PRB: _Screen.Hide or _Screen.Visible = .F. Won't Hide Desktop

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

The Microsoft Visual FoxPro Help file states that the _Screen memory variable has a Hide method and a Visible property. You might expect that issuing a command such as _Screen.Hide or _Screen.Visible = .F. would cause the FoxPro desktop to disappear, but neither has any effect on the desktop.

CAUSE

This is by design. After a form or formset is hidden, Visual FoxPro activates the last active object. If no objects were active before the formset became active, the main Visual FoxPro window becomes active. Consequently, if you try to hide the main FoxPro window or set its Visible property to false when there were no prior active objects, Visual FoxPro has no place to go. As a result, the Hide method and Visible property for _Screen are disabled.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

WORKAROUND

One method of hiding the FoxPro desktop is to move it off screen. For example, create and run a program file with the following code:

Sample Code

   frmHideDesktop = CREATEOBJECT("hidedesktop")
   frmHideDesktop.SHOW(1)

    DEFINE CLASS hidedesktop AS FORM
        TOP = 17
        LEFT = 24
        DESKTOP = .T.
        CAPTION = "HideShow Example"
        MDIFORM = .T.
        oleft = .F.

        ADD OBJECT cmdHideShow AS hideshow WITH ;
            TOP = 156, ;
            LEFT = 175, ;
            HEIGHT = 29, ;
            WIDTH = 150, ;
            CAPTION = "Hide _SCREEN", ;
            NAME = "Command2"

        ADD OBJECT cmdClose AS closebutton WITH ;
            TOP = 196, ;
            LEFT = 175, ;
            HEIGHT = 29, ;
            WIDTH = 150, ;
            CAPTION = "Close", ;
            NAME = "cmdClose"

    ENDDEFINE

    DEFINE CLASS hideshow AS COMMANDBUTTON

            PROCEDURE CLICK
            IF THIS.CAPTION = "Hide _SCREEN"
                THIS.CAPTION = "Show _SCREEN"
                THISFORM.oleft = _SCREEN.LEFT
                _SCREEN.LEFT = -10000
            ELSE
                THIS.CAPTION = "Hide _SCREEN"
                _SCREEN.LEFT = THISFORM.oleft
            ENDIF
        ENDPROC
    ENDDEFINE

    DEFINE CLASS closebutton AS COMMANDBUTTON
        PROCEDURE CLICK
            _SCREEN.LEFT = THISFORM.oleft
            THISFORM.RELEASE
        ENDPROC
    ENDDEFINE 

Additional query words: VfoxWin kbvfp300

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