ADT2: Creating Additional ADT Application Program Groups, Items

• Microsoft Access Developer's Toolkit version 2.0

SUMMARY

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

This article demonstrates a user-defined Access Basic function named CreateProgmanGroupIcons() that you can use to create additional Program Manager groups and icons for a custom application. For example, you can create icons to display informational text files, to run the Repair Database and Compact Database commands, and to control command-line switches.

The CreateProgmanGroupIcons() function reads information from a table, runs dynamic data exchange (DDE) commands to create the Program Manager groups and icons, and then deletes the table.

MORE INFORMATION

This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Access Basic, please refer to the "Building Applications" manual.

To create Program Manager groups and icons with Microsoft Access, follow these steps:

1. Open the application's database. If you split the application into two databases (one for program objects and one for data), open the database containing the program objects.

2. Create a table with the following structure:

         Table: tbl_Progman
         ------------------------
         Field Name: mGroupName
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 30
            Required: Yes
         Field Name: mIconText
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 40
            Required: Yes
         Field Name: mIconFile
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 50
         Field Name: mIconNum
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 5
         Field Name: mCommandLine
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 120
            Required: Yes
         Field Name: mIconDefault
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 120
   
      The following list describes the tbl_Progman table specifications:
   
       - The mGroupName field specifies the name of the Program Manager group
         in which the icons are created. This entry is required and should
         match the entry in the Application Name text box in the Microsoft
         Access Developer's Toolkit Setup Wizard so that the additional icons
         are created in the application's program group.
   
       - The mIconText field specifies the icon's title in the program group.
         This entry is required.
   
       - The mIconFile field specifies the icon's filename. If you do not
         specify a filename, a default icon is used.
   
       - The mIconNum field specifies the icon's index number in the file
         specified in the mIconFile field. If you do not specify an index
         number, a default icon is used.
   
       - The mCommandLine field specifies the full command line required to
         run the application. This entry is required.
   
       - The mIconDefault field specifies the name of the default (or working)
         directory. If you do not specify a default directory, the current
         directory (containing the database) is used.
   
   

3. View the tbl_Progman table in Datasheet view. From the list below, select the icons you want to add, type the data for those icons in the tbl_Progman table, and then close the tbl_Progman table.

       - To display your own README.TXT file, type the following values:
   

            mGroupName: NWIND Utilities
            mIconText: My README.TXT
            mCommandLine: NOTEPAD.EXE NWIND.TXT
   
       - To repair and compact the application's database, type the following
         values.
   
         NOTE: In the following example, an underscore (_) at the end of a
         line is used as a line-continuation character. Remove the underscore
         from the end of the line when re-creating this example.
   
            mGroupName: NWIND Utilities
            mIconText: Repair/Compact NWIND
            mIconFile: PROGMAN.EXE
            mIconNum: 22
            mCommandLine: MSARN200.EXE NWIND.MDB /ini myapp.ini /Repair / _
                          Compact
   
       - To create icons to run additional database command switches, type the
         following values:
   
            mGroupName: NWIND Utilities
            mIconText: Solutions Database
            mIconFile: PROGMAN.EXE
            mIconNum: 16
            mCommandLine: MSARN200.EXE SOLUTION.MDB /ini myapp.ini
   
   

4. Create a module and type the following line in the Declarations section:

         Option Explicit
   

5. Type the following function:

   NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as a line-continuation character. Remove the underscore from the end of the line when re-creating this code in Access Basic.

         '***************************************************
         ' FUNCTION: CreateProgmanGroupIcons()
         '
         ' PURPOSE:
         '   To create Program Manager groups and icons
         '   when the application is run for the first time.
         '***************************************************
   
         Function CreateProgmanGroupIcons ()
         Dim mydb As Database, rs As Recordset, Rcount As Integer, Xyz _
            As Integer
   
         Dim chan As Integer, Exe As String
         Dim GroupName$, IconText$, IconFile$, IconNum$, CommandLine$, _
            IconDefault$
   
         On Error GoTo Creat_Errors
         DoCmd Hourglass False
   
         Set mydb = CurrentDB()
         Set rs = mydb.OpenRecordset("tbl_Progman", DB_OPEN_DYNASET)
         rs.MoveLast
         Rcount = rs.recordcount
         rs.MoveFirst
   
         'Begin a DDE conversation with Program Manager.
         chan = DDEInitiate("PROGMAN", "PROGMAN")
   
         For Xyz = 1 To Rcount
            GroupName$ = rs![mGroupName]
            IconText$ = rs![mIconText]
            IconFile$ = IIf(IsNull(rs![mIconFile]), "", rs![mIconFile])
            IconNum$ = IIf(IsNull(rs![mIconNum]), "", rs![mIconNum])
            CommandLine$ = CurDir & "\" & rs![mCommandLine]
            IconDefault$ = IIf(IsNull(rs![mIconDefault]), CurDir, _
               rs![mIconDefault])
   
            'GroupName is a string that names the group to be created or
            'activated.
            'Run the CreateGroup DDE command to PROGMAN.
            DDEExecute chan, "[CreateGroup(" & GroupName$ & ")]"
   
            On Error Resume Next
            'If duplicate icons exist, they will be replaced.
            DDEExecute chan, "[ReplaceItem(" & IconText$ & ")]"
   
            'Instruct Program Manager to create a new program icon in
            'the active group specified by the variable GroupName.
            'Run the AddItem DDE command to PROGMAN.
            Exe = "[AddItem(" & CommandLine$ & ", " & IconText$ & ", " & _
               IconFile$ & ", " & IconNum$ & ",,, " & IconDefault$ & ")]"
            DDEExecute chan, Exe
            rs.MoveNext
            Next Xyz
            rs.Close
            mydb.tabledefs.Delete "tbl_Progman"
            DDETerminate chan
            DoCmd Hourglass False
         Exit Function
   
         Creat_Errors:
            If Err = 3011 Then
              Exit Function
            Else
               MsgBox Error$
            End If
   
         End Function
   
   

6. Open the AutoExec macro in Design view (or if you do not have an AutoExec macro, create one), and add the following action and argument:

         Macro Name   Macro Actions
         --------------------------
         AutoExec     RunCode
   
         AutoExec Actions
         -------------------------------------------
         RunCode
            Function Name: CreateProgmanGroupIcons()
   
   

7. Run the Setup Wizard to create the distribution disks for the custom application. Use the disks to set up the application on another computer.

   NOTE: The first time the application is run, the AutoExec macro runs the CreateProgmanGroupIcons() function to create the Program Manager groups and icons specified in the tbl_Progman table.

REFERENCES

For additional information about DDE and Program Manager, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q109394
   TITLE     : ACC: How to Add an Icon to Program Manager Using DDE

   ARTICLE-ID: Q104943
   TITLE     : How to Manipulate Groups & Items in Program Manager
               Using DDE.