Save / Restore Windows App Form Location

Save & Restore the screen size and location of a windows form

The following illustrates how to save & restore the location of a windows application. Net result is that when an application is started, its form is in same location and the same size that it was when it was last closed.

Create user properties

Create 2 user properties in the Windows application project.

Property Name	Type	Scope	Value
WinLocation	System.Drawing.Point	User	0,0
WinSize	System.Drawing.Size	User	0,0

Create methods to save and restore window location and size

Save Method

private void SaveSizeAndPosition()
{
   // save the form location & size to the property values
   Properties.Settings.Default.WinLocation = this.Location;
   Properties.Settings.Default.WinSize = this.Size;

   // save the property settings
   Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}

Restore Method

private void RestorePreviousLocation()
{
   do
   {
      if (Properties.Settings.Default.WinSize.Width <= 0 || Properties.Settings.Default.WinSize.Height <= 0)
      {
         // width / height not set, don't attempt to update the size/location of the window

         // do the upgrade of the property settings
         Properties.Settings.Default.Upgrade();

         // get out now
         break;
      }

      var loc = Properties.Settings.Default.WinLocation;
      var size = Properties.Settings.Default.WinSize;

      {
         // if any part of the saved form location is off the screen, don't restore that size/location. get out now
         // get the screen size
         var screenSize = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea;

         if (loc.X < 0) break;
         if (loc.Y < 0) break;

         if (loc.X + size.Width > screenSize.Width) break;
         if (loc.Y + size.Height > screenSize.Height) break;               
      }

      // set the size & location from the property settings
      this.Location = loc;    // Properties.Settings.Default.WinLocation;
      this.Size = size;   // Properties.Settings.Default.WinSize;


   } while (false);
}

Capture Window Events to Call the Save & Restore Methods

Save the window size & location inside the form closing event trap.

protected override void OnFormClosing(FormClosingEventArgs e)
{
   base.OnFormClosing(e);         

   // Save the window size & location
   this.SaveSizeAndPosition();
}

Restore the window size & location inside the form load event trap.

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

   // restore the previously save size & location
   this.RestorePreviousLocation();
}