Hi
I have a form with 3 cmdbuttons for 3 choices of action.
one action shows a second form.

the second form allows interaction with another external app(acad).

In the first form (StartFrm)
Private Sub CmdPlace_Click()
  'hide startup form
  Me.Hide
  'show secondform
  ShowForm2
End Sub

Public Sub ShowForm2()
  'create, load, setproperties,show form
     Set moStdFrm = New DataFrm5
      Load moStdFrm

     'set control values and positions
      moStdFrm.Setup
      'set whatever properties
      Set moStdFrm.Propertyx = somevalue
      'etc

        '--------------------------------------------------
        'this seems to work ok
        'setparent to acad app via SetParent Api
        SetParent moStdFrm.hwnd, GetAcadHwnd(moAcadApp)

        '--------------------------------------------------
        'this doesn't work
        'SetParent moStdFrm.hwnd, Me.hwnd
        '--------------------------------------------------

        moStdFrm.Show

End sub


'in the second form
Private Sub Form2_Terminate()
    'return to startup form for further choices
  StartFrm.Show
End Sub

is that the "right" (best?) way to show one form from another and return to
the first when the second is dismissed?
Thanks
Mark

I cant get the first form to reliably show back up after showing the second
form, and then when the second form is dismissed it's supposed to show the
first one again,

I'm lost in setparent, modal/modeless, and ownership of forms ignorance

I just dont understand the basics of how i'm supposed to get control of when
forms show so they happen consistently,
This is a std exe with startup item = Sub Main.
When the .exe is fired the first form should appear on top of whatever
windows are open.
then when a cmdbutton is clicked the first form should hide and second form
should show and allow interaction with the external app.

should I be setting the parent = external app? that seems to work ok for the
interaction but don't know if it's causeing problem with not being able to
re-show the first form after second is dismissed.

Who should own the first form?
It is called from a std module Main sub. so I cant do Form1.Show vbModal, Me
Who should own the second form?
I can do Form2.Show vbModal, Me (when in form1) but then Form2 doesn't show
is that because i'm hiding form1 before showing form2 and since form1 is the
owner then it doesn't show?

I don't understand what ownership does to or for a form...do i need it at
all???

when the second form is dismissed, the first form should show back up, again
despite whatever other windows may be open.

Can anyone explain the basics of what I need to be doing to accomplish that?

Do I need to be callng SetWindowForeground or something like that?
I dont know why I'm having so much trouble with this rudimentary part of the
ui process....well, other than obvious lack of knowlege that is!
Thanks
mark

SetParent cannot be used with a window in a different process(EXE). Windows
is probably ignoring it so it has no effect. You could use SetParent if your
project was ActiveX DLL or Control(OCX). If you set your project to ActiveX
DLL, then you have to add it to the list of references in VBA of acad,
otherwise your DLL doesn't get loaded. A DLL does not run on its own in a
separate process, but runs on the same process as acad.

Put this code in Form2_Unload instead. Form_Unload is not called when the
form is hidden by Hide method.

From a post I sent to another person:

Use the following if you want the user not to go back to Form1 until he or
she finishes with Form2:

Form2.Show vbModal

Use the following if you want the user to go back and forth between the 2
forms:

Form2.Show , Me

While the ", Me" is optional, it specify the owner window for Form2. When
you use it, the 2 forms are minimized together if the user minimized Form1,
and unloaded together if the user closed Form1.

If you have used just "Form2.Show", then if the user wants to minimize your
App to work on another application, he or she has to minimize both forms
manually, which would be annoying. For more information click F1 while the
cursor is on Show.

In Form2, usually the form is unloaded when the user clicks an OK button
like this:

Private Sub btnOK_Click()
    Unload Me
End Sub




Show quoteHide quote

news:Hu_1f.2271$MN6.1535@fed1read04...
interesting, it does "seem" to work.  If I include that line the form is
"trapped" inside acad's window - if I move it past the border of acad window
it disappears behind the edge of the window - if i don't have that line it
would be a separate window and float off onto the desktop or whatever window
was next to the edge of the acad window...weird.


thanks for that I'll try it.

Show quoteHide quoteah so sounds like i want Form2.Show vbModal, Me
I'll see if it helps with the problems I was having.
Thanks
Mark

This may not work in other OS'es, but I haven't used it that way. What OS
are you using?

