The frame window maintains the size, position, and visibility of itself, its frame controls, and its client window. The frame window responds to user requests to move, size, minimize, maximize, and redraw itself. It also responds to requests to close (destroy) itself and to change the focus and activation state.

The frame window, when being moved or sized, maintains the position of each owned window relative to its owner window's lower-left corner.

Whenever the frame window redraws itself (for example, after being moved or sized), it draws the frame controls and then lets the application draw the client window. This order ensures that the rapidly drawn frame controls are drawn before the client window.

The order in which the frame controls are drawn depends on the z-order position of the controls. The following list specifies the z-order position of the frame controls (from top to bottom):

Although an application can change the z-order position of any window, changing the relative positions of frame controls is not recommended.

When the user maximizes the frame window, the size of the frame window increases to the size of its parent window, plus an additional amount on each of its four sides equal to the width of its sizing border. A window always is clipped to its parent window; a maximized standard frame window does not show its sizing border in its normal maximized position.

Frame controls owned by a frame window or windows owned by child windows of a frame window are destroyed automatically when the frame window processes the WM_DESTROY message.

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