PRB: Menu with Internal Names in SDI Form Changes System Menu

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 5.0

SYMPTOMS

If a single-document interface (SDI), or Top-Level, form is run with its own menu, which uses Visual FoxPro's internal menu names, any modifications made to the menu in the SDI form also change the corresponding pop-up or pad in the Visual FoxPro system menu.

WORKAROUND

Issue the following command after the SDI form is closed:

   SET SYSMENU TO DEFAULT

Do not use internal menu names.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior occurs because there is only one System menu. If the menu code used in your SDI form is doing an explicit DEFINE POPUP _mfile, which redefines the File menu--a Quick menu does this--the definition supersedes any existing definition of the File menu, regardless of whether the System menu appears in an SDI form or the Visual FoxPro desktop. In Visual FoxPro version 5.0, you can use System menus in SDI forms as well as on the Visual FoxPro desktop. If internal System menu names are used in a menu definition, the system menu changes, regardless of where it appears, after that menu definition becomes effective.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Create a form called Test.

2. Set the form's ShowWindow property to 2 in the Form Designer Property window.

3. In the Init method of the form, add the following code:

         DO TESTMENU.MPR WITH This, .T.
   

4. Create a new menu. Make it a Menu rather than a Shortcut.

5. On the Menu menu, click Quick Menu to create a default quick menu.

6. On the View menu, click General Options. In the General Options dialog box, click the Top-Level Form check box, then OK.

7. In the Menu Designer, click the File prompt, then the Edit button.

8. With New under Prompt selected, click on the Result drop-down list. Click Command. Click Yes in the Delete Bar Number dialog box.

9. Tab to the empty text box to the right of the Result box, type the following, then press enter:

         =MESSAGEBOX('From SDI Menu',0)
   

10. On the Menu menu, click Generate. Save the menu as Testmenu, then

        select the Generate button to generate the default .mpr file.
    

11. Run the Test form. On the SDI form, click File then New from the menu.

        The message box appears; click OK to close it.
    

12. Click the Close button [X] in the upper right corner of the form

        under Windows 95 or NT 4.0, or select Alt+F4 or Close from the control
        menu to close the SDI form.
    

13. On the File menu, click New. The message box again appears. Typing SET

        SYSMENU TO DEFAULT in the Command window restores the default menu
        functionality.
    

NOTES

• Often, the SDI form is the main window in your application. In this scenario, since the Visual FoxPro desktop is hidden, it makes no difference how the menu in the Visual FoxPro desktop appears. You can add a SET SYSMENU TO DEFAULT command in the Destroy() or Unload() methods of your form to reset the System menu when you exit your SDI form or application. This allows the menu to appear as expected when you return to the Visual FoxPro development environment.
• There may be other situations where you wish to simultaneously have an SDI form or forms and the Visual FoxPro desktop open in your application with different menus. In this case, you can rename the menu names to something other than the FoxPro internal menu names.

1. Open Testmenu in the Menu Designer.

2. In the Menu Designer, click the File prompt, then the Edit button.

3. On the View menu, click Menu.

4. In the Menu Options dialog box, change the contents of the Name text box from _mfile to myfilemenu.

5. On the Menu menu, click Generate. Click Yes to save the changes, then click the Generate button, and click Yes to overwrite the old version of the .mpr file.

6. Repeat steps 11 through 13 from the original example. After step 13, the New File dialog box opens, rather than the message box.

REFERENCES

Visual FoxPro 5.0 Help file; search on topic: System Menu Names