Choosing a separator in the menu item design interface in VS .NET

Printer Quick Response Code in VS .NET Choosing a separator in the menu item design interface

Note that if you want to add a separator to a top-level menu, you must do so program matically by creating a new instance of the ToolStripSeparator control and inserting it into the correct location in the MenuStrip.Items collection, as shown here:

' VB Dim aSeparator As New ToolStripSeparator MenuStrip1.Items.Insert(1, aSeparator) // C# ToolStripSeparator aSeparator = new ToolStripSeparator(); menuStrip1.Items.Insert(1, aSeparator);

Access keys enable you to access menu items by defining keys that, when pressed in combination with the Alt key, will execute the menu command. For example, if a File menu defines the F key as an access key, when Alt+F is pressed, the File menu will open. Menus that contain sub-menus open when the access key combination is pressed, and menus that invoke commands will invoke those commands. Note that the menu item must be visible for the access key to function. Thus, if you define an access key for an Open menu item that exists in the File sub-menu, the File menu must be opened first for the access key combination to function. You can create an access key for a menu by preceding the letter you want to define the access key for with an ampersand (&) symbol. For example, to create an Alt+F access key combination for the File menu, you would set the FileToolStripMenuItem s Text property to &File.

Unlike access keys, shortcut keys are a combination of keystrokes that allow direct invocation of a menu item whether the menu item is visible or not. For example, you might define the Ctrl+E key combination to be a shortcut key for the Exit menu com mand in the File menu. Even if the File menu is not open, Ctrl+E will cause the Exit menu command to be executed. Also, unlike access keys, you cannot create shortcut keys for top-level menus you can create them only for items in sub-menus. You can create a shortcut key at design time by setting the ShortcutKeys property in the Properties window. Clicking the ShortcutKeys property launches a visual interface than enables you to define a key combination. This interface is shown in Figure 4-5. If you want to display the shortcut key combination next to the menu item, you can set the ShowShortcutKeys property of the ToolStripMenuItem control to True. You can also define a custom text to be shown instead of the key combination. If you want to define a custom text, you can set it in the ShortcutKeyDisplayString property.

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Figure 4-5

You can move items from one menu to another at run time. This allows you to dynam ically customize menus for special purposes. You can move a menu item to a new menu strip by using the MenuStrip.Items.Add method to add it to the new menu strip. It will be removed from the previous menu strip automatically. If you want to add the menu item to a particular location in the new menu strip, you can use the Insert method to add it at a particular index. Examples are shown here:

MenuStrip2.Items.Add(FileToolStripMenuItem)

MenuStrip2.Items.Insert(1, FileToolStripMenuItem)

menuStrip2.Items.Add(FileToolStripMenuItem);

menuStrip2.Items.Insert(1, FileToolStripMenuItem);

You can also use the analogous methods of the ToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems property to move items from one menu to another. Examples are shown here:

AppToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Add(FileToolStripMenuItem)

AppToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Insert(1, FileToolStripMenuItem)

// C# // Adds the FileToolStripMenuItem AppToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Add(FileToolStripMenuItem); // Inserts FileToolStripMenuItem to the location corresponding to index 1 AppToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Insert(1, FileToolStripMenuItem);

At times, it makes sense to remove certain options from a menu. You might want a menu item to be disabled when conditions aren t appropriate for it to be invoked or to hide a menu item that shouldn t be displayed. In some cases, you might want to delete a menu item completely from a menu. You can disable a menu item by setting the Enabled property to False. This will cause the menu item to appear dimmed. It will still be visible to the user, but it cannot be invoked by mouse clicks or keystrokes. You can hide a menu item by setting the Visible property to False. This will keep the menu item from appearing in the menu. Note, however, that it does not disable the menu item, and if the Enabled property is set to True, the menu item can still be invoked through shortcut keys if they have been defined for this menu item. Hide menu items sparingly; if a user is looking for a specific menu item, it is typically better for them to see it dimmed because the Enabled property has been set to False. Other wise, they might continue looking for the hidden menu item on other menus. If you need to delete a menu item from a menu entirely, you can do so by using the MenuStrip.Items.Remove and MenuStrip.Items.RemoveAt methods to remove an item from a top-level menu or the ToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Remove and ToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.RemoveAt methods to remove an item from a sub-menu, as shown in the following examples: