Microsoft KB Archive/110713

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PRB: Ampersand in Menu Item Is Not Converted

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Q110713

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.1
 * Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK)

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SYMPTOMS
If a menu item has tabbed or right-aligned text that contains a mnemonic access character, an ampersand ("&") will appear in front of the desired access character and the character will not be underlined.

If the menu item has a cascading menu associated with it, the right-aligned text may partially overwrite the arrow that indicates the presence of a submenu.

CAUSE
An ampersand in a menu item string is normally translated into an underline character and used as the mnemonic access character for that menu item. If an ampersand occurs in tabbed or right-aligned text, however, it will not cause the character following it to be underlined. Instead, the ampersand and the access character will be literally displayed as they appear in the string. Windows does not examine tabbed or right-aligned text in menu strings to determine if the text contains an ampersand that needs to be converted into an underscore.

STATUS
This problem has been noted, but the behavior has been retained to maintain backward compatibility for any application that may depend upon this behavior.

MORE INFORMATION
Although the access character does not appear underlined in the menu, the menu item can still be selected by typing the access character. Windows correctly interprets the ampersand as signaling a mnemonic character, but does not correctly display the string.

An example menu item string that demonstrates the problem is:

  Start\aCtrl+&G In this example, the menu item is "Start", and the keyboard shortcut (accelerator) is CTRL+G. When the menu item is displayed, the ampersand and the "G" will be shown as they appear in the string rather than being converted into an underlined "G".

"The Windows Interface: An Application Design Guide" from the Windows SDK makes a distinction between the menu item and the text that indicates the keyboard shortcut.

Each menu item should have a mnemonic access character associated with it. The use of a mnemonic in a keyboard shortcut is thus non standard.

Additional query words: right-justified justified

Keywords : kbMenu kbOSWinNT kbOSWin2000 kbSDKWin32 kbGrpDSUser kbOSWin

Issue type : kbprb

Technology : kbWin32SDKSearch kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWin32sSearch kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK310