Microsoft KB Archive/195404

= How To Keep Word Print Dialog Box on Top Using APIs =

Article ID: 195404

Article Last Modified on 7/1/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual FoxPro 5.0a
 * Microsoft Visual FoxPro 6.0 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q195404



SUMMARY
This article shows how to display the Microsoft Word for Windows 97 print dialog box that always remains on top of all windows or applications without making Word visible.



MORE INFORMATION
One problem encountered when you open Word's print dialog box from Visual FoxPro using OLE automation and do not show Word or the document window is that the following message may appear:

This action cannot be completed because the other application is busy. Choose 'Switch To' to activate the busy application and correct the problem.

This usually occurs because Word's print dialog box appears behind the current window. To prevent this message, use the FindWindowA and SetWindowPos Application Program Interface (API) calls to make the print dialog box remain on top.

Sample Code
***** Begin code sample ***** DECLARE LONG FindWindowA IN WIN32API ; STRING class, ; STRING title

DECLARE SetWindowPos IN WIN32API ; LONG HWND, ; LONG hwndafter, ; LONG x, ; LONG y, ; LONG cx, ; LONG cy, ; LONG flags

oWord = CREATEOBJECT("Word.Application" ) oWord.Documents.Add * Check background printing. lBackground = oWord.Options.PrintBackground IF lBackground oWord.Options.PrintBackground = .F.  && Turn off. ENDIF

dlg = oWord.Dialogs(88)  && Open Print dialog box in Word. dlg.SHOW

* Get the window handle to Word 97. wordhandle = 0 DO WHILE wordhandle = 0 * Pass the class name for Word 97 "OpusApp" to FindWindowA wordhandle = FindWindowA("OpusApp", NULL) ENDDO

* Variables used in the SetWindowPos API. swp_nosize = 1 swp_nomove = 2 hwnd_topmost = -1 hwnd_notopmost = -2

* Call SetWindowPos to make the print dialog stay on top. lretval = 0 lretval = SetWindowPos(wordhandle,hwnd_topmost,;               0,0,0,0,swp_nosize+swp_nomove)

* Turn on background printing if it was on before. IF lBackground oWord.Options.Printbackground = !oWord.Options.Printbackground ENDIF oWord.Quit RETURN ***** End code sample ***** NOTE: On some machines, Word displays briefly and disappears whenever the print dialog box closes.

