Linking Commands to Cascaded Menus

Commands can be linked to secondary, or “cascaded,” menus. When the user chooses a command linked to a cascaded menu (indicated by an arrow to the right of the command name), the cascaded menu appears to the right of the command, as in Figure 5.13.

QuickCase:W supports a single level of cascaded menus. That is, a command on a cascaded menu cannot lead to another cascaded menu.

Summary: Design Suggestion

QuickCase:W's restrictions aside, you probably still want to avoid deeply nested commands. Commands buried several menus deep can be difficult to find and tend to reduce a program's ease of use.

·To add a cascading menu to an existing command:

1.Do one of the following:

Click the command you want the cascaded menu to appear next to.

Press ALT+F6 to activate the prototyped window; press ALT to activate the menu bar; highlight the item with the ARROW keys; press ENTER.

The Update Menu Item dialog box appears.

2.Select the Dropdown Menu option in the Link To dropdown list box. Choose OK.

An arrow appears to the right of the command you chose in Step 1. Now, when you click on that command, double-chevron braces (<< >>) appear in a cascaded menu. You can now add commands to the cascaded menu.

NOTE::

If you want to change the properties of a command that links to a cascaded menu, you must explicitly use the QuickCase:W Update command. Clicking (or pressing ENTER) on the command will not invoke the Update Menu Item dialog box.