Keep popup window always in front

[Seth Schrock]

Is there a way to keep a popup window always in front similar to how the task manager always stays in front even when it isn't the active window? The idea is that I would have information that would need to be entered on a website, but the user only has one monitor, but wants to be able to see the information from the data while still viewing the web browser.

This feature has been requested by the user, and I don't know how or if it is even possible.

[jimatqsi]

Seth, this might be what you want.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/210500

Jim

[Seth Schrock]

That does look like what I'm looking for. I'll give it a try and let you know how it works. Thanks Jim.

[Seth Schrock]

The only thing that would be better is if I could click inside my popup and not have the rest of Access cover my web browser. Right now, when I open my popup and then open Chrome, my popup stays on top. But when I click on my popup to do a copy/paste of the data, Access covers Chrome and then once I have copied the data, I have to then click on Chrome and then click in the field that I want the data and then I can paste the data. Then I have I have to repeat that for each of the other fields. Maybe I should look into an autofill solution instead.

But otherwise, your link did work in that my popup did stay on top.

[jimatqsi]

Seems to me I did some web page scraping ... I'll look for that code, it was really pretty simple. I ended up with the text of the webpage in a text box and I could tear it apart as needed.

[jimatqsi]

Here's a piece of some code I used last year. I can't remember if I had to install something to use this or set a reference in VBA. Probably you can do some web searching and figure it out pretty quickly. But the result of using this code was a text file that I read and digest with VBA.

 
Private Declare Function URLDownloadToFile Lib "urlmon" Alias _
  "URLDownloadToFileA" (ByVal pCaller As Long, ByVal szURL As String, ByVal _
    szFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long
 
Public Function DownloadFilefromWeb(url As String, strSavePath As String) As Boolean
    Dim ret As Long
    ret = URLDownloadToFile(0, url, strSavePath, 0, 0)
    If ret = 0 Then
        DownloadFilefromWeb = True
    Else
        DownloadFilefromWeb = False
    End If
End Function

[Seth Schrock]

I don't need to read the webpage. I need to get information from my database to the website.

[twinnyfo]

Seth,

You could set the OnGotFocus event of your Form to minimize the DB Window. There are a myriad of code examples for such a thing, but I use the db Window minimize features often, as we are typically looking at multiple sources of information (to include our db). This should keep your popup on top, and keep your browser visible.

I have some code you can steal if you need it.

Cheers,
twinnyfo

[Seth Schrock]

If you have it handy, that would be great.

[twinnyfo]

Seth, I keep it all in a separate module so I can call it from any Form at any time.

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
 
'==============================
'  CONSTANTS FOR DBASE WINDOW
'==============================
Public Const SW_HIDE = 0
Public Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
Public Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
Public Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
 
'==========================
'  DBASE WINDOW FUNCTIONS
'==========================
Public Declare Function IsWindowVisible Lib "user32" _
        (ByVal hwnd As Long) _
    As Long
Public Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" _
        (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
        ByVal nCmdShow As Long) _
    As Long
 
 
'============================
' FORM MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
'============================
 
Public Function fAccessWindow(Optional Procedure As String, _
    Optional SwitchStatus As Boolean, Optional StatusCheck As Boolean) As Boolean
'****************************************************************************************
'* Purpose:  Controls the behavior and appearance of the Daatabase window               *
'*           residing on the form, and hence, we reduce the overall size of the FE DB.  *
'* Accepts:  Procedure -    describes the behavior requested                            *
'*           SwitchStatus - (optional) instructs the procedure to switch the current    *
'*                          status of the DB Window                                     *
'*           StatusCheck -  (optional) allows the procedure to check the current status *
'*                          of the DB window to determine whether or not to initiate a  *
'*                          change                                                      *
'****************************************************************************************
On Error GoTo EH
    Dim dwReturn As Long
    If Procedure = "Hide" Then
        dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_HIDE)
    End If
    If Procedure = "Minimize" Then
        dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWMINIMIZED)
    End If
    If Procedure = "Normal" Then
        dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWNORMAL)
    End If
    If Procedure = "Show" Then
        dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED)
    End If
    If SwitchStatus = True Then
        If IsWindowVisible(hWndAccessApp) = 1 Then
            dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_HIDE)
        Else
            dwReturn = ShowWindow(Application.hWndAccessApp, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED)
        End If
    End If
    If StatusCheck = True Then
        If IsWindowVisible(hWndAccessApp) = 0 Then
            fAccessWindow = False
        End If
        If IsWindowVisible(hWndAccessApp) = 1 Then
            fAccessWindow = True
        End If
    End If
    Exit Function
EH:
    MsgBox "There was an error resetting the Database Window!  " & _
        "Please contact your Database Administrator.", vbCritical, "Error!"
    Exit Function
End Function
 

To use this code:

From within a Form, to hide the DBase Window:

fAccessWindow "Minimize", False, False

To show the DBase WIndow (I use this when displaying reports, disabling the Toolbars):

fAccessWindow "Show", False, False

Hope this hepps! Let me know your results.