Form Lost Focus!

20 Oct 2005 12:43 AM

Arpan

A VB6 Form has the following code:

Private Sub Form_LostFocus()
MsgBox ("bye")
End Sub

But when I navigate to another window & in the process the Form loses
focus, the MsgBox doesn't show up! Why?

Please note that the MsgBox line is the only code in the above
sub-routine.

Thanks,

Arpan

20 Oct 2005 12:58 AM

Karl E. Peterson

Arpan wrote:

> A VB6 Form has the following code:
>
> Private Sub Form_LostFocus()
> MsgBox ("bye")
> End Sub
>
> But when I navigate to another window & in the process the Form loses
> focus, the MsgBox doesn't show up! Why?
>
> Please note that the MsgBox line is the only code in the above
> sub-routine.

Forms and focus really don't go together, per se. I think the event you're looking
for is Deactivate. Also, when troubleshooting focus issues of any sort, MsgBox
brings the Heisenburg Uncertainty principle into play -- don't do it. Use
Debug.Print instead. HTH!

--
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http://classicvb.org/petition

20 Oct 2005 1:04 AM

Bob Butler

"Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129769015.460201.169320@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com
> A VB6 Form has the following code:
>
> Private Sub Form_LostFocus()
> MsgBox ("bye")
> End Sub
>
> But when I navigate to another window & in the process the Form loses
> focus, the MsgBox doesn't show up! Why?

If the other window is in the same application then try the form_deactivate
event; the gotfocus and lostfocuse events would only be useful if no control
on the form could have focus and that's not usually the case.

if the other window is in another application then you'll need to subclass
the form in order to trap the application losing focus; either that or hack
it by checking the form's hwnd against GetForeGroundWindow every few
seconds.

--
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VB.Net: "Fool me once..."

20 Oct 2005 5:14 AM

Arpan

Thanks, Karl & Bob, for your suggestions!

I did try the Deactivate event but it doesn't work out! Actually the
VB6 application has 2 Forms. Deactivate gets fired only when I switch
from one Form to the other Form but I want the MsgBox when the user
navigates to some other already open application.

By "other application", I mean an altogether different application
(which could be some other VB6 application as well). While working, PC
users usually have more than 1 window/application open. For e.g. say, 1
IE browser, MS-Word etc. I want the MsgBox to pop up when the user
shifts to the browser window or the Word window.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks once again,

Regards,

Arpan

20 Oct 2005 7:18 AM

Tom Esh

On 19 Oct 2005 22:14:03 -0700, "Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I did try the Deactivate event but it doesn't work out! Actually the
>VB6 application has 2 Forms. Deactivate gets fired only when I switch
>from one Form to the other Form but I want the MsgBox when the user
>navigates to some other already open application.

Unfortunately VB provides no event for that. As Bob noted, detecting
app activation will require some Api code.

For an example that uses subclassing to detect the WM_ACTIVATEAPP
message:
http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/subclass/activation.htm

-Tom
MVP - Visual Basic
(please post replies to the newsgroup)

20 Oct 2005 8:53 AM

J French

Show quote Hide quote

On 19 Oct 2005 22:14:03 -0700, "Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Thanks, Karl & Bob, for your suggestions!
>
>I did try the Deactivate event but it doesn't work out! Actually the
>VB6 application has 2 Forms. Deactivate gets fired only when I switch
>from one Form to the other Form but I want the MsgBox when the user
>navigates to some other already open application.
>
>By "other application", I mean an altogether different application
>(which could be some other VB6 application as well). While working, PC
>users usually have more than 1 window/application open. For e.g. say, 1
>IE browser, MS-Word etc. I want the MsgBox to pop up when the user
>shifts to the browser window or the Word window.

>Any other suggestions?

You need to subclass and watch for the WM_ACTIVATEAPP message

A cheats trick is to set up a Timer and use GetForegroundWindow then
keep checking the parent to see whether it belongs to your App

20 Oct 2005 11:45 PM

RonW

On 19 Oct 2005 22:14:03 -0700, "Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote:

>...I want the MsgBox when the user
>navigates to some other already open application.
>
>By "other application", I mean an altogether different application
>(which could be some other VB6 application as well). While working, PC
>users usually have more than 1 window/application open. For e.g. say, 1
>IE browser, MS-Word etc. I want the MsgBox to pop up when the user
>shifts to the browser window or the Word window.
>
>Any other suggestions?

Just one: Don't do it.

Unless it's just a learning exercise. It's hard to imagine anything more
irritating than an application that pops up a message box every time I switch to
a different application. That would happen about twice before the app was
summarily deleted from my PC!

RW

20 Oct 2005 11:52 AM

Phill. W

"Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129769015.460201.169320@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> But when I navigate to another window & in the process the Form
> loses focus, the MsgBox doesn't show up! Why?

A Form's LostFocus and Deactivate Events are only raised when
you move to another Form within the *same* application.

To detect Application switching, you have to trap the Windows
message, WM_ActivateApp. Be warned; this kind of "subclassing"
can have some /very/ nasty effects when debugging your code!
(The IDE inexplicably disappearing being the commonest of them).

HTH,
Phill W.