Application window (2000)

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Perhaps I should have titled the subject “Weird Science”.

For the third time in about a month when I open my application from a desktop shortcut it does NOT open the Access window. I get the switchboard, and everything works just fine (Forms, Reports, etc), but no Access window. I kind of like that (although I’m still in development) but I have no idea why it’s happening and only randomly. I did have a look at post 228487 and post 230277, but I haven’t done anything like that. Anybody have a clue as to why this would occur?

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When you say “for the third time in about a month”, are you suggesting that the problem cured itself the previous times or did you do something to fix it before? Are you working with dual monitors by any chance?

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Not really a “problem” per se. I can use all the functions of the application, and when I close the application it returns to normal. Just curious what could possibly cause that. (And by Application window I do mean menu, status, etc.)

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By “Access window”, do you mean the Access application window (with the menu bar, status bar, etc.,) or the database window (with tabs for Tables, Queries etc.)?

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Hans,

Application window.

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I’m sorry, no idea. I’ve never seen something like that. AFAIK, only forms and reports with PopUp = True are displayed outside the Access window, and the PopUp property for reports was introduced with Access 2002, I believe. Other forms and reports are always shown within the application window, so I don’t understand how your app can work correctly while the Access window is invisible…

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Yeah, that was my whole point to asking about this curious occurance. The Access file format for the application is 2K, but the software version is 2002 SP-2 running on a XP Pro OS (hope I put that right). Just a very odd thing to have happen, and if there is just some “haunting” going on, I’d sure like to know what, so I could duplicate it consistently and enjoy the benefit when the app is completed (without all that code). I was thinking it might be another “SP-2” issue, but I’ve certainly had that longer than a month. In the mean time I suppose I should start looking under the bed at night?

EDIT: I suppose the correct way to describe the version completely is to say XP Developers (I know, I know, what’s a novice doing with Developers? A stroke of VERY good fortune is all I can say – found in the bottom of a box of junk (unopened) at a bankruptcy sale.

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I have Access 2002 SP-2 and, as mentioned in my previous reply, I have never seen something like this.

If things get worse, you might hire an exorcist…

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LOL!

OK, you’ve had your fun and I’m certain at this point that you and Charlotte figure I had a few too many at lunch. However, I swear on a heap of any kind of book you want that this has happened no less than three times. Sooooo, when it happens again (and seeing as I haven’t done anything to stop it from happening) might you suggest any measures to “capture” the problem so I can document that I haven’t completely lost my mind? (Sheesh! I never even thought to use ‘PrintKey’ to prove the incident last time – I will the next time though, you can take that to the bank!)

Has ANYBODY out there experienced this. I don’t even care (at this point) if you know how to deal with it – just help support my sanity!

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The plot thickens!!

I went to the shortcut on the desktop and right clicked, selected properties, Run: Minimized, and double-clicked the shortcut. VIOLA!! I get the Main Switchboard and no application window. However, if you close the application and start it from the shortcut again, it will not repeat. You must reset the Run property to something other than “minimized”, hit “apply”, then change it back to “minimized” before it will work again. Of course once you have opened it this way it will not do so again until you have gone back through the whole process again.

Thank God!! I’m not nuts after all (well, at least not THAT nuts)

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Hi Bryan,

It’s certainly very strange. Does it only occur in one database, or a few, or all databases?

I can’t reproduce the shortcut behavior you describe. Also, I haven’t been able to find anything that resembles this in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in Google. I suspect that either Access or Windows is corrupt.

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I just tried five different db and none of the other ones will do this. I don’t know if it matters, but none of those have switchboards. As the switchboard is really not much different than any other form, I wouldn’t think that should matter. Also, I now am able to repeat the effect without having to go back and change the property setting (???). Additionally, none of this would explain how XP managed to accomplish this effect without any input from me (the effect occurred prior to my awareness of the property setting). Curious indeed.

Although this really isn’t a “problem” (I can re-set the property settings for the shortcut) I’m rather intrigued. I am going to do a complete shut down and see if that changes anything.

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If the front end is in 2000 format, but you’re running it in 2002, you will have access to the 2002 features like Popup and Modal properties for reports.

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Charlotte,

Thanks for the input. I am aware of that functionality (and nearly all of the forms and reports in this db have Popup properties with a few also having Modal). At this point I tend to agree with Hans V in that I probably have some level of corruption in either the db or the OS. I’m leaning toward the db as I am not experiencing any other oddities. As I have other machines available, I may look at copying the db to one of them to see what happens.

Failing timely discovery, there is also the option of exorcisim….I just hate having to do all that cleanup!

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If the forms and reports are all (or almost all) popup, they can float around the screen free of the Access window. What happens if you (temporarily) set the Popup and Modal properties of the switchboard form to No, then reopen the database. Do you see the Access application window now? If not, close all other applications, right-click an empty part of the task bar and select Cascade Windows or Tile Windows Horizontally. Does that make the application window visible?

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Hans,

Hmm, now nothing appears on the desktop, but the application is minimized in the task bar (wasn’t before – see PrintKey view). Clicking on the application tab opens the application window with the switchboard in the upper left corner (lost its Auto Center attribute). Somehow, that makes sense to me (if the switchboard has no popup attribute, then it could not be independent of the application window – which is minimized in the task bar). Why it lost its Auto Center attribute is beyond me.

If the shortcut properties setting of ‘Run: Minimized’ is an exclusively XP option, and in consideration of its affect on (in this case) A2K, I don’t see that as a terribly bad thing. However, as you had stated earlier, you were unable to duplicate the effect on your machine – that’s disconcerting. At this point there is no real down side to this effect in this db (it hasn’t crashed or corrupted beyond repair – yet) so I guess I’ll continue to play around with it to see what happens.

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>>lost its Auto Center attribute

Apparently that happens when the shortcut is set to run minimized; it happens on my system too. If the shortcut is set to run maximized or in a normal window, the switchboard is centered.

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Yes, and as I had alluded to earlier, this might be considered more as a “feature” than a “problem”. If this is not an anomoly (sp?), but rather a function of XP and A2K integrating the effect, then it certainly eliminates the need to create lengthy code to create that effect.

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