open outside application in form

[HAVocINCARNATE29]

i need to open an outside application inside of a form.
this way my user can use both applications at once without having to switch between two windows.
how do i do this?

thanks in advance

[Sam Finch]

You need a picture box inside your form, also I can't remember how to shell an app from your own programm but it's pretty easy (I think there's a vb shell command) and you need to get it's hWnd. once youve done that

Private Const WS_MAXIMIZE = &H1000000
Private Const GWL_STYLE = (-16)

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 SetParent Lib "user32" Alias "SetParent" (ByVal hWndChild As Long, ByVal hWndNewParent As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowLongA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long

Private Sub WindowToPicturebox(WindowhWnd As Long, PictureboxhWnd As Long)

SetWindowlong WindowhWnd,GWL_STYLE, GetWindowLong(WindowhWnd,GWL_STYLE) Or WS_MAXIMIZE

SetParent WindowhWnd, PictureboxhWnd

End Sub

hope this helps.

[jcouture100]

Sam,

I am also very interested in figuring out how to do this
(especially how to run a DOS command prompt window in an app).

I've been playing with the code you posted, but I'm unable
to get anything to work. Can you give any more pointers on
how this works? Specifically, How to get the hWnd value
from a shell command and How the WindowToPicturebox sub in
the code you provided is called. It would be greatly
appreciated.

By the way, here are some examples of shell commands. So
you don't have to look them up.

'Start the Calculator Program
retVal = Shell("C:\Windows\CALC.EXE", vbNormalFocus)
'Start a command prompt from NT
retVal = Shell("C:\Winnt\system32\command.com", vbNormalFocus)

[Edited by jcouture100 on 04-12-2000 at 10:42 PM]

[Sam Finch]

Right I've done it, It took a while cos I was looking for a better method than this to get the hWnd of the new shell.

You need a form with a picture box, a command button and a timer with disabled = False and interval = 100 (ish, try a bit less if it works, a bit more if it doesn't)

Put this code in the form

[CODE]

Option Explicit

Private Const SW_NORMAL = 1
Private Const GWL_STYLE = (-16)
Private Const WS_CAPTION = &HC00000
Private Type RECT
Left As Long
Top As Long
Right As Long
Bottom As Long
End Type
Private Type WINDOWPLACEMENT
Length As Long
flags As Long
showCmd As Long
rcMinandMaxPositions As RECT
rcNormalPosition As RECT
End Type

Private Declare Function SetParent Lib "user32" (ByVal hWndChild As Long, ByVal hWndNewParent As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function EnumDesktopWindows Lib "user32" Alias "EnumChildWindows" (ByVal hDesktop As Long, ByVal lpfn As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Private Declare Function SetWindowPlacement Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpwndpl As WINDOWPLACEMENT) As Long
Private Declare Function GetWindowPlacement Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpwndpl As WINDOWPLACEMENT) As Long
Private Declare Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpRect As RECT) As Long
Private Declare Function GetClientRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpRect As RECT) As Long
Private Declare Function ScreenToClient Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpPoint As Long) As Long


Private Sub Command1_Click()
Reset
EnumDesktopWindows GetDesktopWindow, AddressOf enumWindowproc, 1
Shell "C:\Winnt\system32\command.com", vbMinimizedNoFocus

Timer1.Enabled = True
End Sub


Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
Dim hWnd As Long
Dim str As String
Dim l As Long
Dim apiWindowPlacement As WINDOWPLACEMENT

EnumDesktopWindows GetDesktopWindow, AddressOf enumWindowproc, 2

Timer1.Enabled = False

SetParent hWndNewShellWindow, Picture1.hWnd

GetWindowPlacement hWndNewShellWindow, apiWindowPlacement

apiWindowPlacement.rcNormalPosition = CalculateNewWindowRect(Picture1.hWnd, hWndNewShellWindow)

SetWindowPlacement hWndNewShellWindow, apiWindowPlacement

apiWindowPlacement.showCmd = SW_NORMAL
End Sub

Private Function CalculateNewWindowRect(ParentWindow As Long, ChildWindow As Long) As RECT
Dim rcTargetRect As RECT 'Rectangle of window we're going to put it in
Dim rcLarge As RECT 'Rectangle of window including border
Dim rcSmall As RECT 'Rectangle of window excluding border

GetClientRect ParentWindow, rcTargetRect
GetWindowRect ChildWindow, rcLarge
GetClientRect ChildWindow, rcSmall

'translate window rect into client coords
ScreenToClient ChildWindow, rcLarge.Left
ScreenToClient ChildWindow, rcLarge.Right

CalculateNewWindowRect.Left = rcTargetRect.Left + rcLarge.Left - rcSmall.Left
CalculateNewWindowRect.Top = rcTargetRect.Top + rcLarge.Top - rcSmall.Top
CalculateNewWindowRect.Bottom = rcTargetRect.Bottom + rcLarge.Bottom - rcSmall.Bottom
CalculateNewWindowRect.Right = rcTargetRect.Right + rcLarge.Right - rcSmall.Right

End Function

[/Code}

and you need a standard module with this code

Option Explicit
Dim collWindows As New Collection
Public hWndNewShellWindow As Long
Public Sub Reset()
hWndNewShellWindow = 0
Set collWindows = New Collection

End Sub
Public Function enumWindowproc(ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long


Select Case lParam

    Case 1
    
    collWindows.Add False, CStr(hWnd)
    enumWindowproc = True
    Case 2
    'Debug.Print hwnd
    On Error Resume Next
    If collWindows.Item(CStr(hWnd)) Then
    hWndNewShellWindow = hWnd
    enumWindowproc = False
    Else
    enumWindowproc = True
    End If
End Select
End Function

then just hit the command button and it should open a new dos prompt in the picture box.