Detecting title bar clicks

hi ppl :)

does any one know how to detect clicks in the title bar of a form? i want to write an application that will sense when the user maves it (by the title bar) and when the user click the title bar.

also does any one know how to change to control icon menu on the left of the title bar? and how to 'force' the colour of the particular application to be a spacific colour, i.e. red instead of the usual blue without changing the colouring setting?

one way i could do if to creat a label and align it to the top and make that act as the title bar, but this would be difficult and it would make the application look 'funny'.

thanx.
p.s. i know i could probably do all of this through API but i want to leave that as a last resort...

Sorry but not only do you have to resort to the API you also need to sub class the form. Be carefull when you do this so you don't hit the End button on the VB toolbar. End the application by clicking on the Close button of the form. Otherwise you will get a GPF.
Ok here we go! Put the following in a BAS code module:

Code:

---

Private Declare Function SetWindowLong _
 Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" ( _
 ByVal hWnd As Long, _
 ByVal nIndex As Long, _
 ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function CallWindowProc _
 Lib "user32" Alias "CallWindowProcA" ( _
 ByVal lpPrevWndFunc As Long, _
 ByVal hWnd As Long, _
 ByVal Msg As Long, _
 ByVal wParam As Long, _
 ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

Private Const GWL_WNDPROC = (-4)
Private Const WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN = &HA1
Private Const WM_NCMOUSEMOVE = &HA0
Private Const HTCAPTION = 2

Private lngHwnd As Long
Private lngPrevWndProc As Long
Private frmHocked As Form

Public Sub HookForm(frm As Form)
    lngHwnd = frm.hWnd
    Set frmHocked = frm
    lngPrevWndProc = SetWindowLong(lngHwnd, GWL_WNDPROC, AddressOf WinProc)
End Sub

Public Sub UnhookForm()
    SetWindowLong lngHwnd, GWL_WNDPROC, lngPrevWndProc
End Sub

Public Function WinProc( _
ByVal hw As Long, _
ByVal uMsg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, _
ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
    If wParam = HTCAPTION Then
            Debug.Print WM_NCLBUTTONUP, uMsg
        If uMsg = WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN Then
            'the user starts the drag
            frmHocked.Caption = "Dragging"
        ElseIf uMsg = WM_NCMOUSEMOVE Then
            'no drag
            frmHocked.Caption = "No drag"
        End If
    End If
    WinProc = CallWindowProc(lngPrevWndProc, hw, uMsg, wParam, lParam)
End Function

---

Now add the following code to the form you want to hook:

Code:

---

Private Sub Form_Load()
    HookForm Me
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    UnhookForm
End Sub

---

Good luck!

Changing the icon at the top left of the form is easy, If you click on the form at design time (while it's not running) and look in the properties window there's a property called Icon, if you double click this you get a file selection window, then use this to select an Icon from your HD that you want up there.
,

Thanx Joacim and Sam,

Sam i ment changing the menus, not the icon :)

Changing the menu is a bit harder, I can't really explain it all because there's a lot you can do to it. (It's a lot of API work too)

What exactly do you want to do to the system menu?

well all i want to do is write an application like mirc. i was woundering could you get the system menu to display a menu created by the VB menu builder? if it's not very easy then i could make the form with no border but with a caption for the titlebar and creat a icon which displayed a popup menu...

You Could Uh....
Create An Array.
Then Use Load To Create More And More Menus Until Your Heart Is Content.
i.e.
Static ArrayCurrentNumber
ArrayCurrentNumber = ArrayCurrentNumber + 1
Load mnuSupaDupaMenuArrayThatICanMakeABunchOfMenusWithAndHaveAReallyCoolApplication(ArrayCurrentNumber)

or:

Static CurAry
CurAry = CurAry + 1
Load mnuAry(CurAry)

Or make your own, it's all JELLO!

Best wishes,