Technical Document

Summary

This document outlines the methods available to automatically invoke or pop-up QuickAddress Pro Plug ‘n’ Go (desktop solution) from a target application.

The first of these methods relies on an executable, qushown.exe. This executable can be launched from an application using a macro, command line or batch file, etc. It can also be used within existing program code using a shell command. The qushown executable can only be used to minimise, restore or unload a QuickAddress application; therefore the application must be running to ensure successful performance of qushown.exe. The executable is installed at the same time as QuickAddress Pro application and can be found within the product installation folder. It can also be found on the QuickAddress product installation CD.

The second method relies on the pop-up Windows (DLL) - quextea.dll. This DLL can be referenced using the QAPopupActivateExt() function call, which can minimise, restore, unload or test for the existence of a QuickAddress application. This function call’s ability to test for the existence of a loaded instance of, as well as unload a QuickAddress application, gives the developer greater control over the use of the application in their environment. The pop-up DLL is installed at the same time as QuickAddress Pro application and can be found within the product installation folder. It can also be found on the QuickAddress product installation CD.

Solution

1. Method One - QUSHOWN.EXE

Syntax: QUSHOWN appname (mode (section))

Examples:

• QUSHOWN QAPROWN
• QUSHOWN QAPROWN 1 "LayoutName, xxx"
• QUSHOWN QAPROWN 1 “Word, AUS”

where XXX is the country code of the required country, e.g. AUS, and LayoutName is the name of the layout to use, e.g. Word.

QUSHOWN Description:

Minimises or restores a QuickAddress application. The utility can be called by any program wishing to automatically minimise or restore a QuickAddress application that is currently loaded.

appname = Name of the QuickAddress application executable, for example QAPROWN (world product), or QAPRON (UK product). If just one QuickAddress application is loaded then this argument can be ignored.

mode = 0 if minimising

1 if restoring (default)

4 to unload the application

section = Configuration section to use. If specified then this overrides the automatic configuration, which acts upon the title of the underlying application.

2. Method Two - QUEXTEA.DLL

This DLL contains the function QAPopupActivateExt() which can be used to minimise, restore or test for the existence of a QuickAddress application.

The utility QUSHOWN.EXE is a simple front-end to this DLL.

Prototype: HWND FAR PASCAL QAPopupActivateExt(LPSTR lpszName, WORD wMode, LPSTR lpszSection, LPSTR lpszQuery)

Arguments:

lpszName = Name of application to act upon. This can be a NULL pointer or an empty string, in which case it acts upon the first QuickAddress application that it finds.

wMode = 0 if minimising

1 if restoring

2 if testing for existence

4 to unload the application

lpszSection = Configuration section ("" if not required)

lpszQuery = Search string (Pass "" as this is not currently supported)

Returns:

Handle to application's Window. This will be NULL if the application could not be found.

If calling this function from a non-C environment then HWND can be treated as an integer (4 bytes), and so a zero value signifies that an error occurred.

Related Links

How do I integrate QuickAddress into Access on Windows 32 bit?