Knowledge Base

SAMPLE: How to Add New Menu Items to the System Menu

Article ID: 153092

Article Last Modified on 8/5/2004

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Enterprise Edition

This article was previously published under Q153092

SUMMARY

Sometimes it is desirable to add a new menu item to a window's System menu. This can be accomplished by using the AppendMenu API call and a Windows sub-classing control such as Message Blaster(tm). This article explains how to implement this action and provides a code sample.

In order to use the Message Blaster control, you can download the sample, free of charge, from the Microsoft Download Center. The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Msgblast.exe

For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

Download the Message Blaster Control.
Start Visual Basic, or choose New Project from the File menu if Visual Basic is already running. Form1 is created by default.
From the Tools menu, go to the Custom Controls option and add the MSGBLAST.VBX control to the project.
Place a Message Blaster Control on the form.
Place a Command button on Form1. Change the Caption to "&ADD."

Add the following code to the general declarations section of Form1:

   Option Explicit

   Private Declare Function RemoveMenu% Lib "User" (ByVal hMenu%, ByVal _
      nPosition%, ByVal wFlags%)
   Private Declare Function GetSystemMenu Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd%, ByVal _
      revert%) As Integer
   Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd As _
      Integer,ByVal nIndex As Integer) As Long
   Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd As _
      Integer, ByVal nIndex As Integer, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long
   Private Declare Function AppendMenu Lib "User" (ByVal hMenu As _
      Integer, ByVal wFlags As Integer, ByVal wIDNewItem As Integer, _
      ByVal lpNewItem As Any) As Integer

   Private Const MF_STRING = &H0
   Private Const MF_BYCOMMAND = &H0
   Private Const WM_SYSCOMMAND = &H112

   'Enter the line below as one line of code
   Private Sub RemoveControlMenuItemByPosition(frm As Form, iPosition As
   Integer)
     Dim iHSysMenu As Integer
     Dim iReturn As Integer
     Dim lDW As Long
     Dim lRR As Long
     iHSysMenu = GetSystemMenu(frm.hWnd, 0)
     iReturn = RemoveMenu(iHSysMenu, iPosition, MF_BYPOSITION)
     lDW = GetWindowLong(frm.hWnd, -16)   'Window style
     lDW = lDW And &HFFFEFFFF    'Turn off bits for Maximize arrow button
     lRR = SetWindowLong(frm.hWnd, -16, lDW)
   End Sub

   Private Sub RemoveControlMenuItemByCommand(frm As Form, lCommand As _
     Long)
     Dim iHSysMenu As Integer
     Dim iReturn As Integer
     Dim lDW As Long
     Dim lRR As Long
     iHSysMenu = GetSystemMenu(frm.hWnd, 0)
     iReturn = RemoveMenu(iHSysMenu, lCommand, MF_BYCOMMAND)
     lDW = GetWindowLong(frm.hWnd, -16)   'Window style
     lDW = lDW And &HFFFEFFFF    'Turn off bits for Maximize arrow button
     lRR = SetWindowLong(frm.hWnd, -16, lDW)
   End Sub

   Private Sub cmdRemoveMenuItems_Click()
     Call RemoveControlMenuItemByPosition(Me, 0)
   End Sub

Place the following code in the Form Load Event:

   Private Sub Form_Load()
     MsgBlaster1.hWndTarget = Me.hWnd
     MsgBlaster1.MsgList(0) = WM_SYSCOMMAND
   End Sub

Place the following code in the Message event of the Message Blaster Control:

   'Enter the line below as one line of code

   Private Sub MsgBlaster1_Message(MsgVal As Integer, wParam As Integer,
   lParam As Long, ReturnVal As Long)
     Select Case wParam
       Case 1
         MsgBox "You clicked to About"
       Case 2
         MsgBox "You clicked on Help"
       Case 3
       'This option removes the custom added menu items and the separator.
       Dim iHSysMenu As Integer
       Dim iReturn As Integer
       iHSysMenu = GetSystemMenu(Me.hWnd, 0)
       Call RemoveControlMenuItemByCommand(Me, 1)
       Call RemoveControlMenuItemByCommand(Me, 2)
       Call RemoveControlMenuItemByCommand(Me, 3)
     End Select
   End Sub

Place the following code in the Command1 Click event:

   Private Sub Command1_Click()
     Dim iReturn As Integer
     Dim iHSysMenu As Integer
     iHSysMenu = GetSystemMenu(Me.hWnd, 0)
     iReturn = AppendMenu(iHSysMenu, MF_STRING, 1, "About...")
     iReturn = AppendMenu(iHSysMenu, MF_STRING, 2, "Help...")
     iReturn = AppendMenu(iHSysMenu, MF_STRING, 3, "Remove items...")
   End Sub

Press the F5 key or choose Start from the Run menu to run the project. Click the Add button. View the System menu and note that the new items have been added.

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

110498 How to Add Items into Control Menu Box of Visual Basic Form

110104 Using MSGBLAST.VBX Control to Process Windows Messages from VB

Additional query words: msgblast 4.00

Keywords: kb16bitonly kbfile kbsample KB153092

Microsoft KB Archive/153092

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