* VB-CODE (4)
Tip 102: Modifying a Child Window's Caption

June 5, 1995

Abstract
This article explains how you can modify the caption displayed in a
multiple-document interface (MDI) child window.

Changing the Caption of Child Windows or Forms
The Microsoft® Word for Windows® application allows you to have several
documents loaded into memory at one time. These text files are displayed in
multiple-document interface (MDI) child windows.
An MDI child window automatically inherits the parent window's caption. This
caption is inserted before the child window's own caption. As an example, if
the parent window's caption is MDIForm1 and the child window's caption is Form1,
the child window's caption, at run time, will be set to MDIForm1 - [Form1].

In your Visual Basic® application, you can set the child form's caption to a
NULL string so that only the caption of the parent window is displayed. However,
the dash and bracket characters must also be deleted. Because the caption is
displayed in the non-client area of a window, you must use a subclassing control
to process the paint event yourself. The Message Blaster custom control can be
used to modify a child window's caption.
However, another solution can do the same thing without using a subclassing
control. Just use Visual Basic's string functions (Mid and InStr) to remove the
unwanted text from the child window's caption. This code, as shown below in the
example program, is placed in the child form's Resize event. Each time Windows
needs to repaint the window, the caption will be modified.

Example Program
This program shows how to modify a child window's caption text. Start this
program by pressing F5. The original caption is "MDIForm1 - [Form1]".
Start this program again after removing the Exit Sub statement from the Resize
event (at the beginning of the code listing). The caption for the MDIForm1
window now reads, "MDIForm1 - Form1". The dash and bracket characters have been
removed from the string. In addition, if you set Form1's caption to a NULL
string, MDIForm1 will simply display its own caption even when Form1 is
minimized.

 1. Create a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
 2. From the Visual Basic Insert menu, select MDI Form. MDIForm1 is created by
    default.
 3. Set Form1's MDIChild property to True. Modify the size of this form so that
    it is smaller than the MDIForm1 form.
 4. Add the following code to the Form_Load event for Form1:

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Form1.Tag = Form1.Caption
    MDIForm1.Tag = MDIForm1.Caption
    Form1.WindowState = 2 'Maximize this form
End Sub

 5. Add the following code to the Resize event for Form1:

Private Sub Form_Resize()
    Dim Cap As String
    Dim Postn As Integer

    If (Form1.WindowState = 2) Then
        Cap = MDIForm1.Caption

        MDIForm1.Caption = ""
        Postn = InStr(Cap, "[")
        If (Postn) Then
            Mid(Cap, Postn, 1) = " "
        End If

        Postn = InStr(Cap, "]")
        If (Postn) Then
            Mid(Cap, Postn, 1) = " "
        End If

        Postn = InStr(Cap, "-")
        If (Postn) Then
            Mid(Cap, Postn, 1) = " "
        End If

        Form1.Caption = ""
        MDIForm1.Caption = Cap
    End If

    If (Form1.WindowState = 0) Then
        Form1.Caption = Form1.Tag
        MDIForm1.Caption = MDIForm1.Tag
    End If
End Sub