Class

PrefsMenuItem

Warning

This item was deprecated in version 2021r3. Please use DesktopPreferencesMenuItem as a replacement.

Description

PrefsMenuItem is designed to handle the Preferences menu item for macOS applications. A menu item derived from the PrefsMenuItem class is automatically moved to the application menu under macOS. Under other operating systems, such a menu item stays where you put it in the Menu Editor.

Properties

Name	Type	Read-Only
AutoEnabled	Boolean
Enabled	Boolean
Handle	Integer	✓
HasAltKey	Boolean	✓
HasCheckMark	Boolean
HasMacControlKey	Boolean	✓
HasMacOptionKey	Boolean	✓
HasSecondaryModifierKey	Boolean	✓
HasStandardModifierKey	Boolean	✓
Icon	Picture
Index	Integer	✓
LastRowIndex	Integer	✓
Name	String
Shortcut	String
ShortcutKey	String	✓
Tag	Variant
Text	String
Visible	Boolean

Methods

Name	Parameters	Returns
AddMenu	Item As MenuItem
AddMenuAt	Index As Integer, Item As MenuItem
Child	Name As String	MenuItem
Clone		MenuItem
Close
Constructor	Text As String, [Tag As Variant = Nil]
Count		Integer
MenuAt	Index As Integer	MenuItem
Popup	[x As Integer, y As Integer]	MenuItem
Remove	Child As MenuItem
RemoveMenuAt	Index As Integer

Events

Name	Parameters	Returns
Action		Boolean
EnableMenu

Property descriptions

PrefsMenuItem.AutoEnabled

AutoEnabled As Boolean

If set to True, the MenuItem is enabled by default, as long as the App object or frontmost window has a menu handler for the menuitem.

There is no need to put code in the EnableMenu event handler to explicitly enable an autoenabled menu item. AutoEnabled is True by default. When you create dynamic menus by creating a new class based on MenuItem, AutoEnabled is also True by default. See the example on dynamic menus on the MenuItem page.

PrefsMenuItem.Enabled

Enabled As Boolean

Indicates whether or not the menu item is enabled.

For MenuItems that belong to an App or Window menu, this property should only be set to True in the EnableMenuItems event handler.

You can set it for MenuItems created for use by contextual menus or for use with the Popup method.

This example is in the EnableMenuItems event handler and it enables a menu.

FilePageSetup.Enabled = True

PrefsMenuItem.Handle

Handle As Integer

Provides access to the appropriate underlying platform menu implementation.

This property is read-only.

If the requested handle type doesn't make sense for the platform the application is running on, a PlatformNotSupportedException is raised.

MenuItem.HandleType enumeration:

CocoaNSMenuItem: Returns the underlying NSMenuItem. If there is a submenu, the NSMenu can be got through NSMenuItem's submenu method.
WindowsParentHMENU: Returns the HMENU of the MenuItem if it is a submenu, otherwise it returns the parent's HMENU
WindowsCommandID: Returns the unique menu item identifier for the MenuItem, used by various Win32 APIs such as GetMenuItemInfo

PrefsMenuItem.HasAltKey

HasAltKey As Boolean

The Alt key on Windows and Linux keyboards. If selected, the Alt key is must be held down while pressing the value of the Key property in order to trigger the event handler for the MenuItem. This property is for Windows and Linux only.

This property is read-only.

Use MenuItem to change this value at runtime.

PrefsMenuItem.HasCheckMark

HasCheckMark As Boolean

Indicates whether or not the menu item is checked.

PrefsMenuItem.HasMacControlKey

HasMacControlKey As Boolean

The Control key on Mac. This property is Mac-only. If selected, the Control key must be held down while pressing the value of the ShortcutKey property in order to trigger the event handler of the MenuItem.

This property is read-only.

Use MenuItem to change this value at runtime.

