ACC2000: Only One Menu Bar Can Be Visible at a Time Using Code (207157)

RESOLUTION

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. You can set the Visible property of any existing menu bar in code to make it visible, but this method only allows you to display one menu bar at a time. When you set the Visible property of any menu bar to True, Microsoft Access automatically sets the Visible property of all other menu bars to False.

For example, assume your database contains two menu bars: MenuBar1 and MenuBar2. If MenuBar1 is displayed on your screen, the following line of code automatically sets the Visible property of MenuBar1 to False:

CommandBars("MenuBar2").Visible = True

If MenuBar2 is displayed on your screen, the following line of code automatically sets the Visible property of MenuBar2 to False:

CommandBars("MenuBar1").Visible = True

In order to display more than one menu bar at a time, you must create your new menu bar or view an existing one through the user interface as follows:

On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Customize.
In the Customize dialog box, click an existing menu bar, or click New to create a new one.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
Create a new module.
On the Tools menu, click References.
In the References dialog box, click Microsoft Office 9.0 Object Library, and then click OK. If the reference is not listed in the Available References box, click the Browse button and search for the file, Mso9.dll.
Type the following line in the Declarations section of your module:
```
Public strCurrentMenuName As String
					
```

Type the following procedure:

'*******************************************************************

' This procedure creates a new menu bar and makes it visible.

'*******************************************************************

Sub CreateMenuBar(strNewMenuName as String)
Dim cmdNewMenu As CommandBar

' Set Global strCurrentMenuName to existing menu for use later when
' toggling.
strCurrentMenuName = CommandBars.ActiveMenuBar.Name

' Create a new menu bar.
Set cmdNewMenu = Application.CommandBars.Add(strNewMenuName, _
   msoBarFloating, True, False)
With cmdNewMenu
  ' Set Protection property to no protection so users can customize
  ' it.
  .Protection = msoBarNoProtection
  ' Show new menu.
  .Visible = True
End With
End Sub

To test this function, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:
```
CreateMenuBar "ExampleMenu"
						
```
When you minimize the Visual Basic Editor you that see a new floating menu bar is displayed on the screen, and that the original menu bar is hidden from view.

NOTE: All command bars require a unique name. If you use the name of an existing command bar in the strNewMenuName argument of this procedure, you receive the following error message:
Run-time error '5':
Invalid procedure call or argument
To restore the original menu bar to the screen, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:
```
CommandBars(strCurrentMenuName).Visible = True
						
```
Note that the original menu bar reappears, and your custom menu bar disappears.

REFERENCES

For more information about menu bars, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type Read about toolbars, menu bars, and shortcut menus in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

For more information about the Protection property, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type protection property in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

For more information about creating command bars in code, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

209974 ACC2000: How to Create Command Bars by Using Visual Basic Code