Inserting Right Justified Text in a Menu in Windows

Last reviewed: July 22, 1997
Article ID: Q67063
3.00 3.10 WINDOWS kbprg

The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows versions 3.0 and 3.1

The "\a" character used with the InsertMenu() function is NOT considered to be a C language "\a", but is instead considered to be a resource compiler "\a". This code in the resource compiler is translated to a backspace character. Thus, an "\a" used in the resource compiler is really considered to be a "\b" or an "\x08" within the C Language.

When an "\x08" (backspace) is used, the menu item behaves as expected. However, you must place at least one character, which can be a space, before the "\b". For example:

   (LPSTR)" \bsometext"

NOTE: This is still true in Windows 3.1; however, the leading blank is not necessary. The above example should be modified as follows:

   (LPSTR)"\bsometext"

This is not the case for Windows 95. In Windows 95, the MFT_RIGHTJUSTIFY flag should be used with InsertMenuItem()/SetMenuItemInfo/MENUEX resource.


Additional reference words: 3.00 3.10
KBCategory: kbprg
KBSubcategory: UsrMen
Keywords : kb16bitonly


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Last reviewed: July 22, 1997
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