PrefsMenuItem.HasMacOptionKey

HasMacOptionKey As Boolean

The Option key on Mac. This property is Mac-only. If selected, the Option key must be held down while pressing the value of the ShortcutKey property to trigger the event handler of the MenuItem.

This property is read-only.

Use MenuItem to change this value at runtime.

PrefsMenuItem.HasSecondaryModifierKey

HasSecondaryModifierKey As Boolean

The Shift key on all platforms. If True, the Shift key must be held down while pressing the value of the Key property to trigger the event handler of the MenuItem.

This property is read-only.

Use MenuItem to change this value at runtime.

PrefsMenuItem.HasStandardModifierKey

HasStandardModifierKey As Boolean

The Control key on Windows and Linux and the Command key on Mac. If this property is selected, the MenuModifier key must be held down while pressing the key specified by the ShortcutKey property to trigger the event handler for the MenuItem.

This property is read-only.

Use MenuItem to change this value at runtime.

PrefsMenuItem.Icon

Icon As Picture

A picture that is assigned to the MenuItem.

On macOS and Linux, the picture appears in its original size. Resize the icon externally before adding it to the project. On Windows, the icon is resized so that its size matches the height of the item's Text. In most cases icons that are 16x16 points look best.

Recent versions of Linux (that use recent version of the GNOME desktop manager), default to not showing menu icons. You can change the OS setting to display menu icons using terminal :

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface menus-have-icons true

The following code is in the Open event of the main window. The image appears to the left of the menu item's text.

EditFind.Icon = RedApple

PrefsMenuItem.Index

Index As Integer

The number of the selected MenuItem when it is part of an array.

This property is read-only.

PrefsMenuItem.LastRowIndex

LastRowIndex As Integer

The index of the last child menu item owned by this menu.

This property is read-only.

PrefsMenuItem.Name

Name As String

The name of the menu item. Set this property using the Menu Editor.

This example sets the name of a menuitem.

EditMenu.Item(2).Name = "Delete"

PrefsMenuItem.Shortcut

Shortcut As String

The keyboard shortcut for the MenuItem.

Use this property to set the shortcut in code. You can also specify a shortcut in the Inspector for the MenuItem.

You can use either a printable key or the following non-printable keys as shortcut keys: F1-F15, Tab, Enter, Space, Del (Delete), Return, Bksp (Backspace), Esc, Clear, PageUp, PageDown, Left, Right, Up, Down, Help, and Ins (Insert).

If the shortcut key is more than one character and it is being set via code, the modifier key is not implied and must be explicitly defined. For example, the following line sets the Tab key as the shortcut key and uses the Ctrl key as the modifier.

SpecialMyMenuItem.Shortcut = "Ctrl-Tab"

For macOS, use "Cmd" instead of "Ctrl." Or set the HasStandardModifierKey property to True in the IDE and pass the string literal for the desired keyboard shortcut.

PrefsMenuItem.ShortcutKey

ShortcutKey As String

The shortcut key for the menu item. If this key and the selected modifier keys are held down, the event handler for the menu item will be executed as if the MenuItem itself were chosen via the mouse pointer.

This property is read-only.

When you use the Inspector for the Menu Editor, you specify the menu item's shortcut key by assigning a key to the Key property and (normally) at least one modifier key. The Menu Editor translates your settings into the value for the Shortcut property.

You can use either a printable key or the following non-printable keys as shortcut keys: F1-F15, Tab, Enter, Space, Del (Delete), Return, Bksp (Backspace), Esc, Clear, PageUp, PageDown, Left, Right, Up, Down, Help, and Ins (Insert).

To set the shortcut in code, use the MenuItem property. If the shortcut key is more than one character and it is being set via code, the modifier key is not implied and must be explicitly defined. For example, the following line sets the Tab key as the shortcut key and uses the Ctrl key as the modifier.

SpecialMyMenuItem.Shortcut = "Ctrl-Tab"

For macOS, use "Cmd" instead of "Ctrl." Or set the HasStandardModifierKey property to True in the IDE and pass the string literal for the desired keyboard shortcut.