Here are  some articles that provide background information:

See "Window Relationships" here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/winui/windowsuserinterface/windowing/windows/windowfeatures.asp

INFO: Window Owners and Parents
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;84190

The above articles show API constants. To see what style constants VB6 used
to create these forms, use Spy++ from VS6 Tools in the Start menu. Locate
your form and double click it. If it's hard to find, use Spy|Find Window to
find it. Make sure that you select the entire form, not just a window inside
it. See the Styles and Class tabs.



Show quoteHide quote

news:Mcz2f.2480$MN6.2053@fed1read04...
win2k pro

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/winui/windowsuserinterface/windowing/windows/windowfeatures.asp
Show quoteHide quotethanks for those links, I'll check them out...sounds exactly like the kind
of knowledge I'm lacking at this point.
Show quoteHide quote

fwiw, SetParent >can< work to parent a window to a window in another
process. Thing is, you're setting the parent... that's it. There's no
cross-process communication or anything. A form's just as happy inside an
autocad window as it is on a desktop.... you can do the same thing to bring
Autocad, Word, Excel, whatever into a form in your app. See this sample for
"proof"

OFramer.exe - Sample: OFramer.exe Automates Excel and Word Inside a VB
http://www.cyf-kr.edu.pl/ftp/softlib/full.html

From the sounds of things, you'd want to show the form Modal. In that sub,
do something like.....

Private Sub CmdPlace_Click()
  'hide startup form
  Me.Hide
  'show secondform
  ShowForm2
  Me.Show 'since you called Me.Hide, you'll have to Me.Show
End Sub

in ShowForm2, use:

.. code
.. code
.. code
moStdFrm.Show vbModal

End sub 'this won't run until moStdFrm is hidden or unloaded

Show quote Hide quote Thanks, That's indeed what I'm seeing.
the "cross process communicating" is occuring because I have a reference to
the autocad api,
a reference to a running instance of the application, and then make calls
on that app from the command buttons of "Form2".
Maybe "cross-process communicating" isn't the right name for it...I'm just
using the activex object model of an application from a form
which is "out-of-process" to that application.
(I would have preferred making it an in-process dll but failed to overcome
all the obstacles of showing a form from the dll and having it work right.)
so I gave up on the dll version and went back to a "standard exe" version.


I'm going to read the links provided by "Someone" but for the moment I was
guessing that by setting the acad window as parent to 'Form2",
that if the user closed acad while my app was running(which they *shouldn't*
but they certainly *Could*), that would close my app...which would be
preferrable since with no acad my app will be calling a nonexistant
object...
not good...
I'm not sure if "Parentage" does that or if that's more an "ownership"
thing...still have to read and digest that info on windows hierarchy issues.



Show quoteHide quoteactually in Form2_Terminate I was calling "moStartFrm.Show vbModal"

maybe that accomplishes the same thing? or maybe that was what was causeing
me problems

Private Sub Form_Terminate()
'i tried both of these and sometimes it worked and sometimes not...
  'moStartFrm.Show vbmodal
  'moStartFrm.Show
End Sub

Then I was advised to put that in Form_Unload instead of _Terminate.
Don't know if that would help. Haven't had time to rewrite and try.

For now I've abandoned trying to get form 1 to show form2 and just calling
form2 directly from sub Main.
What that means is I'll have to create a different command in acad for each
of the 3 phases of this project.
The original design was to have one autocad command show "Form1" or a better
pseudonym would be "StartupForm"
Then there were 3 command buttons for the three phases of the project.
PhaseOne was what I was referring to above as "Form2"

Right now I have to suspend that dream and deal with some errors I'm getting
in my core code in Phase Two of the project.
I'll have to deal with user interface issues that are giving my ignorance
such a workout at a later date - I need to get the functionality available
asap.
The elegance or lack thereof of the user interface is a secondary
requirement at this point.


ah, maybe that's part of my problem...I hide moStdFrm multiple times
throughout the program in order for the user to pick points or objects in
the acad window.
It works perfect if I call the form direct from sub main but I was having
all kinds of problems trying to call it from StartupForm

Is that what was causing my problems? End Sub runs when a modal form is
hidden????

Many thanks for your weighing in on this topic
Mark

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