in my form, I want to disable the TAB key.
I have tried to do this using the ascii code for vbTAB (9), but it
does'nt recognize this at all.

At the same time, I am simulating the TAB key Using the ENTER key by
doing:
if keyascii=13 then sendkeys vbtab.
This is working fine, but it does produce an audible signal (beep)
How can I turn this off?

thx,

One would have thought that setting a Form's KeyPreview to True would
do just that - but it does not - some controls steal certain keys
regardless.

You also have a circular problem - if you want to disable the Tab key
then you will still have it disabled when you send in A TAB KEY using
SendKeys.

Here is a sample of 'burning off keys' to prevent beeps
(more after sample)

Option Explicit

' Start with two Textboxes
' Add other controls to test

Private Sub Form_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
    Select Case KeyCode
           Case vbKeyTab: Me.Print "Form Tab": KeyCode = 0
           Case vbKeyReturn: Me.Print "Form Return": KeyCode = 0
           Case vbKeyUp: Me.Print "Form Up": KeyCode = 0
           Case Else: Me.Print KeyCode
    End Select
End Sub

Private Sub Form_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
    Select Case KeyAscii
           Case vbKeyTab: Me.Print "Form Tab": KeyAscii = 0
           Case vbKeyReturn: Me.Print "Form Return": KeyAscii = 0
           Case vbKeyUp: Me.Print "Form Up"
           Case Else: Me.Print KeyAscii
    End Select
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim C As Control
    Me.KeyPreview = True
    For Each C In Controls
        C.TabStop = False
    Next
End Sub

=========

You will find that Textboxes are just about manageable - but
Commandbuttons a nightmare.

In fact this key stealing stuff is by design - Windows sends a message
to the control with focus ( WM_GetDlgCode ) and if it replies with :-
  DLGC_WANTARROWS or DLGC_WANTTAB or DLGC_WANTALLKEYS

Then the control gets all keys.

However this involves a lot of sub classing and is a pain to implement
in VB

if keyascii=0 then
   sendkeys vbtab
   keyascii=0
end if

chris judge