PrefsMenuItem.Tag

Tag As Variant

A “hidden” value associated with the menu item.

The tag is accessible via code when the user chooses the menu item but, unlike the Text property, is not displayed in the menu. It works like the RowTag property of a PopupMenu control.

This example is in the Open event of the main window.

EditFind.Tag = "Search"

PrefsMenuItem.Text

Text As String

The text of the menu item.

This example is in the Opening event of the main window.

EditFind.Text = "Find..."

PrefsMenuItem.Visible

Visible As Boolean

Indicates whether or not the menu item is visible. The default is True. If False, the menu item does not appear and no blank space is for it is in the menu.

This property does nothing on Windows so use MenuItem instead.

This code is in the Open event of the main window:

EditFind.Visible = False

Method descriptions

PrefsMenuItem.AddMenu

AddMenu(Item As MenuItem)

Adds the passed MenuItem to the menu. You can add a Separator by passing the class constant MenuItem.TextSeparator. Used to build a dynamic menu.

The following code creates a contextual menu in the ConstructContextualMenu event of any Window or RectControl. This event passes in the parameter base as MenuItem.

base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Import"))
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Export"))
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem(MenuItem.TextSeparator))

base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Cut"))
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Copy"))
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Paste"))
Return True ' display the contextual menu

The following code creates a hierarchical menu that is added to the main menubar. It is in the Open event of the App or the window. It's easiest to create menus and menuitems using the built-in Menu Editor and enable the MenuItems using the AutoEnable property. Use code for cases such as dynamic menus and contextual menus.

Var m, mNew As MenuItem
m = Self.MenuBar
mNew = New MenuItem

mNew.Value = "View"
mNew.Name = "View"

mNew.AddMenu(New MenuItem("As Icons"))
mNew.AddMenu(New MenuItem("As List"))
mNew.AddMenu(New MenuItem("As Columns"))

mNew.AddMenu(New MenuItem( "-" ))

Var submenu As New MenuItem("Sort By")
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Name"))
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Kind"))
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Size"))

mNew.AddMenu(submenu)
m.AddMenu(mNew)

PrefsMenuItem.AddMenuAt

AddMenuAt(Index As Integer, Item As MenuItem)

Adds Item as a MenuItem at the position indicated by Index. Index is zero-based.

You can add a Separator by passing the class constant MenuItem.TextSeparator.

The following example adds a new item in the Edit menu with the text "Paste Special..." just below the Paste item.

Var editPasteSpecial As New MenuItem
editPasteSpecial.Text = "Paste Special..."
EditMenu.AddMenuAt(5, editPasteSpecial)

PrefsMenuItem.Child

Child(Name As String) As MenuItem

Looks up menu items by Name and returns a MenuItem. Returns Nil if a child is not found.

The following example gets the text of the Edit > Cut menuitem.

Var c As MenuItem
c = EditMenu.Child("EditCut")
MessageBox(c.Value)

PrefsMenuItem.Clone

Clone As MenuItem

Makes a copy of the MenuItem and its children if any. Mac does not permit duplicate MenuItems, so you will need to create clones of any MenuItems that are now being used in two or more locations.

Whenever you need to use the same MenuItem in different places, use the Clone method to create a new copy of the MenuItem and its children, if any.

Var mi As New MenuItem("My menu item")
Var myClone As MenuItem

myClone = mi.Clone ' Creates an independent copy of "mi"

PrefsMenuItem.Close

Close

Removes dynamically created menu items.

This example closes a menu item that was previously created.

EditSelectAll.Close

PrefsMenuItem.Constructor

Constructor(Text as String, [Tag as Variant = Nil])

Note

Constructors are special methods called when you create an object with the New keyword and pass in the parameters above.

Creates a new MenuItem that uses the passed string as its Text property and optionally adds the passed Tag.

