Hide command button on lost focus

[ssteinke]

Seems simple, but I haven't been able to crack this one.

I've searched and haven't found an obvious answer.

I want to hide a command button after it loses focus. I've tried placing this code on the On Lost Focus and On Exit events of the command button.

Me.cmdName.Visible = False

I get the 2165 error, 'Can't hide a control that has a focus'.

I guess one solution would be to force the focus to another control first, however, "how do I know what control the user is attempting to move the focus to?"

 

[RuralGuy]

Hi ssteinke,
Do you want it to disappear when it looses focus under certain conditions or after it is pressed? If it is when pressed then *you* set the focus to another control of your choosing in the OnClick event and then set the button invisible.

 

[ssteinke]

thanks RG,

I'm trying to replicate an MS Outlook functionality. When the user clicks on a textbox, it makes the command button next to it visible. The user can tab to the button which, if clicked, will open a popup form allowing the user to format the textbox data.

However, if the user decides NOT to click the button and tabs off, I want the button to hide again.

A simple solution would be to set the focus to the next control in the tab index, but it just seems sloppy since a user could click on a different control instead of tabbing.

I'm sure i'm making myself clear as mud...

Scott

 

[RuralGuy]

Hi Scott,
Having read many of your knowledgable responses to threads I suspected it was not as simple as I was making it out to be. The only thing that comes to mind is firing a timer event on the lost focus or exit event and letting the timer make the button invisible after some DoEvents and then turn itself off.

 

[ssteinke]

Thanks for the flattering remarks RG. As for the simplicity of this problem... I appreciate you thinking outside the box, but I absolutely can't believe there is no way to hide a command button after it loses focus without manually forcing the focus to a predetermined control, (it just seems i'm missing something very very simple).

Anyhow, i'll keep pluggin' away.

Scott

 

[carash77ash]

You can't hide any object that has focus. The only way is to set focus elsewhere first. It can be done but requires a fair bit of code.

The only other way (apart from rg suggestion which would be easier) i can think of is to set the onfous property on all objects to cmdbutton.visible = false except for the control that needs cmd box visible. That way if the user shits to another control it will hide.

i don't have any other suggestions

Ash

 

[ssteinke]

Ok, I played around with RG's idea, this actually seems to work pretty well without using tons of code.

In the LostFocus event of the cmdButton

    Me.TimerInterval = 1

In the OnTimer event of the form

If Me.cmdButton.Visible = True Then
     Me.TimerInterval = 0
     Me.cmdButton.Visible = False
End IF

It's these small details that sometimes frustrates me the most,... thanks for giving me a different outlook RG. You too Ash.

Scott

 

[RuralGuy]

Glad to assist Scott. I'm sure you will return the favor.