PRB: Pressing the ENTER Key in an MDI Application

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) versions 3.1
• Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API) included with:

      - Microsoft Windows NT versions 3.5 and 3.51
      - Microsoft Windows 95 version 4.0
  

SYMPTOMS

In a standard Microsoft Windows version 3.1 multiple document interface (MDI) application, when a minimized MDI child is active and the user presses the ENTER key, the child is not restored.

This is inconsistent with other MDI applications, such as File Manager and Program Manager. An MDI child in one of these applications is restored when it is the active MDI child and the ENTER key is pressed. When a normal Windows-based application is minimized and the user presses ENTER, that application is restored to a normal state.

RESOLUTION

One quick workaround to this problem is to create an accelerator for the ENTER key and restore the minimized MDI child when the key is pressed.

MORE INFORMATION

It may be desirable to implement the same restore feature that File Manager and Program Manager have implemented in order to enable the user to restore an MDI child by pressing the ENTER key. If this feature is implemented, then the MDI application can be consistent with other popular applications such as File Manager, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word.

To achieve this effect in an MDI application, create an accelerator in the accelerator table of the resource file for the application. This can be done as follows:

MdiAccelTable ACCELERATORS

     {
     .  .  .
     .  .  .
     VK_RETURN, IDM_RESTORE, VIRTKEY
     }

        case IDM_RESTORE:
           {
           HWND hwndActive;

           hwndActive = SendMessage(hwndClient,WM_MDIGETACTIVE,0,0L);
           if (IsIconic(hwndActive))
              SendMessage(hwndClient,WM_MDIRESTORE,hwndActive,0L);
           break;
           }