Forms as Taskbar entries

[Beard36]

I've been experimenting with the code found in the FAQ

faq705-2562

which allows Access to operate without displaying it's own window - ie. the grey background is not visible and the forms appear straight against onto the desktop's background.

Which is great.

But if I've got a database which has several forms open, and I'm using any other applications, then I need to minimise all of these other apps to select forms as there is only one Taskbar entry for the database - "Microsoft Access".

Is there a way to have separate taskbar entries for specified forms - so if I've got Internet Explorer on my screen and decide I want to add a new entry to Form 2, I can click on the appropriate taskbar item rather than shrinking down all/any other apps I've got open.

Has anyone used the code in the FAQ above? Has anyone come across anything like I've tried to describe above? (Come to think about it, it may even be desirable in some situations where the full Access application is visible at at all times..) Is it even possible?

Thanks in advance if anyone can lend a hand.

 

[SgtJarrow]

Have you looked at Tools -> Options -> General Tab -> Windows in Taskbar check box. If this box is checked, each open form/report/etc has its own box in the taskbar. I uncheck this by default, as I want all Access windows in the same task bar, but if you check this, you should get the desired result.

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[Beard36]

I've got Office 2003, so I actually found this in Tools -> Options -> View, but it was already checked. I'm using Windows XP, but have the "Group Similar Taskbar Items" option unchecked.

Although I have the option you suggested checked, it doesn't actually seem to result in seperate taskbar buttons as hoped for.

Any further ideas?

 

[Beard36]

Update: Just in case anyone cares, I'm nearly there now. I've got this code in a module which allows any form to have it's own button in the Taskbar -

Private Const GWL_EXSTYLE = (-20)
Private Const WS_EX_APPWINDOW = &H40000
Private Const WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW = &H80
     
Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long

Public Sub AppearInTaskBar(Form As Form)
  ' Allow a form to have an entry in the Taskbar
  ' Call this in the Form_Load sub
  
  Call SetWindowLong(Form.hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, WS_EX_APPWINDOW)
End Sub

Now it's got me searching for a way to hide the main Access application entry in the Taskbar as it should no longer be needed (and maybe confuse my users). Initial research doesn't look promising for this idea though.

PS: With the direction this problem is going, I am going to post this instead in the "Microsoft: Access Modules (VBA Coding)" forum instead.