ACC: How to Get Form's Right and Down Measurements (95/97)

• Microsoft Access 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

This article describes how to create and use a Visual Basic for Applications Sub procedure called GetFormDimensions to obtain a form window's right and down measurements for use in the MoveSize macro action. This article also demonstrates how to position a form immediately below or to the right of a second form.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.

NOTE: This article explains a technique demonstrated in the sample files, FrmSampl.exe (for Microsoft Access for Windows 95 version 7.0) and FrmSmp97.exe (for Microsoft Access 97). For information about how to obtain these sample files, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q150895
   TITLE     : ACC95: Microsoft Access Sample Forms Available on MSL

   ARTICLE-ID: Q175066
   TITLE     : ACC97: Microsoft Access 97 Sample Forms Available on MSL

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Access you can use the WindowWidth and WindowHeight form properties to determine the current width and height of the window a form is contained in. However, there are no properties to determine the window's right and down measurements (these measurements are commonly used in the MoveSize macro action to position a form window).

The right and down measurements, along with the width and height, are useful if you want to position a form side-by-side with another form. The following examples demonstrate how to create and use the GetFormDimensions Sub procedure to obtain these measurements and use them to position a form to the right of, and then below, another form using the MoveSize macro action.

How to Create the Sub Procedure

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.

2. Create a new module and enter the following lines in the module's Declarations section:

         Option Explicit
   

         Type RECT_Type
             left As Long
             top As Long
             right As Long
             bottom As Long
         End Type
   
         Declare Function apiGetWindowRect Lib "user32" Alias _
         "GetWindowRect" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpRect As RECT_Type) As Long
         Declare Function apiGetDC Lib "user32" Alias "GetDC" _
         (ByVal hWnd As Long) As Long
         Declare Function apiReleaseDC Lib "user32" Alias "ReleaseDC" (ByVal _
         hWnd As Long, ByVal hDC As Long) As Long
         Declare Function apiGetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32" Alias "GetDeviceCaps" _
         (ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
         Declare Function apiGetActiveWindow Lib "user32" Alias _
         "GetActiveWindow" () As Long
         Declare Function apiGetParent Lib "user32" Alias "GetParent" (ByVal _
         hWnd As Long) As Long
         Declare Function apiGetClassName Lib "user32" Alias "GetClassNameA" _
         (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal _
         nMaxCount As Long) As Long
   
         Global Const TWIPSPERINCH = 1440
   
   

3. Create the following procedures in the module:

         Sub GetFormDimensions(F As Form, FLeft As Long, FTop As Long, _
            FWidth As Long, FHeight As Long)
         '*************************************************************
         ' PURPOSE: Returns the left, top, width, and height
         '          measurements of a form window in tdwips.
         ' ARGUMENTS:
         '    F: The form object whose measurements are to be determined.
         '    FLeft, FTop, FWidth, FHeight: Measurement variables
         '    that will return the dimensions of form F "by reference."
         ' NOTE: The FWidth and FHeight values will be equivalent to
         '    those provided by the form WindowWidth and WindowHeight
         '    properties.
         '*************************************************************
            Dim FormRect As RECT_Type
            Dim MDIClient As RECT_Type
            Dim MDIClientLeft As Long
            Dim MDIClientTop  As Long
   
            ' Get the screen coordinates and window size of the form.
            ' The screen coordinates are returned in pixels measured
            ' from the upper-left corner of the screen.
            apiGetWindowRect F.hWnd, FormRect
            FLeft = FormRect.left
            FTop = FormRect.top
            FWidth = FormRect.right - FormRect.left
            FHeight = FormRect.bottom - FormRect.top
   
            ' Convert the measurements from pixels to twips.
            ConvertPIXELSToTWIPS FLeft, FTop
            ConvertPIXELSToTWIPS FWidth, FHeight
   
            ' If the form is not a pop-up form, adjust the screen
            ' coordinates to measure from the top of the Microsoft
            ' Access MDIClient window. Position 0,0 for a pop-up form
            ' is the upper-left corner of the screen, whereas position
            ' 0,0 for a normal window is the upper-left corner of the
            ' Microsoft Access client window below the menu bar.
            If GetWindowClass(F.hWnd) <> "OFormPopup" Then
               ' Get the screen coordinates and window size of the
               ' MDIClient window.
               apiGetWindowRect apiGetParent(F.hWnd), MDIClient
               MDIClientLeft = MDIClient.left
               MDIClientTop = MDIClient.top
               ConvertPIXELSToTWIPS MDIClientLeft, MDIClientTop
   
