After searching a few days on the internet I have found one posible simple solution to make SetForegroundWindow to work on windows 7: press Alt key before calling SetForegroundWindow.
public static void ActivateWindow(IntPtr mainWindowHandle)
{
//check if already has focus
if (mainWindowHandle == GetForegroundWindow()) return;
//check if window is minimized
if (IsIconic(mainWindowHandle))
{
ShowWindow(mainWindowHandle, Restore);
}
// Simulate a key press
keybd_event((byte)ALT, 0x45, EXTENDEDKEY | 0, 0);
//SetForegroundWindow(mainWindowHandle);
// Simulate a key release
keybd_event((byte)ALT, 0x45, EXTENDEDKEY | KEYUP, 0);
SetForegroundWindow(mainWindowHandle);
}
And the win32api imports
private const int ALT = 0xA4;
private const int EXTENDEDKEY = 0x1;
private const int KEYUP = 0x2;
private const uint Restore = 9;
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern void keybd_event(byte bVk, byte bScan, uint dwFlags, int dwExtraInfo);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
private static extern bool IsIconic(IntPtr hWnd);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern int ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern IntPtr GetForegroundWindow();