ACC: How to Create Floating Pop-Up Menus (1.x/2.0)

ID: Q95444

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

This article describes how to create "floating" pop-up menus using a combination of Microsoft Windows application programming interface (API) calls and Access Basic code.

MORE INFORMATION

To create a floating pop-up menu, follow these steps:

Create a new form called Pop-up Menu Form.

Add a list box control called Menu to the form. Make the control large enough to display each of the strings it contains without displaying a scroll bar. Set the control's properties as follows:


      List Box Properties
      ----------------------------------------------
      ControlName:   Menu
      RowSourceType: Value List
      RowSource:     String1;String2;String3;String4
      AfterUpdate:   =ItemSelected([Menu])
      Left:          0 in
      Top:           0 in
      FontName:      System
      FontSize:      8
      FontWeight:    Bold

NOTE: Specify the menu strings in the RowSource property. Separate succeeding string values with a semicolon (;) character.

Change the properties of the Pop-up Menu Form as follows:


      Form Properties
      ------------------------------------------------
      ScrollBars:      Neither
      Popup:           Yes
      RecordSelectors: No
      Width:           <Width of the list box control>

      Section Properties
      -------------------------------------------------
      Height:          <Height of the list box control>

Save the form and close it.

Create a new module and type the following code into the Declarations section for the module.

'NOTE: Some of the following Windows API functions may be 'defined in an existing Microsoft Access library. If so, the new 'declarations would cause a duplication procedure name error. If 'this error occurs, remove the offending declare statement from 'your code or convert the declaration to a comment.

'NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) is used 'as a line continuation character. Remove the underscore when 're-creating this code in Access Basic.
```
      Option Explicit
      Type POINTAPI
         x As Integer
         y As Integer
      End Type

      Global Const GWL_STYLE = (-16)
      Global Const WS_DLGFRAME = &H400000

      Declare Sub GetCursorPos Lib "User" (lpPoint As POINTAPI)
      Declare Function GetWindowLong& Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd%, _
                          ByVal nIndex%)
      Declare Function SetWindowLong& Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd%, _
                          ByVal nIndex%, ByVal dwNewLong&) 
```

Type the following functions:


      Function ShowPopup ()
         Dim coord As POINTAPI
         Dim attr&

         GetCursorPos coord
         DoCmd OpenForm "Pop-up Menu Form"

         attr& = GetWindowLong(Forms![Pop-up Menu Form].hWnd, GWL_STYLE)
         attr& = SetWindowLong(Forms![Pop-up Menu Form].hWnd, GWL_STYLE, _
                    attr& And Not WS_DLGFRAME)

         DoCmd MoveSize (coord.x * 14), (coord.y * 14), , 1100
      End Function

      Function ItemSelected (WhichItem As String)
         DoCmd Close
         MsgBox "The selected item was " & Trim(WhichItem)
      End Function

Choose the form in which you want the pop-up menu to appear. Open the form in Design view.

Select the event property that you want to use to activate the pop-up menu and specify the following function call:
```
      =ShowPopup() 
```

When you open your form and cause the event assigned in Step 8 above, the pop-up menu appears at the current mouse position. The menu remains on the screen until you select an item from the pop-up menu.

Additional query words: shortcut adt


Keywords          : kbprg 
Version           : 1.0 1.1 2.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: March 18, 1999