ACC2000: How to Disable the Close Button (X) on the Access Application Window

Microsoft Access has no built-in method for disabling the Close button (X) on the application window or the Close command on the System menu of the application window. This article describes how to programmatically disable both of these.

In order to disable the application Close button and the Close command on the System menu, you must call the GetSystemMenu and ModifyMenu functions from the Win32 API.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

Step-by-Step Example

1. Start Microsoft Access.
2. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
3. On the Insert menu, click Class Module.
4. Type the following code into the Declarations section:

   Option Compare Database
   Option Explicit
   
   Private Declare Function GetSystemMenu Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, _
      ByVal bRevert As Long) As Long
   
   Private Declare Function EnableMenuItem Lib "user32" (ByVal hMenu As _
      Long, ByVal wIDEnableItem As Long, ByVal wEnable As Long) As Long
   
   Private Declare Function GetMenuItemInfo Lib "user32" Alias _
      "GetMenuItemInfoA" (ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal un As Long, ByVal b As _
      Long, lpMenuItemInfo As MENUITEMINFO) As Long
   
   Private Type MENUITEMINFO
       cbSize As Long
       fMask As Long
       fType As Long
       fState As Long
       wID As Long
       hSubMenu As Long
       hbmpChecked As Long
       hbmpUnchecked As Long
       dwItemData As Long
       dwTypeData As String
       cch As Long
   End Type
   
   Const MF_GRAYED = &H1&
   Const MF_BYCOMMAND = &H0&
   Const SC_CLOSE = &HF060&
   					

5. Add the following procedures to the class module:

   Public Property Get Enabled() As Boolean
       Dim hWnd As Long
       Dim hMenu As Long
       Dim result As Long
       Dim MI As MENUITEMINFO
       
       MI.cbSize = Len(MI)
       MI.dwTypeData = String(80, 0)
       MI.cch = Len(MI.dwTypeData)
       MI.fMask = MF_GRAYED
       MI.wID = SC_CLOSE
       hWnd = Application.hWndAccessApp
       hMenu = GetSystemMenu(hWnd, 0)
       result = GetMenuItemInfo(hMenu, MI.wID, 0, MI)
       Enabled = (MI.fState And MF_GRAYED) = 0
   End Property
   
   Public Property Let Enabled(boolClose As Boolean)
       Dim hWnd As Long
       Dim wFlags As Long
       Dim hMenu As Long
       Dim result As Long
       
       hWnd = Application.hWndAccessApp
       hMenu = GetSystemMenu(hWnd, 0)
       If Not boolClose Then
           wFlags = MF_BYCOMMAND Or MF_GRAYED
       Else
           wFlags = MF_BYCOMMAND And Not MF_GRAYED
       End If
       result = EnableMenuItem(hMenu, SC_CLOSE, wFlags)
   End Property
   					

6. On the File menu, click Save Northwind (to save the project), and when prompted for the name of the class module, save it as CloseCommand.
7. On the Insert menu, click Module to create a new, standard module.
8. Add the following procedure to the module:

   Function InitApplication()
      Dim c As CloseCommand
      Set c = New CloseCommand
      
      'Disable Close menu.
      c.Enabled = False
   End Function
   					

9. On the Debug menu, click Compile Northwind. If the project is not compiled successfully, correct the compilation errors, and then compile the project again.
10. On the File menu, click Save Northwind, and use the default name that appears in the Module Name box by clicking OK.
11. Create a new macro with the following actions and action arguments:

       Action
       -------
       RunCode
    
       Action Arguments
       -------------------------------
       Function Name: InitApplication()
    					

12. Save the macro and name it Autoexec.
13. Close the database.
14. Reopen the database.

Note that the Close button and the Close command on the System menu of the application window are disabled.

Usage

The CloseCommand class module described in this article allows you to easily enable or disable the Close button and the Close command of the application window. The class module also allows you to check the state of these commands to determine if they are currently enabled or disabled. Before doing either of these, your code must first create an instance of the CloseCommand class, as demonstrated in the InitApplication function earlier in this article.

To check the state of the Close button, refer to the Enabled property of the CloseCommand instance that your code created. Likewise, to set the state of the Close button, assign True or False to the Enabled property of the CloseCommand instance that your code created.

Please note that this technique affects the Close button on the application window of Microsoft Access, not the Close button on the Database window. After disabling the Close button, the button is not automatically reenabled when your database closes. If the user closes the database and leaves Microsoft Access open, the user will not be able to quit Microsoft Access by using the Close button. In this case, your application should reenable the Close button before it terminates. Otherwise, the user will have to quit and restart Microsoft Access in order for the Close button to be enabled.

This technique does not disable the Exit command on the File menu. If your application needs to disable this command, you must customize the File menu to remove the Exit command.