PRB: EnableModeless Causes Events to Fire Late

• Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, versions 5.0, 6.0
• Microsoft Visual InterDev, version 1.0
• Microsoft Visual J++, versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0
• Microsoft Visual Studio 97

SYMPTOMS

While automating the Developer Studio environment (MSDev.exe), events do not occur when expected. For example, the BeforeBuildStart event might not fire before the start of a build.

CAUSE

Developer Studio is visible and the Application.EnableModeless property is set to False.

RESOLUTION

If Application.EnableModeless must be False, set Application.Visible to False to receive events at the time they actually happen. Otherwise, keep Application.EnableModeless set to True.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

The purpose of EnableModeless is to minimize user interface messages from Developer Studio while a macro or add-in is displaying a modal dialog box. EnableModeless should be set to False before invoking a modal dialog box, and set to True after dismissing the dialog box. The object model stores events while EnableModeless is False, and fires them when it is set to True. Under normal conditions, EnableModeless should be set to True.

The following Visual Basic subroutine demonstrates the problem. Call CheckBuildEvents with the name of a workspace that includes at least one buildable project. Before you can run the sample code, you must set a reference to the Visual Studio object model.

1. From the Project menu, click References.
   
   For Visual Studio 97, click:
   
   
   • Visual Studio 97 Shared Objects
   
   
   -and-
   
   
   • Visual Studio 97 Project System
   
   
   
   For Visual Studio 6.0, click:
   
   
   • Visual C++ Shared Objects
   
   
   -and-
   
   
   • Visual C++ Project System
   
   
   



2. Click OK.

Sample Code

   Private WithEvents DevSt As DSSharedObjects.Application
   Private Sub CheckBuildEvents(strWksp As String)
      Dim cfg As DSProjectSystem.Configuration

      ' Create a new instance of DevStudio.
      Set DevSt = New DSSharedObjects.Application
      DevSt.Visible = True   ' Developer Studio must be invisible for
                             ' EnableModeless.
      DevSt.EnableModeless (False)
      Debug.Print "Opening Workspace "; strWksp
      DevSt.Documents.Open strWksp
      cfg = DevSt.ActiveProject.Configurations.Item(1)
      Debug.Print "Starting build: "; cfg
      DevSt.RebuildAll cfg
      Debug.Print "Closing workspace "; strWksp
      DevSt.ExecuteCommand "WorkspaceClose"
      DevSt.EnableModeless (True)   ' Events occur here if DevStudio is
                                    ' visible.
      DevSt.Quit
   End Sub
   Private Sub DevSt_BeforeBuildStart()
      Debug.Print ">BeforeBuildStart"
   End Sub
   Private Sub DevSt_BuildFinish(ByVal nErr As Long, ByVal nWrn As Long)
      Debug.Print ">BuildFinish: nErr ="; nErr; "; nWrn ="; nWrn
   End Sub 

   CheckBuildEvents "MyWksp.dsw" 

   Opening Workspace MyWksp.dsw
   Starting build: MyProj - Win32 Release
   Closing Workspace MyWksp.dsw
   >BeforeBuildStart
   >BuildFinish: nErr = 0; nWrn = 0 

   DevSt.Visible = True ' Developer Studio must be invisible for
                        ' EnableModeless. 

   DevSt.Visible = False 

   Opening Workspace MyWksp.dsw

   Starting build: MyProj - Win32 Release
   >BeforeBuildStart
   >BuildFinish: nErr = 0; nWrn = 0
   Closing Workspace MyWksp.dsw 

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q192912 BUG: MSDev Doesn't Close When COM Reference Is Zero

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbAutomation kbVC500bug kbVCObj kbVisID100bug kbVJ100bug kbVJ110bug kbVS97 kbDevStudio kbVJ200bug kbGrpDSTools
Version : WINDOWS:1.0,1.1,2.0,97; WINNT:5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbprb