Custom Menu Bar similar to Window's Taskbar

[AaronYoung]

Is there a way, in Access, to create a custom menu bar that can be used as the default menu bar that will, in essence, function like the Window's Taskbar?

I would like the menu bar to show all currently open forms, and by clicking on one that form would get the focus.

So, when the database is first opened, only the switchboard, or "Main", would be on the tool bar. Opening the various forms that are in the database would cause them to be displayed on the menu bar, and using the Exit button on any of the forms would cause it to disappear from the menu bar, allowing for easy naviagition between open forms.

My goal is to disallow the various forms from displaying as separate objects in the Windows taskbar, but still allow easy navigation.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CyberLynx]

Not to many people I know ever enable this feature in MS-Access but it appears you do.

Go to the MS-Access menu bar and select:

Tools | Options

then select the View tab. Make sure the Windows In Taskbar property is not check marked.

Select the Apply button.

Now you wont get all those annoying items on your Taskbar.

.

 

[AaronYoung]

Thanks for the reply!

I have already removed this check-box, which I did specifically to keep the clutter on the taskbar to a minimum.

Now, since the separate forms that may be open are no longer visible via their own task-bar items, I was looking for a way, in Access itself, to create a custom menu bar that will, in essence, act like the task bar, showing all currently open forms, to allow for wasy navigation between them.

So, the Main Switchboard would always be an item on this menu bar, because if you exit the switchboard, you exit the project. Any time there is a form opened from the switchboard, I want it to be displayed on this menu bar, where clicking it will set the focus to that form, and to disappear from the menu bar when the user closes the form.

I have forms for various tasks, and a user may be working on one, and then get a phone call and need to switch to another, but without closing the first one and with the ability to go back to it when needed.

 

[DJkarl]

I think it would be possible. Check out the help section for Menu Bars. The CommandBar.Add method will create a new menu bar for you, you could then add controls to that menu bar that perform certain actions such as switch to an open form for example...however this will require significant coding efforts on your part unless you can find an example that someone else has done and just modify it.

 

[chopper07]

it must be possible

 

[nIGHTmAYOR]

you first set a custom menu bar (the one you created) through :

application.menubar = "CustomMenuBarNameHere"

now several approaches as to how to complete the rest , despite the upcoming one is unconventional in visual basic world (as i inherited it from PowerBuilder world ) yet it's the lest hassely of them all :
1st set a menu list , drag and drop all your forms to this list and then mark all added items in property as invisible .
on every event you use to open a certain form use :

CommandBars("CustomMenuBarNameHere").Controls("FormNameAssignedInMenuHere").Visible = True

and then on every event you use to close a certain form you use the opposite
(ie: .Visible = False)

Yet do remember to reset all forms list to False on application startup cz u never know , access might crash and then on startup last set Visible status remains .