Active X issues when converting from 97 to XP

DeutchBose

Board Regular
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
83
I have an Access '97 database that has an ActiveX control with the following:

OLE Class: CommonDialog
Class: MSComDlg.CommonDialog.1

When I convert to XP, I get errors concerning this control, and the control completely disappears from my form.

Do I need to register this ActiveX control on my XP box? I found an .ocx file called Comdlg32.ocx, but am not sure if that's the file in question...any ideas?
 

Excel Facts

What is the shortcut key for Format Selection?
Ctrl+1 (the number one) will open the Format dialog for whatever is selected.
I would have guessed the activeX control would be in:

msado15.dll (ActiveX 2.7)
msado26.dll (ActiveX 2.6)
msado25.dll (ActiveX 2.5)

Offhand I'm not certain what's in the other.

Will AccessXP open up the original A97 mdb (do not convert it) and let you see the references listed? The one labeled 'missing:' is probably it.

Mike
 
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DeutchBose said:
I have an Access '97 database that has an ActiveX control with the following:

OLE Class: CommonDialog
Class: MSComDlg.CommonDialog.1

When I convert to XP, I get errors concerning this control, and the control completely disappears from my form.

Do I need to register this ActiveX control on my XP box? I found an .ocx file called Comdlg32.ocx, but am not sure if that's the file in question...any ideas?

Yes, that's the correct file (Windows Common Dialog Control). Normally it would be unavailable to use unless you have something like Visual Basic or Office Developer installed. Did you uninstall something when moving from 97 to XP or maybe the XP installation removed something automatically?

Dan
 
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Hi DeutchBose

Further to what dk has posted, if you use certain controls when creating your applications you can run up against certain licensing issues. These occur when, as dk has mentioned, you design the application when you have a version of Visual Basic 6.0 or Office Developers edition on the machine at which you develop the application.

So, what to do?

Access does not have the calls to dialogs that Word or Excel has. The only way I have managed to do what the common dialog does is to use API calls. The following code will do this for you. It’s a pain but it does work:

Code:
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

'This code was originally written by Ken Getz. It is not to be altered or distributed, except as part of an application. You are free to use it in 
'any application, provided the copyright notice is left unchanged.
' Code courtesy of: Microsoft Access 95 How-To Ken Getz and Paul Litwin Waite Group Press, 1996


Type tagOPENFILENAME
    lStructSize As Long
    hwndOwner As Long
    hInstance As Long
    strFilter As String
    strCustomFilter As String
    nMaxCustFilter As Long
    nFilterIndex As Long
    strFile As String
    nMaxFile As Long
    strFileTitle As String
    nMaxFileTitle As Long
    strInitialDir As String
    strTitle As String
    Flags As Long
    nFileOffset As Integer
    nFileExtension As Integer
    strDefExt As String
    lCustData As Long
    lpfnHook As Long
    lpTemplateName As String
End Type

Declare Function aht_apiGetOpenFileName Lib "comdlg32.dll" _
                                        Alias "GetOpenFileNameA" (OFN As tagOPENFILENAME) As Boolean

Declare Function aht_apiGetSaveFileName Lib "comdlg32.dll" _
                                        Alias "GetSaveFileNameA" (OFN As tagOPENFILENAME) As Boolean
Declare Function CommDlgExtendedError Lib "comdlg32.dll" () As Long

