Thread: Create "ghost" form from Win32 handle

You will not want to use PInvoke in this circumstance, me thinks. PInvoke forces you to introduce all the necessary invoke declarations. A form handler becomes a rather complex structure once you plan to start interacting with it from within managed code. Furthermore PInvoke stands for Platform Invoke, and the word "platform" there is a strong giveaway to the weaknesses of this method once it becomes too complex in your managed code. Too many declarations, hard to port across different API versions,...

So instead of the PInvoke mechanism, I'd advise you use the C++ Interop facilities by wrapping the needed APIs around a thin C++ layer. There's stuff about it on MSDN.

edit: btw, what's a "ghost" form?

Originally Posted by Mario F.

edit: btw, what's a "ghost" form?

I think he's asking about how to take a native window and wrap it in a .NET form object. That sort of thing used to work in MFC (you could wrap an MFC control around a window without giving the MFC object "ownership") but in .NET that won't work AFAIK.