               ' Adjust the form dimensions from the MDIClient
               ' measurements.
               FLeft = FLeft - MDIClientLeft
               FTop = FTop - MDIClientTop
            End If
         End Sub
   
         Sub ConvertPIXELSToTWIPS(X As Long, Y As Long)
         '*************************************************************
         ' PURPOSE: Converts the two pixel measurements passed as
         '          arguments to twips.
         ' ARGUMENTS:
         '    X, Y: Measurement variables in pixels. These will be
         '          converted to twips and returned through the same
         '          variables "by reference."
         '*************************************************************
            Dim hDC As Long, hWnd As Long, RetVal As Long
            Dim XPIXELSPERINCH, YPIXELSPERINCH
            Const LOGPIXELSX = 88
            Const LOGPIXELSY = 90
   
            ' Retrieve the current number of pixels per inch, which is
            ' resolution-dependent.
            hDC = apiGetDC(0)
            XPIXELSPERINCH = apiGetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSX)
            YPIXELSPERINCH = apiGetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSY)
            RetVal = apiReleaseDC(0, hDC)
   
            ' Compute and return the measurements in twips.
            X = (X / XPIXELSPERINCH) * TWIPSPERINCH
            Y = (Y / YPIXELSPERINCH) * TWIPSPERINCH
         End Sub
   
         Function GetWindowClass(hWnd As Long) As String
         '*************************************************************
         ' PURPOSE: Retrieve the class of the passed window handle.
         ' ARGUMENTS:
         '    hWnd: The window handle whose class is to be retrieved.
         ' RETURN:
         '    The window class name.
         '*************************************************************
            Dim Buff As String
            Dim BuffSize As Integer
            Buff = String$(255, " ")
            BuffSize = apiGetClassName(hWnd, Buff, 255)
            GetWindowClass = left$(Buff, BuffSize)
         End Function
   
   

How to Use the GetFormDimensions Sub Procedure

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.

2. Add the following Sub procedure to the module that you created in step 2 above:

         Sub MoveEmployeesAround ()
            Dim frmCust As Form
            Dim frmEmp As Form
            Dim frmCustLeft As Long
            Dim frmCustTop As Long
            Dim frmCustWidth As Long
            Dim frmCustHeight  As Long
            Dim frmEmpLeft As Long
            Dim frmEmpTop As Long
            Dim frmEmpWidth As Long
            Dim frmEmpHeight  As Long
   
            Set frmCust = Forms!Customers
            Set frmEmp = Forms!Employees
   
            GetFormDimensions frmCust, frmCustLeft, frmCustTop, _
               frmCustWidth, frmCustHeight
            GetFormDimensions frmEmp, frmEmpLeft, frmEmpTop, _
               frmEmpWidth, frmEmpHeight
   
            frmEmp.SetFocus
   
            MsgBox "Move Employees to the right of Customers!"
            DoCmd.MoveSize frmCustLeft + frmCustWidth, frmCustTop
   
            MsgBox "Move Employees below Customers!"
            DoCmd.MoveSize frmCustLeft, frmCustTop + frmCustHeight
         End Sub
   
   

3. Open the Customers and Employees forms in Form view.

4. Open the Debug window by pressing CTRL+G. Type the following line, and then press ENTER:

         MoveEmployeesAround
   

5. In the message box that appears, click OK. The Employees form will be positioned immediately to the right of the Customers form, and then another message box will appear.

6. In the second message box, click OK. The Employees form will be positioned immediately below the Customers form.

REFERENCES

For more information about how to get form window's right and down measurements in Microsoft Access 2.0, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q121100
   TITLE     : ACC2: How to Get Form's Right and Down Measurements

For more information about the WindowHeight and WindowWidth properties, search the Help Index for "WindowHeight" or "WindowWidth," or ask the Microsoft Access 97 Office Assistant.

Keywords          : kbusage FmsProp
Version           : 7.0 97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbhowto