Some VB.EXE Main Menu Commands Can Be Invisible at Run Time

ID Number: Q73699

1.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

If you shrink the width of VB.EXE's main menu (and Properties Bar) such

that menu commands automatically wrap to the next line, wrapped

menu commands may be invisible at run time in the VB.EXE environment.

You can work around this visibility problem by using the ALT key to

access the invisible menu commands on the shrunken menu, or by

avoiding shrinking the width beyond the point where the menus wrap.

This information applies to Microsoft Visual Basic programming system

version 1.0 for Windows.

More Information:

Steps to Reproduce Problem

--------------------------

1. Start Visual Basic (VB.EXE).

2. Place the mouse pointer on the far right side of the Properties

Bar such that the mouse changes to a double-headed pointer, ready

for resizing the Properties Bar.

3. Press and hold down the left button of the mouse and drag the right

edge of the Properties Bar toward the left side of the screen so that

the Bar ends up being about 3 inches in width, then release the mouse

button. This should cause the Window and Help menu commands to

automatically wrap the next line.

4. From the Run menu, choose Start, or press F5. The Window and Help

menus are now invisible because they are wrapped beyond the edge of

their window.

5. Click on the Immediate Window (in the lower right corner) and bring

the Immediate Window in front of the Form1 window.

6. Try bringing up the either the Window menu by pressing ALT+W or the

Help menu by pressing ALT+H. You will see the appropriate menu on the

screen, but it will appear disconnected below the Main Menu (or

Properties Bar) even though the menu is still functional. If you don't

perform step 5, you won't be able to select the invisible menus with

the ALT key (or with the mouse).

This behavior is due to the way that Windows 3.0 manipulates menus and

the design of the Microsoft Visual Basic 1.0 interface. To avoid this

behavior, Microsoft recommends keeping the main menu sufficiently wide

such that menus are not wrapped.

Additional reference words: 1.00