BUG: Menu Accelerators Still Work When Form is Disabled

• Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0

SYMPTOMS

You have a Visual Basic form whose Enabled property has been set to False. All user input is disabled except for the menu accelerator keys. The user can still invoke code on a disabled form through the accelerator keys (such as pressing ALT+F X on the keyboard to invoke the File|Exit command).

RESOLUTION

When disabling a Form to prevent all user input, top-level menu items must be disabled as well. For example:

   Private Sub DisableForm()
      Form1.Enabled = False
      mnuFile.Enabled = False
   End Sub 

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Create a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.



2. Add a CommandButton to Form1.



3. Open the Menu Editor (CTRL+E) and add the following menu items:

   Caption: &File Name: mnuFile

   The next item should be indented:

   Caption: E&xit Name: mnuExit




4. Add the following code to the Code Window for Form1:

   
         Private Sub Form_Load()
            Command1.Caption = "Disable Form"
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub Command1_Click()
            Me.Enabled = False
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub mnuExit_Click()
            MsgBox "Exit Called!!"
            Me.Enabled = True
         End Sub 




5. Compile the program and run it as an EXE.



6. Click the Disable Form button and then click the Exit menu. As expected, all user input is disabled. This means you cannot select menu items using the mouse. However, you can use the accelerator key combination ALT+X to invoke the menu command. The code in the mnuExit_Click event resets the Enabled property to True.
   
   NOTE: Depending on the version of Windows and Visual Basic you are using, the problem may not appear in the IDE. However, the problem does occur in the compiled executable.

Additional query words: kbDSupport kbDSD kbVBp kbVBp600bug kbVBp500bug kbMenu kbIDE

Keywords : kbGrpVB
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug