Setting Application Title

[JustJim]

Hi all,

Having done this

Public Const JMCTITLESTRING As String = "New Arrivals 2008"

and this

   Set prpTitle = NAdb.CreateProperty("AppTitle", 12, JMCTITLESTRING)
    NAdb.Properties.Append prpTitle
     Application.RefreshTitleBar

I can do this, in the immediate window

? currentdb().Properties("AppTitle").value
New Arrivals 2008

Which made me a happy person until I looked at the title bar of the application and it says "Microsoft Access"

Why is it so?

Jim

[Zwoker]

I find that the following example code works fine to change the MS Access title bar. It is a little different that what you show in your code...

Dim dbs As Database
Set dbs = CurrentDb
dbs.Properties!AppTitle = "Hello World"
Application.RefreshTitleBar

[NeoPa]

In my system AppTitle doesn't even exist :S

I did find "Application.Name" but it's a read-only property (which doesn't surprise me really). Why would you expect this to be a changeable property? Have you seen somewhere that it can be done?

[Scott Price]

This worked for me using Access 2003... I think you just need to do the .Append method for your new property to work, Jim...

Dim db As Database
Set db = CurrentDb()
Dim newtitle
 
Set newtitle = db.CreateProperty("AppTitle", dbText, "Test")
db.Properties.Append newtitle
Application.RefreshTitleBar

Regards,
Scott

[Scott Price]

Actually after looking again, I see that you have used the .Append... Sorry Jim!

Regards,
Scott

[missinglinq]

For some reason there are end users that are intimidated by Access while appearing to have no problem with VB6 looking interfaces. Scott’s code changes the app name, but the ever present Access “Key” is still there. One solution that I've used is to create a "background" form that is sized to fill the entire screen, covering the Access window itself. Then you can set the form's name to whatever you want the "application name" to be. There are functions out there for running forms while making the Access Window invisible. I sopent a great deal of time experimenting with these and wasn't at all happy with the results. They work fairly well if your app only involves a single form, but handling multiple forms is a nightmare as all forms have to be popup. I also ran into problems with them closing but leaving the LDB file open, which required shutting the entire system to get rid of.

Linq ;0)>

[NeoPa]

I was being a bit dim.
You created the property AppTitle - hence why I couldn't find it :S

Anyway, after trying Scott's code (and by extension Jim's) in A2003 I found that it did work for me after all. That is, it changed the title for the application as well as updating the property value.

Sorry Jim, I don't know why your's doesnt show.

[Scott Price]

How are you calling the procedure, Jim?

I piggy-backed it into the On Click event of a button, which of course, only needs to be called once.

The only substantial difference I can see in the two codes (yours and mine) is that you are using a constant of 12 where I used the vbText... Have you tried the other?

Regards,
Scott

[JustJim]

How are you calling the procedure, Jim?

I piggy-backed it into the On Click event of a button, which of course, only needs to be called once.

The only substantial difference I can see in the two codes (yours and mine) is that you are using a constant of 12 where I used the vbText... Have you tried the other?

Regards,
Scott

I put the code in the OnOpen event of the form I use as the Main Menu so that it gets run at Application startup.

I'll try the vbText constant (can't remember what 12 was, possibly vbChar)

Thanks all.
Jim

[Scott Price]

Just a clearup :-) I mistyped the dbText constant as vbText, Jim, Sorry. It should be dbText as I have in the code.

12 is the code for dbMemo. In doing a little testing with NeoPa's help we came up with something that seems to work quite well at changing and re-changing the title when needed. I'll post the updated code here;

Dim db As Database
Set db = CurrentDb()
 
Dim newtitle
 
Set newtitle = db.CreateProperty("Apptitle", dbText, "Test")
'db.Properties.Append newtitle
db.Properties("AppTitle").Value = "Test"
Call Application.RefreshTitleBar

You'll notice that the .Append line is commented out, it raises an error if called more than once! I.e Access won't allow you to append the same property if it already exists. So the first time the code runs, the new title property needs to be appended, the second time, the .Value needs to be re-set to whatever new title you wish.

The RefreshTitleBar call applies whatever change you have made.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Scott

[JustJim]

Just a clearup :-) I mistyped the dbText constant as vbText, Jim, Sorry. It should be dbText as I have in the code.

12 is the code for dbMemo. In doing a little testing with NeoPa's help we came up with something that seems to work quite well at changing and re-changing the title when needed. I'll post the updated code here;

Dim db As Database
Set db = CurrentDb()
 
Dim newtitle
 
Set newtitle = db.CreateProperty("Apptitle", dbText, "Test")
'db.Properties.Append newtitle
db.Properties("AppTitle").Value = "Test"
Call Application.RefreshTitleBar

You'll notice that the .Append line is commented out, it raises an error if called more than once! I.e Access won't allow you to append the same property if it already exists. So the first time the code runs, the new title property needs to be appended, the second time, the .Value needs to be re-set to whatever new title you wish.

The RefreshTitleBar call applies whatever change you have made.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Scott

Yes, I didn't actually explain the details but I had the append in the main code and trapped the error to make the change if the property had allready been appended.
This has been fun and educational. I'm going to have to wait until I get home to play with it.... my USB key just now fell to pieces as I went to put it in the socket!

Thank you to all who assisted.

Jim

[NeoPa]

Some alternative code, that handles either occasion using "On Error ...". Remember that once this property has been added to an application installation (not db or user dependent), it is not removable (at least we found no way & I searched the Registry). To restore it you'd need to set it back to "Microsoft Access" (as I had to do after my testing).

Public Sub ChangeAppTitle(strTitle as String)
  Dim proTitle As Property
 
  On Error Resume Next
  With CurrentDB
    Set proTitle = .CreateProperty("AppTitle", dbText, strTitle)
    Call .Properties.Append(proTitle)
    .Properties("AppTitle").Value = strTitle
  End With
  Call Application.RefreshTitleBar
End Sub