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Disable close button for Dialog box

Posted by Rajesh Parikh on March 24th, 1999

Introduction :
There are occasions when we would like to disable the close button on a dialog or any other window. In this article I am going to show you a simple way to do that. Even though I am going to show you how to disable the close button for a dialog, this technique would work for other windows too and for other system menu commands also.

Technique :
We use GetSystemMenu function to get the handle to the Control menu. Then using that handle we either call ModifyMenu or EnableMenuItem to change the control menu.

(1) Using ModifyMenu :
Add the following code to the InitDialog handler of your class 


   CMenu* mnu = this->GetSystemMenu(FALSE);
   mnu->ModifyMenu(SC_CLOSE,MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED );
(2) Using EnableMenuItem :
Add the following code to the InitDialog handler of your class 

   CMenu* mnu = this->GetSystemMenu(FALSE);
   mnu->EnableMenuItem( SC_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND|MF_GRAYED);
Thus by adding a couple of lines we can disable the close button for a dialog or any other window.


Date Last Updated: March 24, 1999

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Comments

  • Cool idea. Thanks. Take this snippet.

    Posted by bluredEn on 04/17/2007 03:39am 

    Cool idea. Thanks.

Here is a code snippet that I used for a similar
purpose - if it may be of any use to anyone:

// Customizing the Windows style - disable the Max/Min buttons
LONG style = GetWindowLong(hWndTarget, GWL_STYLE);
style &=~(WS_MAXIMIZEBOX);		// disable Max
style &=~(WS_MINIMIZEBOX);		// disable Min
SetWindowLong(hWndTarget, GWL_STYLE, style);

// Customizing the dialog's System Menu
CMenu* pSysMenu = CWnd::FromHandle(hWndTarget)->GetSystemMenu(FALSE);
if (pSysMenu != NULL)
{
    //pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(SC_SIZE, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED);
    pSysMenu->DeleteMenu(SC_SIZE, MF_BYCOMMAND);
    pSysMenu->DeleteMenu(SC_MINIMIZE, MF_BYCOMMAND);
    pSysMenu->DeleteMenu(SC_MAXIMIZE, MF_BYCOMMAND);
    pSysMenu->DeleteMenu(SC_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND);
    pSysMenu->DeleteMenu(SC_RESTORE, MF_BYCOMMAND);
    pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(SC_SIZE, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED);

    CWnd::FromHandle(hWndTarget)->DrawMenuBar();

    CString strMenuItem, strMenuItemAlt;

    strMenuItem	= _T(" Minimize");		// Add our Minimize menu item
    strMenuItemAlt	= _T(" Restore");
    if(CtrlSt_Min != CTRL_HIDE) {
        if(bIsWndMin == FALSE) {
            pSysMenu->AppendMenu(MF_STRING, IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, strMenuItem);
            pSysMenu->SetMenuItemBitmaps(IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, MF_BYCOMMAND, &bmpMinUp, &bmpMinOver);
            if(CtrlSt_Min == CTRL_INACTIVE)
                pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED, IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, strMenuItem);
        } else {
            pSysMenu->AppendMenu(MF_STRING, IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, strMenuItemAlt);
            pSysMenu->SetMenuItemBitmaps(IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, MF_BYCOMMAND, &bmpMaxRestore, &bmpMaxRestore);
            if(CtrlSt_Min == CTRL_INACTIVE)
                pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED, IDM_SYSMENU_MIN, strMenuItemAlt);
        }
    }

    strMenuItem		= _T(" Maximize");		// Add out Maximize menu item
    strMenuItemAlt	= _T(" Restore");
    if(CtrlSt_Max != CTRL_HIDE) {
        if(bIsWndMax == FALSE) {
            pSysMenu->AppendMenu(MF_STRING, IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, strMenuItem);
            pSysMenu->SetMenuItemBitmaps(IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, MF_BYCOMMAND, &bmpMaxUp, &bmpMaxOver);
            if(CtrlSt_Max == CTRL_INACTIVE)
                pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED, IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, strMenuItem);
        } else {
            pSysMenu->AppendMenu(MF_STRING, IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, strMenuItemAlt);
            pSysMenu->SetMenuItemBitmaps(IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, MF_BYCOMMAND, &bmpMaxRestore, &bmpMaxRestore);
            if(CtrlSt_Max == CTRL_INACTIVE)
                pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED, IDM_SYSMENU_MAX, strMenuItemAlt);
        }
    }

