forum.vdsworld.com

[chucks0]

We have an application that leaves files open when a users uses the Window Close button (the X in the title bar) to exit rather than choosing File / Exit. Does anyone know if there is a way to use @sendmsg to disable the close button of a running application so that users must choose File / Exit?

[Tommy]

It may be possible using the WND CLOSEMENU command of my VDSWND DLL, part of the VDSDLL 3.

Tommy

[Dr. Dread]

Why not do the simple thing? - let the :CLOSE section return to the appropriate place in the app.

For instance like this:

[chucks0]

I would use the close section of the VDS app except that I am talking about disabling the close button of a Non-VDS app. I did find the appropriate @sendmsg api call that will let me change the title a window, but I can't find the appropriate message that will disable the close button.


Charles

[Mac]

Could you give us a few more details? Is the program
leaving files open in a word processor, etc? If so you
might start your program from a VDS frontend that
could monitor it's existence, then close the appropriate
apps when it closed. Without more details, I'm just
kinda guessing here....

Cheers, Mac

[chucks0]

Actually, the application is a student management system that leaves a lot of DB4 database files open. As long as the users use File / Quit to exit, the database files are closed. I can always resort to using API calls from Delphi or Visual Basic, but I prefer the simplicity of VDS.

[Mac]

Well, you're gonna need a front-end that starts the
program, waits for it to open, then disables the close
button anyway...

A VDS app could keep a list of all windows opened
AFTER the program was started, then close them all
when the program closed (might be a problem if other
programs were supposed to be left open though). You
could also check for INI files or REG entries that contain
the name of any apps the program has opened.

You might be able to get the windows message codes
(the numbers used by @sendmsg) from VB or Delphi
header files, but I'm not sure about that. I'd love to
have a complete list of them myself.

BTW, I couldn't find anything but an API "function" to
change a window's style (SetWindowLong), although
there are a couple of messages to notify the window
before and after the change (WM_STYLECHANGING
and WM_STYLECHANGED). But I may have missed
something.

Also, not all API messages will work from VDS.
Good luck on this one.

Cheers, Mac

[chucks0]

I can disable the X in Delphi with the following code:

var
hwndHandle : THANDLE;
hMenuHandle : HMENU;

begin
hwndHandle := FindWindow(nil, PChar(ParamStr(1)));
if (hwndHandle <> 0) then begin
hMenuHandle := GetSystemMenu(hwndHandle, FALSE);
if (hMenuHandle <> 0) then
DeleteMenu(hMenuHandle, SC_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND);
end;

end.


I wrote it to read the Title Bar from the command line and then find the specified window and disable its close button.

Ex: remclose.exe "Untitled - Notepad"

This works great. Now I just need to create some kind of Launcher program that will load the student management system, wait for it to load completely, then disable the x.

[Mac]

You could run the management program from VDS,
then use a REPEAT loop (with a WAIT) to check for the
existence of the management program window. You
might also want the loop to "time out" after a couple
of minutes in case the program doesn't load.

Once the window is detected, run your Delphi program
and exit the VDS front-end.

Cheers, Mac

[Mac]

Here's a simple example of what I meant. Depending on
your Delphi program, you might have to use the actual
window title enclosed in quotes instead of the %%title
var.
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