Xfce Foundation Classes
« Main Page | Index
# Menus There are two ways to create menus in GTK+. You can use the User Interface Manager which constructs menu and toolbar widgets from an XML description, or you can use a Gtk::MenuShell and create the menus manually. It is a lot easier to use the user interface manager (Gtk::UIManager) because it takes care of constructing both menus and toolbars from one set of UI definitions. There will be times though when you will want to create menus manually. Gtk::MenuShell is the abstract base class used to derive Gtk::MenuBar and Gtk::Menu. A MenuShell is a container of menu item objects arranged in a list which can be navigated, selected, and activated by the user to perform application functions. A menu item can have a submenu associated with it, allowing for nested hierarchical menus. MenuBar is a subclass of MenuShell which contains one or more menu item. The result is a standard menu bar which can hold many menu items. Menu is a MenuShell that implements a drop down menu consisting of a list of menu item objects which can be navigated and activated by the user to perform application functions. A Menu is most commonly dropped down by activating a menu item in a MenuBar or popped up by activating a menu item in another Menu. Widgets such as Gtk::Entry, Gtk::Notebook and Gtk::TextView can also pop up a Menu, but these are context menus that contain menu items specific to the widget. There are three widgets that go into making a menubar with submenus: a menu item - which is what the user wants to select, e.g., 'Save' a menu - which acts as a container for the menu items, and a menubar - which is a container for each of the individual menus. Menu item widgets are used for two different things. They are both the widgets that are packed into the menu, and the widget that is packed into the menubar, which, when selected, activates the menu. Let's look at the constructors that are used to create menubars and menus. This first constructor is used to create a new menubar: `MenuBar();` You can either use Gtk::Container::add() to add the new menubar to a window, or the Gtk::Box packing methods to pack it into a box - the same as for buttons. There are two constructors that create a new menu: `Menu(); Menu(const AccelGroup& accel_group);` The 'accel_group' argument is the accelerator group which holds the global accelerators for this menu. The first constructor creates the accelerator group for you which can be retrieved by calling: `Gtk::AccelGroup* get_accel_group() const;` The next three constructors are used to create menu items that are packed into menubars and menus: `MenuItem(); MenuItem(const String& label, bool use_underline = false); MenuItem(const String& label, Gtk::Menu& submenu, bool use_underline = false);` The 'label' argument is the menu item text, 'submenu' is a menu to associate with the menu item and 'use_underline', if true, specifies that label should be parsed for the mnemonic character. The first constructor creates an empty menu item, the second constructor creates a menu item with a label already packed into it and the last constructor creates a menu item that displays another menu when activated. There are other more specialized menu items which can be used to construct menus. ImageMenuItem displays an image next to the text string. CheckMenuitem displays a checkbutton that can be in an active or inactive state. RadioMenuItem displays a radiobutton as part of a group which only allows one active menu item at a time. SeparatorMenuItem displays a separator line in the menu and TearoffMenuItem allows its menu to be torn off and displayed in a separate window. Once you have created a menu item you have to put it into a menu. This is done using one of the Gtk::MenuShell methods: append, prepend or insert. There are several indentical overloaded methods for each. These are the append methods: `void append(MenuItem& item); void append(MenuItem& item, const sigc::slot<void>& callback); void append(MenuItem& item, const AccelKey& accel_key, const sigc::slot<void>& callback); void append(MenuItem& item, const AccelKey& accel_key, AccelGroup& accel_group, const sigc::slot<void>& callback); void append(const StockId& stock_id, const sigc::slot<void>& callback); void append_separator();` The 'item' argument is the menu item to add, 'callback' is the slot function to be called if the menu item is activated, 'accel_key' is the accelerator key for the menu item, 'accel_group' is the accelerator group to add the accelerator key to, and 'stock_id' is the identifier of the stock menu item to add. The last method, append_separator(), is a convenience method that creates and appends a separator for you. In order to capture when a menu item is selected by the user, you need to connect a callback slot to the item's 'activate' signal. If you use the first append method you will have to make this connection yourself. If you pass a valid slot to one of the other append methods, append() will make this connection for you. For example, if you wanted to create a standard File menu, with the options File, Save, and Quit, the code would look like this: `Gtk::Menu *file_menu = new Gtk::Menu; // Create menu items Gtk::MenuItem *item = new Gtk::Menu("Open"); file_menu->append(*item, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MyWindow::on_file_open)); item = new Gtk::Menu("Save"); file_menu->append(*item, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MyWindow::on_file_save)); item = new Gtk::Menu("Quit"); file_menu->append(*item, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MyWindow::on_file_quit)); // Show all the menu items file_menu->show_all();` At this point you have a menu. Now you need to create a menubar and a menu item for the File menu. The code looks like this: `Gtk::MenuBar *menubar = new Gtk::MenuBar window->add(*menubar); Gtk::MenuItem *file_item = new