How to Perform In-Place Activation on an OLE Control (148642)

SUMMARY

When you add an OLE control to a Visual FoxPro form, you can force the control to have the focus and immediately be the object that receives keystrokes. This is called in-place activation. This article demonstrates two methods you can use to activate an OLE container control in this manner.

MORE INFORMATION

Two Techniques to Activate an OLE Control

Determine if the object will respond to the OLE DOVERB activation method. If the object will respond, fire the DOVERB("EDIT") method. This technique has the advantage of activating the object without placing any keystrokes in the keyboard buffer.
If the object does not respond to the DOVERB method of activation, stuff the keyboard with an ENTER keystroke, and move the focus to the object.

Step-by-Step Example to Demonstrate Both Techniques

Create a new form. Place an OLE container control with an object of your choice on the form.

Place a command button on the form with the following code in the click event:

   IF ThisForm.OleControl1.DoVerb('')
      * The vast majority of modern applications fall into this category
      =MESSAGEBOX("This object responded to activation",0)
      ThisForm.OleControl1.DoVerb("Edit")
   ELSE
   * To test the validity of this process, change the previous lines of
   * code into comments and run the three lines listed below.

      =MESSAGEBOX("This object must be activated with the Enter key",0)
      KEYBOARD '{ENTER}'
      ThisForm.OleControl1.SetFocus()
   ENDIF

Save and run the form.