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

• 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:

1. Create a new form called Pop-up Menu Form.

2. 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.
   
   

3. 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>
   
   

4. Save the form and close it.

5. 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&)
   
   

6. 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
   
   

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

8. Select the event property that you want to use to activate the pop-up menu and specify the following function call:

         =ShowPopup()