HOWTO: Use DDE with Visual Basic and Windows Program Manager
ID: Q142822
|
The information in this article applies to:
-
Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation, Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
-
Microsoft Visual Basic Professional and Enterprise Editions, 16-bit only, for Windows, version 4.0
SUMMARY
This article demonstrates how to send dynamic data exchange (DDE)
interface commands to the Microsoft Windows Program Manager from
Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows using DDE.
The interface commands available through DDE with the Windows Program
Manager are as follows:
CreateGroup(GroupName,GroupPath)
ShowGroup(GroupName,ShowCommand)
AddItem(CommandLine,Name,IconPath,IconIndex,XPos,YPos)
DeleteGroup(GroupName)
ExitProgman(bSaveState)
A full explanation of the above commands can be found in Chapter 22 of the
"Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit Guide to Programming" version
3.1 manual. The Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit can be found in
the MSDN/VB Starter Kit which is distributed with the Professional and
Enterprise editions of Visual Basic 4.0.
An application can also obtain a list of Windows groups from the Windows
Program Manager by issuing a LinkRequest to the "PROGMAN" item.
MORE INFORMATION
The following program demonstrates how to use four of the five Windows
Program Manager DDE interface commands and the one DDE request:
- Run Visual Basic for Windows, or on the File menu, click New Project
(ALT, F, N) if Visual Basic for Windows is already running. Form1 is
created by default.
- Create the following controls with the given properties on Form1:
Object Name Caption
--------------------------------
TextBox Text1
Button Command1 Make
Button Command2 Delete
Button Command3 Request
- Add the following code to the Command1_Click event:
Private Sub Command1_Click ()
Text1.LinkTopic = "ProgMan|Progman"
Text1.LinkMode = 2 ' Establish manual link.
Text1.LinkExecute "[CreateGroup(Test Group)]"
' Make a group in Windows Program Manager.
Text1.LinkExecute "[AddItem(c:\vb\vb.exe, Visual Basic)]"
' Add an item to that group.
Text1.LinkExecute "[ShowGroup(Test Group, 7)]"
' Iconize the group and focus to VB application.
On Error Resume Next ' Disconnecting link with Windows Program
Text1.LinkMode = 0 ' Manager causes an error in Windows 3.0.
' This is a known problem with Windows Program Manager.
End Sub
- Add the following code to the Command2_Click event:
Private Sub Command2_Click ()
Text1.LinkTopic = "ProgMan|Progman"
Text1.LinkMode = 2 ' Establish manual link.
Text1.LinkExecute "[DeleteGroup(Test Group)]"
' Delete the group and all items within it.
On Error Resume Next ' Disconnecting link with Windows Program
Text1.LinkMode = 0 ' Manager causes an error in Windows 3.0.
' This is a known problem with Windows Program Manager.
End Sub
- Add the following code to the Command3_Click event:
Private Sub Command3_Click ()
Text1.LinkTopic = "ProgMan|Progman"
Text1.LinkItem = "PROGMAN"
Text1.LinkMode = 2 ' Establish manual link.
Text1.LinkRequest ' Get a list of the groups.
On Error Resume Next ' Disconnecting link with Windows Program
Text1.LinkMode = 0 ' Manager causes an error in Windows 3.0.
' This is a known problem with Windows Program Manager.
End Sub
- Press the F5 key to run the program.
- Click the Make button, and then click the Delete button. Note the
result.
- Click the Request button. This puts a list of the groups in the Windows
Program Manager to be placed in the text box. The individual items are
delimited by a carriage return plus linefeed.
As noted in the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) manual mentioned
above, the ExitProgman() command only works if the Windows Program Manager
is NOT the shell (the startup program when you start Windows).
For a more comprehensive explanation of the CreateGroup(), ShowGroup(),
AddItem(), DeleteGroup(), and ExitProgman() commands, query on the
following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
DDE and CreateGroup
Additional query words:
Keywords : kbcode kbnokeyword kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpVB IAPDDE
Version : WINDOWS:4.0;
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto
|