How to Make a Form Disappear

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SUMMARY

At times, it may be necessary to run a form without displaying it. If the Visible property of a form is set to False (.F.) at design time, the DO FORM <form name> command will still display the form.

MORE INFORMATION

When the DO command is issued, an implicit This.Show is run and the form is displayed. To run the form invisibly, add the following code to the Show method of the form:

IF THIS.VISIBLE = .f.

   NODEFAULT

This code tells Visual FoxPro that the form should not do its normal Show routine and to execute the code following the NODEFAULT clause.

NOTE: To make the form visible prior to releasing the form from memory, use the NAME clause of the DO FORM command. For example, DO FORM test NAME myform could be used and issuing myform.visible = .t. in the Command window would make the form visible again.

Step-by-Step Example

1. In the Command window, type:

   CREATE FORM TEST

2. Select the Property sheet, and change the Visible property to false (.F.).

3. Close and save the form.

4. In the Command window, type:

   DO FORM test

5. To make the form disappear, add the following code to the Show method of the form:

   IF THIS.VISIBLE = .f.

         NODEFAULT
   

   ENDIF