Global Const ahtOFN_READONLY = &H1
Global Const ahtOFN_OVERWRITEPROMPT = &H2
Global Const ahtOFN_HIDEREADONLY = &H4
Global Const ahtOFN_NOCHANGEDIR = &H8
Global Const ahtOFN_SHOWHELP = &H10
' You won't use these.
'Global Const ahtOFN_ENABLEHOOK = &H20
'Global Const ahtOFN_ENABLETEMPLATE = &H40
'Global Const ahtOFN_ENABLETEMPLATEHANDLE = &H80
Global Const ahtOFN_NOVALIDATE = &H100
Global Const ahtOFN_ALLOWMULTISELECT = &H200
Global Const ahtOFN_EXTENSIONDIFFERENT = &H400
Global Const ahtOFN_PATHMUSTEXIST = &H800
Global Const ahtOFN_FILEMUSTEXIST = &H1000
Global Const ahtOFN_CREATEPROMPT = &H2000
Global Const ahtOFN_SHAREAWARE = &H4000
Global Const ahtOFN_NOREADONLYRETURN = &H8000
Global Const ahtOFN_NOTESTFILECREATE = &H10000
Global Const ahtOFN_NONETWORKBUTTON = &H20000
Global Const ahtOFN_NOLONGNAMES = &H40000
' New for Windows 95
Global Const ahtOFN_EXPLORER = &H80000
Global Const ahtOFN_NODEREFERENCELINKS = &H100000
Global Const ahtOFN_LONGNAMES = &H200000


Function RecallFileLocation() As String
    Dim strFilter As String, strLoc As String
    Dim lngFlags As Long, MyDefault As String

    lngFlags = ahtOFN_FILEMUSTEXIST Or ahtOFN_HIDEREADONLY Or ahtOFN_NOCHANGEDIR

    strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Access Files (*.mda, *.mdb)", _
                                 "*.MDA;*.MDB")
    strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Text Files (*.txt)", "*.TXT")
    strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Excel Files (*.xls)", "*.XLS")
    strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "All Files (*.*)", "*.*")

    MyDefault = "C:\My Documents\"

    RecallFileLocation = ahtCommonFileOpenSave(InitialDir:=MyDefault, _
                                               Filter:=strFilter, FilterIndex:=3, Flags:=lngFlags, _
                                               DialogTitle:="Find File to Open!")

End Function

Function GetOpenFile(Optional varDirectory As Variant, _
                     Optional varTitleForDialog As Variant) As Variant
' Here's an example that gets an Access database name.
    Dim strFilter As String
    Dim lngFlags As Long
    Dim varFileName As Variant
    ' Specify that the chosen file must already exist,
    ' don't change directories when you're done
    ' Also, don't bother displaying
    ' the read-only box. It'll only confuse people.
    lngFlags = ahtOFN_FILEMUSTEXIST Or _
               ahtOFN_HIDEREADONLY Or ahtOFN_NOCHANGEDIR
    If IsMissing(varDirectory) Then
        varDirectory = ""
    End If
    If IsMissing(varTitleForDialog) Then
        varTitleForDialog = ""
    End If

    ' Define the filter string and allocate space in the "c"
    ' string Duplicate this line with changes as necessary for
    ' more file templates.
    strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, _
                                 "Excel (*.xls)", "*.xls;*.xla")
    ' Now actually call to get the file name.
    varFileName = ahtCommonFileOpenSave( _
                                        OpenFile:=False, _
                                        InitialDir:=varDirectory, _
                                        Filter:=strFilter, _
                                        Flags:=lngFlags, _
                                        DialogTitle:=varTitleForDialog)
    If Not IsNull(varFileName) Then
        varFileName = TrimNull(varFileName)
    End If
    GetOpenFile = varFileName
End Function

Function ahtCommonFileOpenSave( _
                               Optional ByRef Flags As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal InitialDir As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal Filter As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal FilterIndex As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal DefaultExt As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal Filename As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal DialogTitle As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal hwnd As Variant, _
                               Optional ByVal OpenFile As Variant) As Variant
' This is the entry point you'll use to call the common
' file open/save dialog. The parameters are listed
' below, and all are optional.
'
' In:
' Flags: one or more of the ahtOFN_* constants, OR'd together.
' InitialDir: the directory in which to first look
' Filter: a set of file filters, set up by calling
' AddFilterItem. See examples.
' FilterIndex: 1-based integer indicating which filter
' set to use, by default (1 if unspecified)
' DefaultExt: Extension to use if the user doesn't enter one.
' Only useful on file saves.
' FileName: Default value for the file name text box.
' DialogTitle: Title for the dialog.
' hWnd: parent window handle
' OpenFile: Boolean(True=Open File/False=Save As)
' Out:
' Return Value: Either Null or the selected filename

