Hide The Access Window

I have answered many people on the ability to "hide" the Access window....that is, the grey box that is the Access program itself.

This can be done. It involves a bit of coding and some property changes, but in the end, it will give you a very professional appearance. But you will lose the ability to use any of the menus that are in Access. So if you need any of the menu functions, you will have to include them in your forms....

Below lists the steps to make all this work:

1. Copy the code at the bottom of this FAQ into a module. I named mine basAccessHider, but it really doesn't matter.

2. Create a macro and call it mcrHide. The Macro has one Action line - RunCode - and put the following in the Function box:

fAccessWindow ("Minimize", False, False)

3. Create another macro and call it mcrRestore. The Macro has one Action line - RunCode - and put the following in the Function box:

fAccessWindow ("Show", False, False)

4. Now the property changes.....you have set every form in your database to PopUp....find the PopUp property for each form and set it to yes. In the OnOpen event of your startup form (if you don't have a startup form, just pick the first form you open when you open the database), put the following code:

DoCmd.RunMacro "mcrHide"

5. Finally, to allow reports to be previewed...in every report you will need to put:

In the OnOpen: DoCmd.RunMacro "mcrRestore"
In the OnClose: DoCmd.RunMacro "mcrHide"

And that's about it. Not a lot of work, but it can seem confusing.

''''
' Start Code '
''''
Private Declare Function IsWindowVisible Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Dim dwReturn As Long

Const SW_HIDE = 0
Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3

Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long

Public Function fAccessWindow(Optional Procedure As String, Optional SwitchStatus As Boolean, Optional StatusCheck As Boolean) As Boolean
If Procedure = "Hide" Then
dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_HIDE)
End If
If Procedure = "Show" Then
dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED)
End If
If Procedure = "Minimize" Then
dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWMINIMIZED)
End If
If SwitchStatus = True Then
If IsWindowVisible(hWndAccessApp) = 1 Then
dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_HIDE)
Else
dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED)
End If
End If
If StatusCheck = True Then
If IsWindowVisible(hWndAccessApp) = 0 Then
fAccessWindow = False
End If
If IsWindowVisible(hWndAccessApp) = 1 Then
fAccessWindow = True
End If
End If
End Function
'''
' End Code '
'''