OFF97: How to Programmatically Hide and Unhide the Windows Taskbar

• Microsoft Access 97
• Microsoft Excel for Windows
• Microsoft Word for Windows

SUMMARY

By using API calls in Visual Basic for Applications, you can programmatically hide the Microsoft Windows 95 or later, or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 taskbar. This article shows you how to create the two functions that you need to hide and unhide the taskbar.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Solution Providers, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/mcsp/

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

1. Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor (or in Microsoft Access, open a database.)



2. Type the following code in a new module:




      Option Compare Database  ' In Microsoft Access only.
      Option Explicit

      Dim handleW1 As Long

      Private Declare Function FindWindowA Lib "user32" _
      (ByVal lpClassName As String, _
      ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long

      Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" _
      (ByVal handleW1 As Long, _
      ByVal handleW1InsertWhere As Long, ByVal w As Long, _
      ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal z As Long, _
      ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long

      Const TOGGLE_HIDEWINDOW = &H80
      Const TOGGLE_UNHIDEWINDOW = &H40

      Function HideTaskbar()
         handleW1 = FindWindowA("Shell_traywnd", "")
         Call SetWindowPos(handleW1, 0, 0, 0, _
         0, 0, TOGGLE_HIDEWINDOW)
      End Function

      Function UnhideTaskbar()
         Call SetWindowPos(handleW1, 0, 0, 0, _
         0, 0, TOGGLE_UNHIDEWINDOW)
      End Function 

3. In Excel or Word, click Immediate Window on the View menu, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

   ?HideTaskBar()

   In Microsoft Access, type the command above in the Debug Window, and then press ENTER.
   
   Note that the taskbar is no longer visible.



4. To restore the taskbar in Excel or Word, type the following command in the Immediate Window, and then press ENTER:

   ?UnHideTaskBar()

   In Microsoft Access, type the command above in the Debug Window, and then press ENTER.
   
   Note that the taskbar is now visible.

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: inf vba

Keywords          : kbdta AccCon KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto 

Last Reviewed: July 30, 1999