    Dim OFN As tagOPENFILENAME
    Dim strFileName As String
    Dim strFileTitle As String
    Dim fResult As Boolean
    ' Give the dialog a caption title.
    If IsMissing(InitialDir) Then InitialDir = CurDir
    If IsMissing(Filter) Then Filter = ""
    If IsMissing(FilterIndex) Then FilterIndex = 1
    If IsMissing(Flags) Then Flags = 0&
    If IsMissing(DefaultExt) Then DefaultExt = ""
    If IsMissing(Filename) Then Filename = ""
    If IsMissing(DialogTitle) Then DialogTitle = ""
    If IsMissing(hwnd) Then hwnd = Application.hWndAccessApp
    If IsMissing(OpenFile) Then OpenFile = True
    ' Allocate string space for the returned strings.
    strFileName = Left(Filename & String(256, 0), 256)
    strFileTitle = String(256, 0)
    ' Set up the data structure before you call the function
    With OFN
        .lStructSize = Len(OFN)
        .hwndOwner = hwnd
        .strFilter = Filter
        .nFilterIndex = FilterIndex
        .strFile = strFileName
        .nMaxFile = Len(strFileName)
        .strFileTitle = strFileTitle
        .nMaxFileTitle = Len(strFileTitle)
        .strTitle = DialogTitle
        .Flags = Flags
        .strDefExt = DefaultExt
        .strInitialDir = InitialDir
        ' Didn't think most people would want to deal with
        ' these options.
        .hInstance = 0
        '.strCustomFilter = ""
        '.nMaxCustFilter = 0
        .lpfnHook = 0
        'New for NT 4.0
        .strCustomFilter = String(255, 0)
        .nMaxCustFilter = 255
    End With
    ' This will pass the desired data structure to the
    ' Windows API, which will in turn it uses to display
    ' the Open/Save As Dialog.
    If OpenFile Then
        fResult = aht_apiGetOpenFileName(OFN)
    Else
        fResult = aht_apiGetSaveFileName(OFN)
    End If

    ' The function call filled in the strFileTitle member
    ' of the structure. You'll have to write special code
    ' to retrieve that if you're interested.
    If fResult Then
        ' You might care to check the Flags member of the
        ' structure to get information about the chosen file.
        ' In this example, if you bothered to pass in a
        ' value for Flags, we'll fill it in with the outgoing
        ' Flags value.
        If Not IsMissing(Flags) Then Flags = OFN.Flags
        ahtCommonFileOpenSave = TrimNull(OFN.strFile)
    Else
        ahtCommonFileOpenSave = vbNullString
    End If
End Function

Function ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter As String, _
                          strDescription As String, Optional varItem As Variant) As String
' Tack a new chunk onto the file filter.
' That is, take the old value, stick onto it the description,
' (like "Databases"), a null character, the skeleton
' (like "*.mdb;*.mda") and a final null character.

    If IsMissing(varItem) Then varItem = "*.*"
    ahtAddFilterItem = strFilter & strDescription & vbNullChar & varItem & vbNullChar
End Function

Private Function TrimNull(ByVal strItem As String) As String
    Dim intPos As Integer
    intPos = InStr(strItem, vbNullChar)
    If intPos > 0 Then
        TrimNull = Left(strItem, intPos - 1)
    Else
        TrimNull = strItem
    End If
End Function

Then, to use the code add this to your button event

Code:
Private Sub Command2_Click()
   Dim strFName As Variant
      
    strFName = RecallFileLocation
    
   ‘YOUR CODE HERE
    
End Sub

To use the API code place it in a module by itself and call it from your code. Please use it as is and retain the bits that refer to the people who wrote it.

Just to show how easy it is to do in Word and Excel:

Word : With Dialogs(wdDialogFileOpen)

Excel : Application.Dialogs(xlDialogOpen).Show

Anvil19
:eek:
 
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