Creating Panel Controls

Popup Menu

 

Popup menus are designed to "pop up" over the current window when you right-click on selected panel controls (buttons, multi-lines, list boxes, etc.). They are much like the drop-down menus appearing on a Menu Bar, except that they can be placed anywhere on the panel and are only visible when invoked.

The definition of a popup menu is similar to other menus in that you can provide a list of items where each one triggers a different event. While a Menu Bar contains multiple menus and has a fixed location along the top of a panel, popups remain invisible until the user right-clicks on a popup-enabled control.

A system popup menu consisting of extraction, search and print options can also be added to any grid or list box (except Tree Views). See List Box and Grid System Popup Menu.

Popup Menu Definition

Unlike standard menus, popup menus do not belong to a specific panel and are considered separate library objects (listed in Library Object Selection with a Type P designation). From Library Object Selection, a popup menu object can be created/edited by clicking the Menu button (if using Toolbar View), by selecting Objects > Popup Menu Object from the menu bar, or by double-clicking on a listed popup object.

Note:
When entering a new name for a popup menu object, valid characters are: letters (A-Z, a-z); numbers (0-9); ~ (tilde); @ (at symbol); . (period); $ (dollar sign); _ (underscore); - (dash); + (plus sign). If an invalid character is used, a message will display.

The Menu Bar Definition dialogue is used to create and edit popup menu objects.

This dialogue consists of the following:

Groups

Lists the currently defined groups or menu levels. This shows existing <Top Level> menu definitions, if any. If subordinates are added to a menu item, a menu expansion symbol (+) appears next to the menu item.

Example:

A "&Sales" menu item with the subordinate "&Commissions" would display in the Groups list box as "+ &Sales".

Contents Of

Lists the sub-menus that belong to a menu's group. This allows you to add subordinates to menu groups (up to eight levels). Double-click on an existing item or group to edit its properties.

The toolbar consists of the following:

Save

Saves the current menu definition.

Delete Menu

Deletes the entire menu definition currently selected.

New Item

Invokes Menu Item/Group Definition for defining a new item.

New Group

Invokes Menu Item/Group Definition for defining a new group.

Menu Link

Invokes Menu Link Definition for defining a menu link.

Delete Item

Deletes a selected menu item or group (same as pressing the Delete key). If selecting a group, its subordinate groups and items are also deleted.

Cut

Cuts the selected menu item or group (all subordinates included).

Copy

Copies the selected menu item or group (all subordinates included).

Paste

Pastes a copied/cut item or group to the highlighted position. Items or groups can be pasted to another level in the same menu bar or to a menu bar on a different panel.

If pasting a copied/cut item or group with an Alt key that is currently assigned to an existing item or group, a Duplicate Alt Key dialog will display to allow a different Alt key to be selected.

(The Duplicate Alt Key dialog was added in PxPlus 2019.)

Move Up/Down

Changes the order of the selected item or group within the Item list box.

Suppress System Edit Options

(Multi-Lines Only)

Check box will suppress system edit options (i.e. Cut, Copy, Paste, etc.) from the right-click popup menu.

Text/Edge Color

Applies a default to be used when no color is defined for a specific menu entry. When selected, a Color button is displayed, which launches a separate Menu Colors dialogue for changing the colors of the text background of individual menu entries and the left edge portion of the menu.

Many of these same options and properties are used to create standard menus. To define the menu bar attributes for a panel, see Menu Bar Definition.

You can also create and edit a popup menu via the Panel Designer. See Applying a Popup Menu.

Adding a Popup Menu to a Project

You can also select to add the popup menu to a new or existing project by selecting Projects from the menu bar. The following options are available:

Create New Project

Launches the Create Project dialogue for entering a new project for the current working directory. Click the Query button to select a different working directory.

Add to Project

Launches the Add to Project dialogue for adding the current task to an existing project that is selected from the Project drop box.

To manage all the tasks within a project, see Project Maintenance.

For information on adding tasks to a project from other locations, see Adding Tasks to Projects from Other Locations.

See Also

List Box and Grid System Popup Menu