Creating Menus or Menu Items

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You can create menus, cascading menus, and menu commands on the menu bar in the Menu editor.

What do you want to do?

Create a menu on the menu bar

Create a menu item

Create a cascading (hierarchical) menu

To create a menu on the menu bar

1. Select the new-item box (an empty rectangle) on the menu bar. Or move the new-item box to a blank spot with the RIGHT ARROW and LEFT ARROW keys.

   

2. Type the name of the menu.

   When you start typing, focus automatically shifts to the Menu Item property page, and the text you type appears both in the Caption box and in the Menu editor window.

   You can define a mnemonic key that allows the user to select the menu with the keyboard. Type an ampersand (&) in front of a letter to specify it as the mnemonic. Make sure all the mnemonics on a menu bar are unique.

   Once you have given the menu a name on the menu bar, the new-item box shifts to the right, and another new-item box opens below for adding menu items.

   Note   To create a single-item menu on the menu bar, clear the Pop-up check box on the Menu Item property page.

To create a menu item

1. Create a menu according to the steps outlined in To create a menu on the menu bar, or open an existing menu.
   
   
2. Select the menu’s new-item box.

   –or–

   Select an existing menu item and press the INS key. The new-item box is inserted before the selected item.

3. Type the name of the menu item. When you start typing, focus automatically shifts to the Menu Item property page, and the text you type appears in the Caption box.

   You can define a mnemonic key that allows the user to select the menu command. Type an ampersand  (&) in front a letter to specify it as the mnemonic. The user can select the menu command by typing that letter.

4. On the property page, select the menu item styles that apply.
   
   
5. In the Prompt box on the property page, type the prompt string you want to appear in your application’s status bar.

   This creates an entry in the string table with the same resource identifier as the menu item you created.

6. Press ENTER to complete the menu item.

   The new-item box is selected so you can create additional menu items.

To create a cascading (hierarchical) menu

1. Select the new-item box on the menu where you want the cascading menu to appear. Then type the name of the menu item that, when selected, will cause the cascading menu to appear.

   When you start typing, focus automatically shifts to the Menu Item property page, and the text you type appears in the Caption box.

   –or–

   Select an existing menu item that you want to be the parent item of the cascading menu, and double-click.

2. On the property page, select the Pop-up check box. This marks the menu item with the cascading menu symbol, and a new-item box appears to its right.
   
   
3. Add additional menu items to the cascading menu according to the instructions in To create a menu item.