T("Button"), NULL);
if (taskbar != NULL) {
ShowWindow(taskbar, show ? SW_SHOW : SW_HIDE);
UpdateWindow(taskbar);
}
if (start != NULL) {
// Vista
ShowWindow(start, show ? SW_SHOW : SW_HIDE);
UpdateWindow(start);
}
}
};
You also have to add some code to WM_CLOSE message:
case WM_CLOSE:
ShowTaskBar(true);
There is one caveat with this solution, if your application crashes or is killed through task manager, then user losses taskbar on his system permanently! (unless he runs your application again, goes into fullscreen and exits, then he will see the taskbar again).
Earlier in my answer I pointed to "atlwince.h" but that function worked only on Windows CE, the one I pasted above works fine with XP, Vista and 7.
Yup, HWND_TOPMOST does it for me.
Here is a section of code that makes full-screen work well (and quick) for me:
bool enterFullscreen(HWND hwnd, int fullscreenWidth, int fullscreenHeight, int colourBits, int refreshRate) {
DEVMODE fullscreenSettings;
bool isChangeSuccessful;
RECT windowBoundary;
EnumDisplaySettings(NULL, 0, &fullscreenSettings);
fullscreenSettings.dmPelsWidth = fullscreenWidth;
fullscreenSettings.dmPelsHeight = fullscreenHeight;
fullscreenSettings.dmBitsPerPel = colourBits;
fullscreenSettings.dmDisplayFrequency = refreshRate;
fullscreenSettings.dmFields = DM_PELSWIDTH |
DM_PELSHEIGHT |
DM_BITSPERPEL |
DM_DISPLAYFREQUENCY;
SetWindowLongPtr(hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, WS_EX_APPWINDOW | WS_EX_TOPMOST);
SetWindowLongPtr(hwnd, GWL_STYLE, WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE);
SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, fullscreenWidth, fullscreenHeight, SWP_SHOWWINDOW);
isChangeSuccessful = ChangeDisplaySettings(&fullscreenSettings, CDS_FULLSCREEN) == DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL;
ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_MAXIMIZE);
return isChangeSuccessful;
}
Note that this will change the resolution if you tell it the wrong settings. This is what I usually want, but if you don't like that, you can find out your resolution by using (where mainWindow is returned from something like CreateWindow() or CreateWindowEx()):
windowHDC = GetDC(mainWindow);
fullscreenWidth = GetDeviceCaps(windowHDC, DESKTOPHORZRES);
fullscreenHeight = GetDeviceCaps(windowHDC, DESKTOPVERTRES);
colourBits = GetDeviceCaps(windowHDC, BITSPIXEL);
refreshRate = GetDeviceCaps(windowHDC, VREFRESH);
When you want to get out of full-screen you do something like this:
bool exitFullscreen(HWND hwnd, int windowX, int windowY, int windowedWidth, int windowedHeight, int windowedPaddingX, int windowedPaddingY) {
bool isChangeSuccessful;
SetWindowLongPtr(hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, WS_EX_LEFT);
SetWindowLongPtr(hwnd, GWL_STYLE, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE);
isChangeSuccessful = ChangeDisplaySettings(NULL, CDS_RESET) == DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL;
SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_NOTOPMOST, windowX, windowY, windowedWidth + windowedPaddingX, windowedHeight + windowedPaddingY, SWP_SHOWWINDOW);
ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_RESTORE);
return isChangeSuccessful;
}
I set my code to change between full-screen and windowed mode using a hotkey, and I keep the windowed mode variables as global, so that when changing to windowed mode, it stays put.
This code also has the advantage of running in the equivalent of "exclusive mode" (I'm using XP, and haven't tried it on the newer versions of windows), which means it'll be much, much faster. Let me know if I've made any mistakes from condensing the code (from my much bigger code).
Raymond Chen describes the "correct" way to do this at his blog:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20100412-00/?p=14353
Fiddling with the task bar window explicitly is not recommended behaviour.
Here's the latest unbroken link to Raymond Chen answer.
Since MSDN/Microsoft keeps breaking links I'll paste below for posterity:
For some reason, people think too hard. If you want to create a fullscreen window that covers the taskbar, just create a fullscreen window and the taskbar will automatically get out of the way. Don't go around hunting for the taskbar and poking it; let it do its thing.
As always, start with the scratch program and add the following:
HWND CreateFullscreenWindow(HWND hwnd)
{
HMONITOR hmon = MonitorFromWindow(hwnd,
MONITOR_DEFAULTTONEAREST);
MONITORINFO mi = { sizeof(mi) };
if (!GetMonitorInfo(hmon, &mi)) return NULL;
return CreateWindow(TEXT("static"),
TEXT("something interesting might go here"),
WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE,
mi.rcMonitor.left,
mi.rcMonitor.top,
mi.rcMonitor.right - mi.rcMonitor.left,
mi.rcMonitor.bottom - mi.rcMonitor.top,
hwnd, NULL, g_hinst, 0);
}
void OnChar(HWND hwnd, TCHAR ch, int cRepeat)
{
if (ch == TEXT(' ')) {
CreateFullscreenWindow(hwnd);
}
}
HANDLE_MSG(hwnd, WM_CHAR, OnChar);
Note that this sample program doesn't worry about destroying that fullscreen window or preventing the user from creating more than one. It's just a sample. The point is seeing how the CreateFullScreenWindow function is written.
We use the MonitorFromWindow function to figure out which monitor we should go fullscreen to. Note that in a multiple monitor system, this might not be the same monitor that the taskbar is on. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that; the taskbar figures it out.
I've seen people hunt for the taskbar window and then do a ShowWindow(hwndTaskbar, SW_HIDE) on it. This is nuts for many reasons.
First is a mental exercise you should always use when evaluating tricks like this: "What if two programs tried this trick?" Now you have two programs both of which think they are in charge of hiding and showing the taskbar, neither of which is coordinating with the other. The result is a mess. One program hides the taskbar, then the other does, then the first decides it's finished so it unhides the taskbar, but the second program wasn't finished yet and gets a visible taskbar when it thought it should be hidden. Things only go downhill from there.
Second, what if your program crashes before it gets a chance to unhide the taskbar? The taskbar is now permanently hidden and the user has to log off and back on to get their taskbar back. That's not very nice.
Third, what if there is no taskbar at all? It is common in Terminal Server scenarios to run programs by themselves without Explorer (archived). In this configuration, there is no Explorer, no taskbar. Or maybe you're running on a future version of Windows that doesn't have a taskbar, it having been replaced by some other mechanism. What will your program do now?
Don't do any of this messing with the taskbar. Just create your fullscreen window and let the taskbar do its thing automatically.
I believe the taskbar will get out of the way when its shell hook tells it about a "rude app", this might take a little while.
What if you start out with the window HWND_TOPMOST and make it not top most after 1 second?
Right click on the taskbar
choose Properties
uncheck the checkbox that says "Keep the taskbar on top of other windows".
The taskbar belongs to the user, It's up to them to care about having it take 1/2 second to auto-hide when you app goes full screen. If they want to change that behavior then they can change it.
If you are working in an embedded system, then you may have a legitimate reason to hide the taskbar. But in that case, there's no reason not to simply configure the taskbar to not always be on top. You could also have a look at SystemParametersInfo if you want to change some of these settings in your code.