We value your feedback.
Take our survey and automatically be enter to win anyone of the following:
Yeti Cooler, Amazon eGift Card, and Movie eGift Card!
Course Of The Month
3 days, 21 hours left to enrollBecome a Premium Member and unlock a new, free course in leading technologies each month.
Solved
sendkeys with ALT does not work
Posted on 2011-02-13
Question 1
I have a macro which contains sendkeys command with argument: %ea
It has worked for long time. Suddenly it does not work properly. It sends the e and a into the control were pointer is.
The same macro in the same database running on another computer with exactly same operating system (XP Professional), MS Office 2003, etc. still works.
Therefore some settings must have changed in the first computer. But what?
P.S. CONTROL with "^" works properly.
Question 2
I have similar problem with other macros/commands, however, problem occurs occasionally. Again I have the two computers, with same operating system, same MS Access, same database, and some commands and macros work perfectly onl one computer and cause occasional crashes of the database (...MS Access encountered and error ... databse will be closed ...) on other computer, but not always.
Is there a general notion what such differences may be caused. I have no clue where to start looking.
I have a macro which contains sendkeys command with argument: %ea
It has worked for long time. Suddenly it does not work properly. It sends the e and a into the control were pointer is.
The same macro in the same database running on another computer with exactly same operating system (XP Professional), MS Office 2003, etc. still works.
Therefore some settings must have changed in the first computer. But what?
P.S. CONTROL with "^" works properly.
Question 2
I have similar problem with other macros/commands, however, problem occurs occasionally. Again I have the two computers, with same operating system, same MS Access, same database, and some commands and macros work perfectly onl one computer and cause occasional crashes of the database (...MS Access encountered and error ... databse will be closed ...) on other computer, but not always.
Is there a general notion what such differences may be caused. I have no clue where to start looking.
[X]
Welcome to Experts Exchange
Add your voice to the tech community where 5M+ people just like you are talking about what matters.
- Help others & share knowledge
- Earn cash & points
- Learn & ask questions
-
5
4
3- +2
14 Comments
I dont know of any windows setting that would effect this, so I would start with disabling all AntiVirus & security software on the problematic PC.
Have you made ANY other changes/updates to the system recently?
Have you made ANY other changes/updates to the system recently?
Active today
You can also try the usual things ... Compact & Repair the db, reboot the system if you have not.
Occasionally, some programs - for example screen capture programs, which take hold of certain keyboard shortcuts ... check that.
Just some thoughts ...
mx
Occasionally, some programs - for example screen capture programs, which take hold of certain keyboard shortcuts ... check that.
Just some thoughts ...
mx
WAG: Check the specific computer to see if any of the Windoes Accessability Settings are intercepting the keystroke.
Active 1 day ago
While not a direct answer, I'd ditch sendkeys if at all possible. Very problematic. All a user has to do is switch focus to another window while your macro is running and the keystroke will end up going to the window that has the focus and not your app.
JimD.
Restarting computer does not help.
Repairing database also did not help.
I even tried with a new test database, it is the same. ALT and SHIFT are not carried out, but CTRL is carried out, i.e ^c works, but !a or %ea does not work, the letters after ! or % are simply sent to the control where the pointer happens to be. Hence ! and % as keystrokes are not recognized.
no screen capture is active.
Repairing database also did not help.
I even tried with a new test database, it is the same. ALT and SHIFT are not carried out, but CTRL is carried out, i.e ^c works, but !a or %ea does not work, the letters after ! or % are simply sent to the control where the pointer happens to be. Hence ! and % as keystrokes are not recognized.
no screen capture is active.
Did you check... the Windows Accesability features on the offending machine...
If I understand your problem... It works on some machines and not others...
(The same macro in the same database running on another computer with exactly same operating system (XP Professional), MS Office 2003, etc. still works.)
So look at the computer not the database.... what makes this computer different?
Service pack level
Accessability features (some of which intercept keystrokes)
If I understand your problem... It works on some machines and not others...
(The same macro in the same database running on another computer with exactly same operating system (XP Professional), MS Office 2003, etc. still works.)
So look at the computer not the database.... what makes this computer different?
Service pack level
Accessability features (some of which intercept keystrokes)
Yes, that's how it is. On one computer I have the problem. Same database on other computer with same OS and MS Access 2003, it works.
But originally it worked on both. I did not make any changes on any setup, unless it was unintentional.
I understand, but I have no experience with these accessibility features. What do I have to check?
But originally it worked on both. I did not make any changes on any setup, unless it was unintentional.
I understand, but I have no experience with these accessibility features. What do I have to check?
