OFF2000: How to Programmatically Hide and Unhide the Windows Taskbar (202099)

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. To create the functions and to see how they work, follow these steps:

1. Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor. Type the following code in a new module:
   

   Option Compare Database
   Option Explicit
   
   Dim handleW1 As Long
   
   Private Declare Function FindWindowA Lib "user32" _
      (ByVal lpClassName As String, _
      ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
   
   Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" _
      (ByVal handleW1 As Long, _
      ByVal handleW1InsertWhere As Long, ByVal w As Long, _
      ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal z As Long, _
      ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long
   
   Const TOGGLE_HIDEWINDOW = &H80
   Const TOGGLE_UNHIDEWINDOW = &H40
   
   Function HideTaskbar()
      handleW1 = FindWindowA("Shell_traywnd", "")
      Call SetWindowPos(handleW1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, TOGGLE_HIDEWINDOW)
   End Function
   
   Function UnhideTaskbar()
      Call SetWindowPos(handleW1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, TOGGLE_UNHIDEWINDOW)
   End Function
   					

   
   
2. On the View menu, click Immediate Window, type the following command and then press ENTER:

   ?HideTaskBar()

   Note that the taskbar is no longer visible.
3. To restore the taskbar, type the following command in the Immediate Window, and then press ENTER:

   ?UnHideTaskBar()

   Note that the taskbar is now visible.