Text pull-down menus can contain items that display as text strings.
These items can have attached submenus. These submenus are indicated with a right-pointing triangle on the left side of the menu item. Text pull-down menus are usually used to activate a command action. Most pull-down menus in MicroStation's Command window are text pull-downs.
The text pull-down menu item is defined in a resource file with the following structure:
The DItem_PulldownMenuRsc structure has the following unique fields. (See "Common item resource fields" for a description of any field not in this table.)
Field | Description |
---|---|
attributes | Specifies the attributes of the text pull-down menu. This field will normally be ON | ALIGN_LEFT and is constructed by combining the constants from the following table with the logical OR operator: |
menuTitle | Contains the title of the menu. This field should be set to "" if the text pull-down menu is a submenu. (In this case, its title cannot display.) Put a tilde `~' before the character in the title that will be the mnemonic. The mnemonic is the key the user presses to activate the menu item when navigating the menu bar with the keyboard. |
pulldownItems | Represents an array of DItem_PulldownMenuItemRsc. See the next table for a description of the DItem_PulldownMenuItemRsc structure. |
The following table lists possible values for the attributes field (described above) and the meaning of those values:
attributes Value | Meaning |
---|---|
ON | The text pull-down menu will be initially enabled. |
OFF | All subitems in the text pull-down menu will be disabled (dimmed). The title of the menu will also be dimmed (if the pull-down menu is not a submenu). |
ALIGN_LEFT | Aligns the pull-down menu on the left side of the menu bar. This attribute is ignored for submenus. |
ALIGN_RIGHT | Aligns the pull-down menu on the right side of the menu bar. By convention, only a Help menu should be right-aligned. This attribute is ignored for submenus. |
The DItem_MenuBarItemRsc structure has the following unique fields. (See "Common item resource fields" for a description of any field not in this table).
Field | Description |
---|---|
label | Specifies the text string that will display as the menu's item. Put a tilde '~' before the character in the title that will be the mnemonic. The mnemonic is the key the user presses to activate the menu item when navigating the menu bar with the keyboard. |
accelerator | Specifies the virtual key code to use as the menu item's accelerator. If the dialog box in which this menu resides has the input focus, pressing the accelerator key will activate the menu item. |
enabled | Specifies whether the menu item is initially enabled. Usually this field should be ON (enabled). |
mark | Specifies the type of graphic mark to place on the left side of the menu item before the text string. This field can have one of the values listed in the mark table below. |
subMenuType | Specifies the type of the menu item's submenu. The choices are NOSUBMENU, PulldownMenu, PulldownOptionMenu and PulldownCPickerMenu. |
subMenuId | Specifies the resource ID of the menu item's submenu. If no submenu is needed, use 0 or NOSUBMENU. |
pulldownItemHookId | Specifies the ID of an item hook function. |
searchId | Specifies a user-definable number that should be unique in each menu. Many functions use this number to find a menu item. This number is more useful than specifying a menu item index when the contents of the menu have been dynamically changed. |
commandTaskId | Specifies the task that will execute the command associated with commandNumber. Setting comandTaskId to OTASKID, which is #defined to be an empty string, indicates that the task that owns (originally creates) the dialog should execute the command. Setting comandTaskId to MTASKID, which is #defined to be '+', indicates that MicroStation should be used to execute the command. (commandNumber must be a MicroStation command number defined in cmdlist.h.) If you need to specify a task different than the owner or MicroStation, put the task name here. |
The following table lists possible values for the mark field (described above) and the meaning of those values:
mark Value | Meaning |
---|---|
NOMARK | No mark will display. |
MARK_TOGGLE_OUT | A raised toggle button will display. |
MARK_TOGGLE_IN | A recessed and filled toggle button will display. |
MARK_RADIO_OUT | A raised radio button will display. |
MARK_RADIO_IN | A recessed and filled radio button will display. |
MARK_RIGHT_ARROW | A right-pointing triangle will display. |
The following is an example of a text pull-down menu resource. This item is the MicroStation Command window Element menu, and is defined in MicroStation's resource file.
The following messages are sent to item hook functions that are attached to text pull-down menus:
DITEM_MESSAGE_DRAW DITEM_MESSAGE_BUTTON DITEM_MESSAGE_QUEUECOMMAND
Field | Description |
---|---|
mdlDialog_textPDMItemGetInfo | retrieves detailed information about a particular menu item in a text pull-down menu. |
mdlDialog_textPDMItemSetInfo | sets various aspects of a menu item in a text pull-down menu. |
mdlDialog_textPDMItemInsert | inserts a menu item into a text pull-down menu. |
mdlDialog_textPDMItemIns | inserts a menu item into a text pull-down menu. |
mdlDialog_textPDMItemSetEnabled | changes a text pull-down menu item's state (enabled or disabled). |
mdlDialog_textPDMItemSetLabel | sets a text pull-down menu item's text label (the item's displayed text string). |
mdlDialog_textPDMItemSetMark | sets a text pull-down menu item's mark. |