Gtk::MenuItem("File", *file_menu); menubar->append(*file_item); file_item->show(); menubar->show();` If you wanted the menu right justified on the menubar, such as help menus often are, you would use the following Gtk::MenuItem method on the menu item before attaching it to the menubar. `void set_right_justified(bool right_justified);` Here is a summary of the steps needed to create a menu bar with menus attached: Construct a new menu. Construct multiple menu items and use Gtk::MenuShell::append() to add each of these new items to the menu. Construct a menu item that will be the root of the menu, the text appearing here will be on the menubar itself. Pass a reference to the menu, to the root menu item constructor (the one created in the above step). Construct a new menubar. This step only needs to be done once when creating a series of menus on one menu bar. Use Gtk::MenuShell::append() to put the root menu onto the menubar. Applications can display a Menu as a popup menu by calling the Gtk::Menu::popup() method: `void popup(unsigned int button, unsigned int activate_time = GDK_CURRENT_TIME);` The 'button' argument is the button which was pressed to initiate the event and 'activate_time' is the time at which the event occurred. This method positions the popup menu at the current pointer position. There are two other popup() methods with extended options that give you more control over where the popup menu will appear. You can create a popup menu by explicitly calling popup() from a 'button_press_event' signal handler, which has the following prototype: `bool MyWindow::event_handler(const Gdk::EventButton& event);` For example, to connect to a 'button_press_event' and use its event argument to find out where to pop up the menu, take these steps. Connect to a slot with the following extended prototype: `bool MyClass::event_handler(const Gdk::EventButton& event, Gtk::Menu *menu);` Use sigc::bind() to bind a pointer to the menu, to your slot: `sigc::bind(sigc::mem_fun(this, &MyWindow::event_handler), menu);` where 'menu' is the bound menu pointer. Remember that bound data is always passed as the last argument to the bound method, unless otherwise specified. This would pass the bound data as the first argument: `sigc::bind<0>(sigc::mem_fun(this, &MyWindow::event_handler), menu);` in which case your slot would have this extended prototype: `bool MyClass::event_handler(Gtk::Menu *menu, const Gdk::EventButton& event);` Using the first prototype, if the event is a mouse button press, treat the event as a button event (which it is) and use it as shown in the following code to pass information to Gtk::Menu::popup(): `bool MyClass::event_handler(const Gdk::EventButton& event, Gtk::Menu *menu) { menu->popup(event.button(), event.time()); // return true to indicate event has been handled return true; }` ## Menu Example Let's take a look at a menu example that implements all of the above features. The header file for this example is <menu.hh>: `#include <xfci/main.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/menu.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/window.hh> using namespace Xfc; class MenuWindow : public Gtk::Window { MenuWindow(const MenuWindow&); MenuWindow& operator=(const MenuWindow&); protected: bool on_button_press(const Gdk::EventButton& event, Gtk::Menu *menu); public: MenuWindow(); virtual ~MenuWindow(); void menu_item_selected(const char *parent, const char *item); void on_file_new(); void on_file_open(); void on_file_save(); void on_file_save_as(); void on_file_quit(); void on_options_preferences(); void on_help_about(); };` and the source file is <menu.cc>: `#include "menu.hh" #include <xfc/gtk/accelgroup.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/box.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/eventbox.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/label.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/menubar.hh> #include <xfc/gtk/menuitem.hh> MenuWindow::MenuWindow() { set_title("Menu Window"); set_size_request(300, 200); // Boxes don't receive button events so use an eventbox. The eventbox is added first // and then all the other widgets added to it. Gtk::EventBox *eventbox = new Gtk::EventBox; add(*eventbox); // Set the events the eventbox is to receive. These can be any number of or'd (|) values // from the Gdk::EventMask enumeration. eventbox->set_events(Gdk::BUTTON_PRESS_MASK); // Add the packing box to eventbox Gtk::VBox *vbox = new Gtk::VBox(false, 1); vbox->set_border_width(1); eventbox->add(*vbox); // Create the menubar. Menus can be created by using the append, prepend or insert methods // in menushell.hh to add menu items. Gtk::MenuBar *menubar = new Gtk::MenuBar; Gtk::AccelGroup *accel_group = add_accel_group(); // Create the File menu Gtk::Menu *menu = new Gtk::Menu(*accel_group); menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_New", true)), "<control>N", slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_new)); menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_Open", true)), "<control>O", slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_open)); menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_Save", true)), "<control>S", slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_save)); menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("Save _As", true)), slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_save_as)); menu->append_separator(); menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_Quit", true)), "<control>Q", slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_quit)); menubar->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_File", *menu, true))); // Bind the file menu to the button_press event and use it as the popup menu. eventbox->signal_button_press_event().connect(sigc::bind(sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_button_press), menu)); // Create Options menu menu = new Gtk::Menu; menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_Preferences", true)), slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_options_preferences)); menubar->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_Options", *menu, true))); // Create Help menu menu = new Gtk::Menu; menu->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("About")), slot(this, &MenuWindow::on_help_about)); Gtk::MenuItem *menu_item = new Gtk::MenuItem("_Help", *menu, true); menu_item->set_right_justified(true); menubar->append(*menu_item); // Pack the menubar into the vbox vbox->pack_start(*menubar, false); // Add a label that tells the user to click the mouse button inside the client area. Gtk::Label *label = new Gtk::Label("Click mouse button here..."); vbox->pack_start(*label); // Being lazy, just show everything with one call. show_all(); } MenuWindow::~MenuWindow() { } bool MenuWindow::on_button_press(GdkEventButton *event, Gtk::Menu *menu) { menu->popup(event->button, event->time); return true; } void MenuWindow::menu_item_selected(const char *parent, const char *item) { g_message("Menu: activated the \"%s\" menu item: \"%s\"", parent, item); } void MenuWindow::on_file_new() { menu_item_selected("File", "New"); } void MenuWindow::on_file_open() { menu_item_selected("File", "Open"); } void MenuWindow::on_file_save() { menu_item_selected("File", "Save"); } void MenuWindow::on_file_save_as() { menu_item_selected("File", "Save As"); } void MenuWindow::on_file_quit() { dispose(); } void MenuWindow::on_options_preferences() { menu_item_selected("Options", "Preferences"); } void MenuWindow::on_help_about() { menu_item_selected("Help", "About"); } XFC_MAIN(MenuWindow)` ## Compiling Menu If you compiled and installed XFC yourself, you will find the source code for Menu in the <examples/menu> source directory along with a Makefile. If XFC came pre-installed, or you installed it from an RPM package, you will find the source code in the </usr/share/doc/xfcui-X.X/examples/menu> subdirectory. In this case you will have to create the Makefile yourself (replace X.X with the version number of the libXFCui library you have installed). To create a Makefile for Menu, add the following lines to a new text file and save it using the name "Makefile": `CC = g++ CFLAGS = -Wall -O2 menu: menu.cc menu.hh $(CC) menu.cc -o menu $(CFLAGS) `pkg-config xfcui-X.X --cflags --libs` clean: rm -f *.o menu` If you cut and paste these lines make sure the whitespace before $(CC) and rm is a tab character. When you compile and run this program you will see the following window appear: The window displays a menubar across the top that contains three menu items: File, Options and Help. When you click a mouse button down anywhere inside its client area the menubar's File menu pops up at the current pointer position. ## Stock Menu Example There is a second menu example in the <examples/menu> subdirectory that creates the same window as above but instead uses stock menu items and their icons. Except for the menu creation code in the MenuWindow constructor the source code in <stock.cc> is the same: `// Create the menubar. Menus can be created by using the append, prepend or insert methods // in menushell.hh to add menu items. Gtk::MenuBar *menubar = new Gtk::MenuBar; Gtk::AccelGroup *accel_group = add_accel_group(); // Create the File menu Gtk::Menu *menu = new Gtk::Menu(*accel_group); menu->append(Gtk::StockId::NEW, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_new)); menu->append(Gtk::StockId::OPEN, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_open)); menu->append(Gtk::StockId::SAVE, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_save)); menu->append(Gtk::StockId::SAVE_AS, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_save_as)); menu->append_separator(); menu->append(Gtk::StockId::QUIT, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_file_quit)); menubar->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_File", *menu, true))); // Bind the file menu to the button_press event and use it as the popup menu. eventbox->signal_button_press_event().connect(sigc::bind(sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_button_press), menu)); // Create Options menu menu = new Gtk::Menu(*accel_group); menu->append(Gtk::StockId::PREFERENCES, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_options_preferences)); menubar->append(*(new Gtk::MenuItem("_Options", *menu, true))); // Create Help menu menu = new Gtk::Menu; Gtk::MenuItem *menu_item = new Gtk::ImageMenuItem(*(new Gtk::Image(Gtk::StockId::DIALOG_INFO, Gtk::ICON_SIZE_MENU)), "_About", true); menu->append(*menu_item, sigc::mem_fun(this, &MenuWindow::on_help_about)); menu_item = new Gtk::MenuItem("_Help", *menu, true); menu_item->set_right_justified(true); menubar->append(*menu_item);` ## Compiling Stock To create a Makefile for Stock, add the following lines to a new text file and save it using the name "Makefile": `CC = g++ CFLAGS = -Wall -O2 stock: stock.cc menu.hh $(CC) stock.cc -o stock $(CFLAGS) `pkg-config xfcui-X.X --cflags --libs` clean: rm -f *.o stock` If you cut and paste these lines make sure the whitespace before $(CC) and rm is a tab character. When you compile and run the Stock program you will see the following window appear: The XFC_MAIN macro is a convenience macro that writes a simple main function, its only argument is the name of the main window class. The macro is defined in <xfc/main.hh> as: `#define XFC_MAIN(MainWidget)\ int main (int argc, char *argv[])\ {\ Xfc::Main::init(&argc, &argv);\ MainWidget main_widget;\ main_widget.signal_destroy().connect(sigc::ptr_fun(&Xfc::Main::quit));\ main_widget.show();\ Xfc::Main::run();\ return 0;\ }` Most main functions in C++ are simple because all the creation work for the main window is done inside its constructor, not the main function.
Copyright © 2004-2005 The XFC Development Team | Top | XFC 4.4