Access Cookbook

Add an Item to the Startup Group

Problem

As part of your application, you would like to be able to allow users to add an application to the Startup menu so that your application will start up when Windows does. You just can’t figure out how to put the information into the Startup group. Is there a way to communicate between Access and the Windows shell so you can do this?

Solution

This is a case where the old technology called DDE comes in handy. The Windows shell accepts commands using DDE that allow you to create and delete groups and items. You can also retrieve lists of existing groups and items within those groups. This solution explains most of the Windows shell’s DDE interface.

To test out the DDE interface, load and run the form frmShell from 12-05.MDB. This form, shown in Figure 12-7, allows you to view groups and their items, create and delete groups and items, and display a particular group. It will decide whether to use the group/item or the folder/shortcut terminology after determining whether you are using the Windows 9x shell or the Windows NT/Windows 2000 Program Manager, respectively.

Tip

You’ll find several references to Program Manager and PROGMAN throughout this solution, as well as the use of the group/item notation rather than folder/shortcut, but the effect is the same either way: you can create groups and items in the Program Manager or in the Windows shell, depending on your environment.

Figure 12-7. frmShell allows you to communicate with the Windows shell ...