ACC: How to Activate an Application with Class Name (1.x/2.0)ID: Q104710
|
Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.
The function AppActivate() activates an application using the title bar
text of the application. You must use the exact title bar text or the
function will fail. For example, the title bar text of Microsoft Access is
"Microsoft Access" unless an object (a form or report, for example) is
maximized. If an object is maximized, the title bar text is "Microsoft
Access - <Object Name>." Because knowing the exact title bar text ahead of
time can be challenging, the following function demonstrates how to
activate an application using the application's Class Name and Microsoft
Windows API calls.
This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with
creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided
with Microsoft Access. For more information on Access Basic, please refer
to the "Introduction to Programming" manual in Microsoft Access version
1.x, or the "Building Applications" manual, Chapter 3, "Introducing Access
Basic," in version 2.0.
When an application is started from Program Manager, it registers the class
name of the form. The window class provides information about the name,
attributes, and resources required by your form. The Microsoft Access
window has the class name "OMain."
You can determine the class name of an application by using SPY.EXE
supplied with the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK)version
3.1 or SPYXX.EXE supplied with Microsoft Visual C++ version 2.0.
To use the application's Class Name to activate the application, create a
new module with the following Declaration section and function:
NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) is used as a line-
continuation character. Remove the underscore from the end of the line when
re-creating this code in Access Basic.
NOTE: You may have these Microsoft Windows API functions defined in an
existing Microsoft Access library or module; therefore, your declarations
may be duplicates causing a duplicate procedure name error message. There
are two resolutions to this error:
'**************************************************************
' MODULE DECLARATION SECTION
'**************************************************************
Option Compare Database 'Use database order for string comparisons
Option Explicit
'Windows API Declarations
Declare Function alias_ShowWindow Lib "User" Alias "ShowWindow" _
(ByVal hWnd As Integer, ByVal nCmdShow As Integer) As Integer
Declare Function alias_FindWindow Lib "user" Alias "FindWindow" _
(ByVal lpclassname As String, ByVal lpCaption As Any) As Integer
Declare Function alias_SetActiveWindow Lib "User" Alias _
"SetActiveWindow" (ByVal hWnd As Integer) As Integer
Const SW_SHOW = 9
'******************************************************************
' FUNCTION: AppActivateClass()
'
' PURPOSE: Used to activate another application by using its
' class name instead of the title bar text as AppActivate does.
'
' ARGUMENTS:
' lpClassName$ - The Class Name of the application.
'
' RETURNS:
' 0 - The application was not found - it either was not running
' or the class name is incorrect
' -1 - The application was activated
'******************************************************************
Function AppActivateClass(lpclassname$)
Dim hWnd As integer 'the application's window handle
Dim dummy as integer 'Dummy variable
'Get the Window Handle
hWnd = alias_FindWindow(lpclassname$, 0&)
'Activate the Application
dummy = alias_SetActiveWindow(hWnd)
dummy = alias_ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOW)
'Return True if Application Running, or False if not.
AppActivateClass = hWnd
End Function
x=AppActivateClass("opusapp")
Class Name Application
----------------------------------------
OMain ACCESS.EXE
SciCalc CALC.EXE
CalWndMain CALENDAR.EXE
Cardfile CARDFILE.EXE
Clipboard CLIPBOARD.EXE
Clock CLOCK.EXE
CtlPanelClass CONTROL.EXE
XLMain EXCEL.EXE
Session MS-DOS.EXE
Notepad NOTEPAD.EXE
pbParent PBRUSH.EXE
Pif PIFEDIT.EXE
PrintManager PRINTMAN.EXE
Progman PROGMAN.EXE (Windows Program Manager)
Recorder RECORDER.EXE
Reversi REVERSI.EXE
#32770 SETUP.EXE
Solitaire SOL.EXE
Terminal TERMINAL.EXE
WFS_Frame WINFILE.EXE
MW_WINHELP WINHELP.EXE
#32770 WINVER.EXE
OpusApp WINWORD.EXE
MSWRITE_MENU WRITE.EXE
Class Name Application
----------------------------------------------------
CabinetWClass My Computer Window
Internet Explorer_Frame IEXPLORE.EXE
MSPaintApp MSPAINT.EXE
SageWindowClass System Agent Com Window
Shell_Traywnd Windows 95 Task Bar
WordPadClass WORDPAD.EXE
DialerClass DIALER.EXE
SJE_CDPlayerClass CDPLAYER.EXE
MyDlgClass CHARMAP.EXE
MSDefragWClass1 DEFRAG.EXE
GFVMainWndClass FAXVIEW.EXE
FreeWClass FREECELL.EXE
Mplayer MPLAYER.EXE
AfxFrameorView HEARTS.EXE
NW_Class NETWATCH.EXE
AppClass PACKAGER.EXE
System Policy Editor POLEDIT.EXE
PWLEdit PWLEDIT.EXE
RegEdit_RegEdit REGEDIT.EXE
ScanDskWDlgClass SCANDSK.EXE
SoundRec SNDREC32.EXE
Volume Control SNDVOL32.EXE
System Monitor SYSMON.EXE
MSTaskSwWClass TASKMAN.EXE
TelnetWClass TELNET.EXE
WinIPCfgClass WINIPCFG.EXE
WordPadClass WORDPAD.EXE
Session_Window HYPERTRM.EXE Additional query words: caption
Keywords : kbprg
Version : 1.0 1.1 2.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto Last Reviewed: March 25, 1999