IsWindowVisible Function

The IsWindowVisible function determines whether a specified window, its parent window, its owner's parent window, and so on, are visible. A window is declared visible if it is not the child of another window that is hidden. Note that a window created by CreateWindow, but not yet shown by ShowWindow or SetWindowPos, is not visible.

Syntax


BOOL IsWindowVisible(
  [in] HWND  hWnd
);

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`hWnd`	`[in] HWND`	A handle to the window to be tested.

Return value

Type	Description
`BOOL`	If the function succeeds, the return value is one of the following values: `TRUE`: The window is visible. `FALSE`: The window is not visible. If `GetLastError` returns `ERROR_INVALID_WINDOW_HANDLE`, the window handle is invalid.

Remarks

A window is considered visible if it's not the child of another window that is hidden. This means that even if a window itself has not had ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_HIDE) called on it, it can still be considered invisible if its parent window is hidden.

You can use IsWindowVisible to determine whether a window is visible, regardless of whether it is minimized, maximized, or displayed normally. It is more reliable than checking window styles, as styles can be changed dynamically.

Important: A window created with CreateWindow but not yet shown using ShowWindow or SetWindowPos is considered invisible.

Requirements

Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server
Header	`winuser.h`
Library	`User32.lib`
DLL	`User32.dll`