This example inserts a new item in the Edit menu with the text "Paste Special..." just below the Paste item.

Var editPasteSpecial As New MenuItem
editPasteSpecial.Text = "Paste Special..."
EditMenu.AddMenuAt(5, editPasteSpecial)

Using this constructor, you can rewrite the code above more concisely:

Var editPasteSpecial As New MenuItem("Paste Special...")
EditMenu.AddMenuAt(5, editPasteSpecial)

This example illustrates how you can manipulate the menu bar at run time. By adding this example to the open even of a window it will add a new menu to menubar when the window opens.

Var m As MenuItem
Var mNew As MenuItem

m = Self.MenuBar
mNew = New MenuItem

mNew.Text = "MyMenuText"
mNew.Name = "MyMenuName"

Var submenu As New MenuItem("MySub")

submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Submenu One"))
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Submenu Two"))
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Submenu three"))

mNew.AddMenu(submenu)

m.AddMenu(mNew)

PrefsMenuItem.Count

Count As Integer

Returns as an Integer the number of children a menu owns.

For a menu item, it returns the number of submenu items, if any. If there are no submenu items, it returns zero.

PrefsMenuItem.MenuAt

MenuAt(Index As Integer) As MenuItem

Item returns as a MenuItem the item indicated by its index (zero-based).

If the passed index is out of range, an OutOfBoundsException is raised.

The following example gets the MenuItem corresponding to the Cut item on the Edit menu by position:

Var c As MenuItem
c = EditMenu.MenuAt(2)
MessageBox(c.Value)

PrefsMenuItem.Popup

Popup([x As Integer, y As Integer]) As MenuItem

Displays the MenuItem as a contextual menu.

If no parameters are passed, the contextual menu appears at the location of the mouse pointer. If you pass the optional parameters, the contextual menu appears at the passed location. The coordinates are global, not just in the object that handles the MouseDown event.

Popup returns the selected item as a MenuItem. The selected item's Action event will be fired. If the selected item is handled by a MenuHandler that returns True, then PopUp will return Nil.

The following example displays the Edit menu as a contextual menu. The code is in the MouseDown event handler of a RectControl. You can get the text of the selected item by accessing the Text property of the returned MenuItem.

Var popMenu As MenuItem
popMenu = EditMenu.Clone

Var selectedMenu As MenuItem
selectedMenu = popMenu.Popup

PrefsMenuItem.Remove

Remove(Child As MenuItem)

Removes the MenuItem specified by the name.

This code removes the Select All menu item from the Edit menu.

EditMenu.Remove(3)

PrefsMenuItem.RemoveMenuAt

RemoveMenuAt(Index As Integer)

Removes the MenuItem specified by its position (index).

This example removes the Select All menu item from the Edit menu.

EditMenu.RemoveMenuAt(3)

Event descriptions

PrefsMenuItem.Action

Action As Boolean

Called when a MenuItem is selected. Return True to prevent the menu event from proceeding any further in the chain of menu handlers.

Refer to the MenuItem page for an example of how a menu that is created dynamically can use the Action event.

PrefsMenuItem.EnableMenu

EnableMenu

Called when a user selects a menu. You can use this to enable/disable/hide menus based on the context of your app.

Notes

Since this class is based on MenuItem, please refer to this class for information on its Properties, Methods, and Events.

This class is for creating the Preferences menu item for applications that will run on macOS. Create the menu item under the menu that you want to use for the Windows and Linux builds and then use the Inspector to change its super class to PrefsMenuItem. Otherwise, set up the menu item normally. In your macOS build, it will automatically move to the application menu.

According to Apple user interface guidelines, Cmd+, (comma) is the recommended keyboard shortcut for an application's Preferences menu item.

Compatibility

All project types on all supported operating systems.

PrefsMenuItem

Description

Properties

Methods

Events

Property descriptions

Method descriptions

Event descriptions

Notes

Compatibility

See also