Access 97 Application doesn't minimize to Taskbar

[Gregery D Engle]

I'm making an Access 97 form and then calling a PB/DLL to make
MSACCESS.EXE invisible so only the form shows. I do this by
calling ShowWindow and I pass the hwnd of MSACCESS.EXE

After doing this when I minimize the Form I created in Access it
doesn't minimize to the TASKBAR. It minimizes above the Start
menu. Kinda like it thinks it is still inside an MDI environment.

How can I get the Form to minimize to the TaskBar. I can't
change anything within Access but I can call a DLL and pass the
hwnd to it. Any ideas?

thanks

------------------
-Greg

[Paul Noble]

Greg,

If I understand your description correctly, the form is still inside Access' MDI window -
I wouldn't have thought that making the master window invisible would free it from that constraint.

In Access, forms which are modal are not constrained by the MDI frame (ie: they can move freely
outside of it), so that may be one option for you to look at.

In general, if you want to overcome the tedium of Access forms being MDI children, there is a technique
to subclass the MDI container window, so you can force it to be the same colour as the form.
This way, if you set your form to be borderless, 'you can't see the join', and the result looks
like a stand-alone (SDI) form. This 'form' will minimise to the TaskBar, because the window
you're seeing is of course Access itself.

The subclass technique was put forward by Ken Getz IIRC, though you should be able to do it from
your PB DLL. I applied this to an Access 97 app a couple of years ago, and it works very well -
only a trained eye can spot that it's MDI (or even Access).

There are some drawbacks to it though, so let me know if you need more info.

Hope this helps !

Paul

[Gregery D Engle]

Paul,

I forgot to mention that I did set the form properties to:

POPUP = TRUE
MODAL = TRUE

so far it looks like a stand alone application, you wouldn't know
that it was an access application at all. Its just when I hit
the minimize button it doesn't minimize to the TaskBar.

You still think subclassing is the option?

------------------
-Greg

[Paul Noble]

Hi Greg,

I can reproduce the problem here too. Even though the form is modal, and free to move
outside the MDI window, it still minimises to just above the TaskBar. Boring.

Subclassing isn't necessarily the best answer. You can get a similar effect by arranging
to have the form always sit maximised within Access. However, it involves some trickery
to make sure that internal events don't un-maximise it when you're not expecting it.

I think we might be straying away from PB-related topics here, so feel free to e-mail me
at paul & CHR$(64) & gtisoftware & CHR$(46) & net, and I can show you any code you need.

Cheers -

Paul