Characteristics of menu options

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Help / Editors / Controls (window/page/report) / Drop-down menus / WINDEV and WINDEV Mobile

Overview
Characteristics of a menu option
Caption of a menu option
Translating the menu options
Marking/Unmarking a menu option
Image associated with a menu option
Modifying the background color of menus and menu options
Keyboard shortcut associated with a menu option
Displaying the code of a menu option

WINDEV

WEBDEV

WINDEV Mobile

Others

See also

Characteristics of menu options

Overview

WINDEV and WINDEV Mobile manage two types of menus:

the main menus of windows.
A main menu is necessarily associated with a window. Depending on the runtime platform used, this menu can be:
- displayed below the title bar of window (Windows applications for example).
- displayed at the bottom of window (Windows Mobile applications for example).
- displayed in an Action Bar control (mobile applications for example).
For more details, see:
- Managing the main menus of windows.
- Action Bar of a window.
the custom popup menus.
A popup menu can be opened by the user via a right mouse click.
See Custom popup menu for more details.

A menu (main menu or popup menu) includes one or more options and sub-options. Each option is used to run a WLanguage code.

For example:

In the editor, the operations performed on the menu options are the same for a main menu and for a custom popup menu. To handle the menu options, all you have to do is edit the relevant menu.

To edit (or display in the editor):

The main menu of a window:
- open the relevant window in the window editor.
- select one of the menu options. The options and the sub-options are automatically displayed.
A custom popup menu: on the "Window" pane, in the "Bars and menus" group, expand "Popup menus" and select one of the existing popup menus.

Remark: WINDEV and WINDEV Mobile also allow you to:

Characteristics of a menu option

Caption of a menu option

The caption of a menu option can be modified in the window in edit:

Select a menu option.
Press the Space key.
Change the wording in the displayed input field.
Press the Enter key to validate the input.

Remark: You also have the ability to select "Edit the caption" from the popup menu of menu option.

Tip: To make text bold in the menu option, simply enclose the desired text between <B> and </B> by programming. For example:

OPT_New..Caption = "Rename '''Sheet 1'''"

Translating the menu options

To translate the caption of menu options in the editor:

Display the window in the translation language:
- On the "Display" pane, in the "Options" group, expand "Language displayed" and choose the requested language.
- The captions of controls and menu options are displayed in the selected language.
Type the text of options in the selected language (Space key on the menu options).

Reminder: The caption typed when creating a menu option is applied to all languages supported by the current window.

Marking/Unmarking a menu option

Each menu option can be preceded (or not) by the checkmark

. This checkmark is used to see the active features for example.

Pto check a menu item under the editor:

Select the menu option to mark.
Display the "UI" tab in the description window of menu option ("Option description" from the popup menu).
Check "Checkmark". The mark will precede the current menu item when the menu is displayed.

Remarks:

At run time, to hide and/or display the checkmark, use MenuMark and MenuUnmark. It is also possible to use the property ..Checked.
Only ..Checked is available.
In most cases, a menu option cannot be preceded by both a checkmark and an image.
You don't have the ability to check or not an option.

Image associated with a menu option

Each menu option can be preceded (or not) by an image.

Press an image in front of a menu item:

Select the menu option in front of which the image must be displayed.
Display the "UI" tab in the description window of menu option ("Option description" from the popup menu).
Select the image to display. This image can be chosen in the image catalog (click the button and select the "Catalog" option).

Remarks:

To find out and/or modify the image associated with a menu option, use ..Image.
In most cases, a menu option cannot be preceded by both a checkmark and an image.

Formats of images:

The following image formats are supported in Windows:

Bitmap (*.BMP)
Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif)
Joint Picture Experts Group (*.jpg ; *.jpeg)
Kodak Photo CD (*.pcd)
PaintBrush (*.pcx)
Adobe Photoshop Format (*.psd)
TrueVision TARGA (*.tga)
Tagged Image File Format (*.tif ; *.tiff)
Remark: the "tiled tiff" option of tiff 6.0 standard is not supported. In this case, we advise you to save the image in tiff 5.0 standard.
Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
Windows MetaFiles (*.emf ; *.wmf)
Icons (*.ico ; *.icw)
Remarks:
- HQ display (High Quality) available.
- Management of sheets in transparent BMP format (32 bits).
Cursors (*.cur)
Portable Document Format (*.pdf)
Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg)
WINDEV images (generated by the image editor, *.WDPIC).

The supported image formats are:

Bitmap (*.BMP)
Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif)
Joint Picture Experts Group (*.jpg ; *.jpeg)
Icons (*.ico ; *.icw)
WINDEV images (generated by the image editor, *.WDPIC).

The supported image formats are:

Bitmap (*.BMP)
Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif)
Joint Picture Experts Group (*.jpeg)
Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
WINDEV images (generated by the image editor, *.WDPIC).

The supported image formats are:

Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
Joint Picture Experts Group (*.jpg ; *.jpeg)
WINDEV images (generated by the image editor, *.WDPIC).

The supported image formats are:

Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif)
Joint Picture Experts Group (*.jpeg)
Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
WINDEV images (generated by the image editor, *.WDPIC).

Modifying the background color of menus and menu options

To modify the background color of menus and menu options

Select the menu or one of its options.
Display the description window ("Option description" from the popup menu).
In the "Style" tab, configure:
- the color of menu bar when it is inactive or during rollover.
- the color of options when they are idle or during rollover.

The "Automatic" color is used to find out the default color managed by Windows.

Remark: In order for the colors to be taken into account, uncheck "Display the menu in XP style" in the "Style" tab of window description.

Keyboard shortcut associated with a menu option

Each menu option can be associated (or not) with a keyboard shortcut.

Reminder: A keyboard shortcut corresponds to an alphanumeric character, a keyboard key or a combination of keyboard keys. This shortcut gives direct access to a menu option from the keyboard.

To associate a keyboard shortcut with a menu option:

Select the menu option to which a keyboard shortcut must be associated.
Display the description window of current option ("Option description" from the popup menu).
Select the items making up the keyboard shortcut for the menu item.
Validate the description window. The selected keyboard shortcut appears after the menu item label:

Remarks:

If an option of a popup menu and a control have the same keyboard shortcut, the control will have priority over the option of popup menu.
The shortcuts are not available in the popup menus. Only the keyboard shortcuts can be used.

Tip: To avoid displaying the keyboard shortcut after the menu option, all you have to do is modify the caption of the option by programming (..Caption). For example:

OPT_New..Caption = "New"

Displaying the code of a menu option

To display the code of a menu option:

Select the menu option whose source code must be displayed.
Display the popup menu of the current menu option (right mouse click).
Select "Code". The code window of the current menu option is displayed.

Remarks:

The code of a menu option can also be displayed from its description window. To do so, click . This code corresponds to the code run when the menu option is selected by the user. It is possible to add optional events using the "Add more events to xxx" link at the bottom of the code window.
Only menu options that do not have a submenu can launch a WLanguage event.