Microsoft KB Archive/137038

= How to Add Menu Controls to a Form from an Add-In =

Article ID: 137038

Article Last Modified on 12/9/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 16-bit Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 32-Bit Enterprise Edition

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This article was previously published under Q137038



SUMMARY
This article explains how to use the AddMenuTemplate method to Add menu controls to a form from an Add-in. It also provides an example demonstrating how the method is used.



MORE INFORMATION
The FormTemplate object of the "Visual Basic Design Environment" object model provides the AddMenuTemplate method. This method allows an add-in to add menu controls to a form. It can add both top-level menus and submenus. The syntax for the AddMenuTemplate method is as follows:

  Menu = Form.AddMenuTemplate(Name, Parent)

Form  - A FormTemplate object Name  - A string specifying the Name property for the new menu Parent - A ControlTemplate object representing the parent menu item that the new menu item become a child of     Menu   - A ControlTemplate object that will be set to the new menu

To add a top-level menu to a form, you must specify a Parent object that is set to Nothing. The following shows how this is done by passing the keyword Nothing as the Parent parameter:

Set MyMenu = MyForm.AddMenuTemplate("mnuFile", Nothing)

To add a submenu, you must specify an existing menu ControlTemplate as the Parent parameter. The syntax is as follows:

Set MySubMenu = MyForm.AddMenuTemplate("mnuFileOpen", MyMenu)

The AddMenuTemplate method adds the new menus to the end of existing menus. Menus can't be inserted between two existing menus.

Once you have added a menu, you can modify its properties to:


 * Change the caption
 * Add a shortcut key
 * Make a menu separator
 * Enable it
 * Hide it
 * Turn it into a control array
 * And more

The object returned by the AddMenuTemplate method is a ControlTemplate object that references the newly added menu. The properties of the menu can be set through the Properties collection of the ControlTemplate. For example, to change the caption, use this:

MyMenu.Properties("&Caption").Value = "New Caption"

You can add an access key to any menu by placing an ampersand (&) in front of the desired access key in the caption. In the preceding example, C would be the access key.

You can only add a shortcut key to a submenu. To set a shortcut key, you gain access to the Shortcut property in the same manner that you gain access to the Caption property. The Shortcut property is an enumerated property. Visual Basic defines constants such as vbMenuAccelCtrlO for setting the Shortcut property.

To create a menu separator, first add a submenu. Next, set the Caption property to a dash. This indicates to Visual Basic that you want a menu separator instead of a submenu.

To hide a menu item, set the Visible property to False. This will not work on a submenu if it is the only visible submenu.

Step-by-Step Example
 Start a new project in Visual Basic. Remove the default form (Form1). Add a new standard module (Module1.bas by default.)  Put the following code in the standard module: ''' MODULE1.BAS Option Explicit

#If Win16 Then

Declare Function WritePrivateProfileString Lib "KERNEL" ( _        ByVal AppName As String, ByVal KeyName As String, _         ByVal keydefault As String, ByVal FileName As String) As Integer Declare Function GetPrivateProfileString Lib "KERNEL" ( _        ByVal AppName As String, ByVal KeyName As String, _         ByVal keydefault As String, ByVal ReturnString As String, _         ByVal NumBytes As Integer, ByVal FileName As String) As Integer

#ElseIf Win32 Then Declare Function WritePrivateProfileString Lib "Kernel32" _ Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal AppName As String, _        ByVal KeyName As String, ByVal keydefault As String, _         ByVal FileName As String) As Long Declare Function GetPrivateProfileString Lib "Kernel32" _ Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal AppName As String, _        ByVal KeyName As String, ByVal keydefault As String, _         ByVal ReturnString As String, ByVal NumBytes As Long, _         ByVal FileName As String) As Long #End If

Sub Main #If Win16 Then Const Section = "Add-Ins16" #ElseIf Win32 Then Const Section = "Add-Ins32" #End If

Const BufSize = 255 Dim Ret As Variant Dim RetStr As String

' Hide the Addin from the Task Manager App.TaskVisible = False

' Check to see if the entry is already in the VB.ini file. ' Add if not. RetStr = Space(BufSize) Ret = GetPrivateProfileString(Section, "AddinExample.MenuControl", _        "NotFound", RetStr, BufSize, "VB.INI") RetStr = Left(RetStr, Ret) If RetStr = "NotFound" Then WritePrivateProfileString Section, "AddinExample.MenuControl", _ "0", "VB.INI" End If  End Sub

 Add a new class module to the project (Class1.cls by default.)  Set the following properties of the class module to the specified values: <pre class="fixed_text">  Property        Value ---  Instancing      1 - Creatable SingleUse Name           MenuControl Public         True

</li>  Put the following code in the class module: ''' CLASS1.CLS Option Explicit

Private ThisInstance As Object 'VBIDE.Application Private AddInMenuLine As Object 'VBIDE.SubMenu Private AddInID As Long

Public Sub ConnectAddIn(VBInstance As Object) Set ThisInstance = VBInstance Set AddInMenuLine = ThisInstance.AddInMenu.MenuItems.Add( _        "Menu Control Example") AddInID = AddInMenuLine.ConnectEvents(Me)

End Sub

Public Sub DisconnectAddIn(Mode As Integer) AddInMenuLine.DisconnectEvents AddInID ThisInstance.AddInMenu.MenuItems.Remove AddInMenuLine End Sub

Public Sub AfterClick Dim CurrentForm As Object 'VBIDE.FormTemplate Dim mnuFile As Object 'VBIDE.ControlTemplate Dim mnuFileOpen As Object 'VBIDE.ControlTemplate Dim mnuFileSeparator As Object 'VBIDE.ControlTemplate Dim mnuFileMRU As Object 'VBIDE.ControlTemplate

' Set a reference to the Active Form Set CurrentForm = ThisInstance.ActiveProject.ActiveForm

' Create the top-level File menu Set mnuFile = CurrentForm.AddMenuTemplate("mnuFile", Nothing) mnuFile.Properties("Caption").Value = "&File"

' Add the Open menu under the File menu Set mnuFileOpen = CurrentForm.AddMenuTemplate("mnuFileOpen", mnuFile) mnuFileOpen.Properties("Caption").Value = "&Open" mnuFileOpen.Properties("Shortcut").Value = vbMenuAccelCtrlO

' Add a separator Set mnuFileSeparator = CurrentForm.AddMenuTemplate _ ("mnuFileSeparator", mnuFile) mnuFileSeparator.Properties("Caption").Value = "-"

' Add MRU under the File menu Set mnuFileMRU = CurrentForm.AddMenuTemplate("mnuFileMRU", mnuFile) mnuFileMRU.Properties("Caption").Value = "MRU" mnuFileMRU.Properties("Visible").Value = False ' Make Invisible mnuFileMRU.Properties("Index").Value = 0 ' Make into control array End Sub

</li>  Set the following Project Options: <pre class="fixed_text">  Option            Value ---  Startup Form      Sub Main Project Name     AddinExample StartMode        OLE Server Error Trapping   Break in Class Module

</li> Save the project.</li> Run the project.</li> Start a second instance of Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.</li> Use the Add-In Manager to add the AddinExample.MenuControl Add-In.</li> Set the focus to Form1.</li> On the Add-In menu, click Menu Control Example.</li></ol>

The Add-In should add a File menu to Form1. Under the file menu will be an Open submenu. The Open submenu will have CTRL+O as a shortcut key. Below the Open submenu will be a menu separator. Below the separator there will be an invisible MRU menu control array.

Additional query words: 4.00 vb4win vb4all

Keywords: KB137038

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