INFO: Screen Saver Command Line Arguments

ID: Q182383

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK)

SUMMARY

Windows communicates with Screen Savers through command line arguments. The ScrnSave.lib library handles this for Screen Savers that are written to use it, but other Win32 Screen Savers marked 4.0 or higher must handle the following command line arguments:

   ScreenSaver           - Show the Settings dialog box.
   ScreenSaver /c        - Show the Settings dialog box, modal to the
                           foreground window.
   ScreenSaver /p <HWND> - Preview Screen Saver as child of window <HWND>.
   ScreenSaver /s        - Run the Screen Saver.

In addition, Windows 95 Screen Savers must handle:

   ScreenSaver /a <HWND> - change password, modal to window <HWND>

<HWND> is a HWND presented on the command line as an unsigned decimal number.

MORE INFORMATION

You need to create the preview window as a child of this window. It should cover the parent's entire client area.

You need to create the password dialog box as owned by HWND if it is supplied or as owned by the foreground window if HWND is not supplied.

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbNTOS kbScreenSaver kbGrpUser kbWinOS 
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: December 26, 1998