deal with the message "WM_KEYDOWN" in the function "PreTranslateMessage" like this: BOOL CYourDlg::PreTranslateMessage(MSG* pMsg) { // TODO: Add your specialized code here and/or call the base class if(pMsg->message == WM_KEYDOWN) { int nVitKey = (int)pMsg->wParam; if(nVitKey == VK_RETURN) return TRUE; else if(nVitKey == VK_ESCAPE) return TRUE; } return CDialog::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg); } than when you press the "enter"and"ESC" the dialog will not terminate. bambooshan