First check to see if ANY of the options are selected (Filter, Toggle or Sticky keys)
Holding down the shift key too long turns one of them on,.. I keep stumbling on that one....
and there are other times that my shift key becomes WEIRD... (sorry for using such a technical term Making fun of myself not you)
At times using the shift stops working and I have to hit a letter twice to get the letter to appear. or put another way hitting the shift key stops the next key from being sent to the keyboard,
Frustrating and I haven't figured out WHAT is causing that lack of functionality and if anyone has a clue or can tell me how to disable or UNINSTALL accessability ... it would be appreaceated...
Another thing to research...
Does the offending computer have a different keyboard, or does the keyboard have special (extended) software (such as a multimedia keyboard for media playing, web surfing, special redefinable keys for specialized program access)
It could be the keyboard software. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad, that has a keyboard utility to define hotkeys.
I'm grasping at straws.... but the point being it does not SEEM to be the program....
You can confirm this by taking the copy of the program OFF of the offending computer and running it on a working computer.... If it works... you atleast know it is not a damaged mdb.
Holding down the shift key too long turns one of them on,.. I keep stumbling on that one....
and there are other times that my shift key becomes WEIRD... (sorry for using such a technical term Making fun of myself not you)
At times using the shift stops working and I have to hit a letter twice to get the letter to appear. or put another way hitting the shift key stops the next key from being sent to the keyboard,
Frustrating and I haven't figured out WHAT is causing that lack of functionality and if anyone has a clue or can tell me how to disable or UNINSTALL accessability ... it would be appreaceated...
Another thing to research...
Does the offending computer have a different keyboard, or does the keyboard have special (extended) software (such as a multimedia keyboard for media playing, web surfing, special redefinable keys for specialized program access)
It could be the keyboard software. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad, that has a keyboard utility to define hotkeys.
I'm grasping at straws.... but the point being it does not SEEM to be the program....
You can confirm this by taking the copy of the program OFF of the offending computer and running it on a working computer.... If it works... you atleast know it is not a damaged mdb.
The problem does not come from keyboard. The key combinations work from keyboard.
But the simulation with the sendkeys command does not work.
So; ALT&e&a from keyboard selects the whole record.
But %ea from the sendkeys command just copies the letter a into the control where the pointer happens to be. But if I send just the "ea", then it copies "ea" into teh control. Apparently it skips the "%e"
The same problem with combinations starting with "!" as teh SHIFT. But it recognizes the ^ sign as CTRL. So, ^c works, but %ea does not work.
I checked versions of the database several months old which worked before and there it is now the same. So the problem must really come from Access or Windows but not from database.
But the simulation with the sendkeys command does not work.
So; ALT&e&a from keyboard selects the whole record.
But %ea from the sendkeys command just copies the letter a into the control where the pointer happens to be. But if I send just the "ea", then it copies "ea" into teh control. Apparently it skips the "%e"
The same problem with combinations starting with "!" as teh SHIFT. But it recognizes the ^ sign as CTRL. So, ^c works, but %ea does not work.
I checked versions of the database several months old which worked before and there it is now the same. So the problem must really come from Access or Windows but not from database.
Again .... Eliminate the Database itself by taking a copy from the non-working computer to another computer where it has worked...
If it works there... it is not the Access MDB we have eliminated any physical problem within the MDB
Then it is either the installation of Access. or the computer...
Check the service pack levels on two different machines... (one that works and the one that does not)
something must be intercepting the keystroke...
If it works there... it is not the Access MDB we have eliminated any physical problem within the MDB
Then it is either the installation of Access. or the computer...
Check the service pack levels on two different machines... (one that works and the one that does not)
something must be intercepting the keystroke...
Featured Post
We value your feedback.
Take our survey and automatically be enter to win anyone of the following:
Yeti Cooler, Amazon eGift Card, and Movie eGift Card!
Question has a verified solution.
If you are experiencing a similar issue, please ask a related question
Suggested Solutions
| Title | # Comments | Views | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linking Child/Parent fields between 2 subforms | 15 | 61 | |
| Menus | 6 | 57 | |
| Handle Apostrophes in SQL Parameter | 16 | 68 | |
| How to create and use encrypted columns in SQL 2005? | 15 | 64 |
In earlier versions of Windows (XP and before), you could drag a database to the taskbar, where it would appear as a taskbar icon to open that database. This article shows how to recreate this functionality in Windows 7 through 10.
This article describes a method of delivering Word templates for use in merging Access data to Word documents, that requires no computer knowledge on the part of the recipient -- the templates are saved in table fields, and are extracted and install…
Learn how to number pages in an Access report over each group.
Activate two pass printing by referencing the pages property:
Add code to the Page Footers OnFormat event to capture the pages as there occur for each group. Use the pages property to …
Basics of query design. Shows you how to construct a simple query by adding tables, perform joins, defining output columns, perform sorting, and apply criteria.
Suggested Courses
Course of the Month3 days, 21 hours left to enroll
751 members asked questions and received personalized solutions in the past 7 days.
Join the community of 500,000 technology professionals and ask your questions.