how to supress the close button on the form

[redshirtme]

Since I have my own close button on the form, how to make the vb style close button at the right-upper corner "x" disappear so that it only shows minimize, and maximize.

[Hack]

Option Explicit
 
Private Const SC_CLOSE As Long = &HF060&
Private Const MIIM_STATE As Long = &H1&
Private Const MIIM_ID As Long = &H2&
Private Const MFS_GRAYED As Long = &H3&
Private Const WM_NCACTIVATE As Long = &H86
 
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
 
Private Declare Function GetSystemMenu Lib "user32" ( _
    ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal bRevert As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetMenuItemInfo Lib "user32" Alias _
    "GetMenuItemInfoA" (ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal un As Long, _
    ByVal b As Boolean, lpMenuItemInfo As MENUITEMINFO) As Long
Private Declare Function SetMenuItemInfo Lib "user32" Alias _
    "SetMenuItemInfoA" (ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal un As Long, _
    ByVal bool As Boolean, lpcMenuItemInfo As MENUITEMINFO) As Long
Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias _
    "SendMessageA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
    ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function IsWindow Lib "user32" _
    (ByVal hWnd As Long) As Long
 
Public Function EnableCloseButton(ByVal hWnd As Long, Enable As Boolean) As Integer
    Const xSC_CLOSE As Long = -10
    ' Check that the window handle passed is valid
    EnableCloseButton = -1
    If IsWindow(hWnd) = 0 Then Exit Function
    ' Retrieve a handle to the window's system menu
    Dim hMenu As Long
    hMenu = GetSystemMenu(hWnd, 0)
    ' Retrieve the menu item information for the close menu item/button
    Dim MII As MENUITEMINFO
    MII.cbSize = Len(MII)
    MII.dwTypeData = String(80, 0)
    MII.cch = Len(MII.dwTypeData)
    MII.fMask = MIIM_STATE
    
    If Enable Then
        MII.wID = xSC_CLOSE
    Else
        MII.wID = SC_CLOSE
    End If
    
    EnableCloseButton = -0
    If GetMenuItemInfo(hMenu, MII.wID, False, MII) = 0 Then Exit Function
    ' Switch the ID of the menu item so that VB can not undo the action itself
    Dim lngMenuID As Long
    lngMenuID = MII.wID
    
    If Enable Then
        MII.wID = SC_CLOSE
    Else
        MII.wID = xSC_CLOSE
    End If
    
    MII.fMask = MIIM_ID
    EnableCloseButton = -2
    If SetMenuItemInfo(hMenu, lngMenuID, False, MII) = 0 Then Exit Function
    ' Set the enabled / disabled state of the menu item
    If Enable Then
        MII.fState = (MII.fState Or MFS_GRAYED)
        MII.fState = MII.fState - MFS_GRAYED
    Else
        MII.fState = (MII.fState Or MFS_GRAYED)
    End If
    
    MII.fMask = MIIM_STATE
    EnableCloseButton = -3
    If SetMenuItemInfo(hMenu, MII.wID, False, MII) = 0 Then Exit Function
    SendMessage hWnd, WM_NCACTIVATE, True, 0
    EnableCloseButton = 0
End Function
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
EnableCloseButton Me.hWnd, False
End Sub

Not only will this disable the close button, but it will also disable the Close menu option of the System menu.

If, at some point, you want to enable those two features, all you have to do is say: EnableCloseButton Me.hWnd, True

[Pasvorto]

Here's a simpler method:

On the form queryunload event
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Private Sub Form_QueryUnload(Cancel As Integer, UnloadMode As Integer)
If UnloadMode <> 1 Then
Cancel = vbTrue
End If
End Sub
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[Pasvorto]

I guess I need to fully read first. My code just disables the button.

[MartinLiss]

redshirtme, while it's OK to disable or bypass the X in control box, most users expect to find it there, so why not just call your close button code from the QueryUnload Event?

[Hack]

redshirtme, while it's OK to disable or bypass the X in control box, most users expect to find it there, so why not just call your close button code from the QueryUnload Event?

Martin makes an excellent point. I venture to say if you decide to go the disable the button route, you will get questions about why they can't do that. If you put whatever you need done in, as Martin suggests, the QueryUnload event, this code will execute regardless of how the user closes your application.

Although I keep the code I posted in my Code Library, I don't actually use it anymore. I did once, and got some 'unpleasant' feedback from my customers. From that point on, I started making use of QueryUnload.