    pSysMenu->AppendMenu(MF_SEPARATOR);	// Add Seperator

    strMenuItem = _T(" Close");
    if (CtrlSt_Close != CTRL_HIDE) {
        pSysMenu->AppendMenu(MF_STRING, IDM_SYSMENU_CLOSE, strMenuItem);
        pSysMenu->SetMenuItemBitmaps(IDM_SYSMENU_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND, &bmpCloseUp, &bmpCloseOver);
        if(CtrlSt_Close == CTRL_INACTIVE) {
            pSysMenu->ModifyMenu(IDM_SYSMENU_CLOSE, MF_BYCOMMAND | MF_GRAYED, IDM_SYSMENU_CLOSE, strMenuItem);
        }
    }
}

    • Calling this as an app from a command script

      Posted by ianj on 05/03/2007 02:40pm

      Would it be possible to do this in a mini exe so I could call this code from a command script e.g. a user's login script ? Any suggestions would be extremely helpful as I've searched loadsastuff and so far not really got anywhere.

      Reply
    Reply

  • Doing this in java ...

    Posted by Jinxeh on 04/17/2006 02:54pm 

    used to be impossible. However, with SWT you have can use

SWT.OS.RemoveMenu(OS.GetSystemMenu (shell.handle, false),OS.SC_CLOSE,OS.MF_BYCOMMAND);

-Jinxeh

    Reply

  • Works great for property sheets!

    Posted by Legacy on 03/06/2003 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Joel

    People ask why not remove the button in the resource. Well for something like a property sheet, that doesn't work.

    The method the author has shown works great for a property sheet. Then I disabled the escape key as another person suggested, so now the user must hit the Ok or Cancel button to exit my property sheet.

    Reply

  • A way to ignore ESC and CTRL-Break in dialogs in pure Win32

    Posted by Legacy on 02/25/2003 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Ken 

    By adding a WM_COMMAND message handler in the dialog box

    procedure, testing for only your response values to 

    end the dialog (with EndDialog) and returning 0, windows

    no longer responds to ESC or CTRL-Break in a dialog box,

    the result I intended.


    /*--------------------------------------------*/

    /*DialogProc */

    /*--------------------------------------------*/

    BOOL CALLBACK DialogProc(HWND hdwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)

    {

    int ReturnValue;


    switch (msg) {

      case WM_COMMAND:

       ReturnValue = (int) LOWORD(wParam);

       if((ReturnValue >= 1000) && (ReturnValue <=1032)) {

          EndDialog(hdwnd, ReturnValue);

          // ...clean up stuff here...

        }

       //return 1; // <-- don't return 1 here

       break; // simply break

      case WM_INITDIALOG:

       // ... do your initialization

       return 1;

      }

     return 0; // <-- returns 0 here and windows doesn't kill

               // dialog

    }


    This is a pure Win32 program using only API, no MFC so I

    don't have access to PreTranslateMessage, etc. IsDialogMessage gave me fits also.


    Hope this helps someone...


    ken

    Reply

  • ctrl-break still works!

    Posted by Legacy on 02/10/2003 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Truc

    ctrl-break still works!

    Reply

  • How to disable ctrl-break in dialog-based programs?

    Posted by Legacy on 02/10/2003 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Truc

    How to prevent stopping dialog-based programs by pressing ctrl-break?

    Reply

  • Disabling close button in console application, is it posible?

    Posted by Legacy on 09/16/2002 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Januar

    Can we do things like this to console application?

    thanks,
    Jan

    Reply

  • Excellent

    Posted by Legacy on 08/19/2002 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Ashkan

    Top job mate! Works really well.

    Reply

  • Thanks

    Posted by Legacy on 07/24/2002 12:00am

    Originally posted by: Zaki

    Thanks a lot for the great ideas!!
    I used the PreTranslateMessage and disabled button. It would have been nice to have removed the button completely.

    Reply

  • runtime on/off a button, or image on a button, in a dialog window, VC6

    Posted by Legacy on 03/27/2002 12:00am

    Originally posted by: xudong weng

    bodies:
    following are runtime, dialog window button, VC6 environment
    1.to put/change a image on a button, need toget button handle and call the command, very easy
    2.to enable/disable a button, or to transparent it, to gray it, you need to set the userown character and write your own code to handle the change, for the sake of convience, i put this as a simple function. see VChelp, it descripts clearly -- there are some easy ways, ie. get the button's handle,and employing the CWIN-> functions to do this. anyow, all ways go to roma

    3. jsut to say more, in VC, most of the user interface functions demand control item handles.

    Reply

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