menu(3tk) Tk Built-In Commands menu(3tk)
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NAME
menu, tk_menuSetFocus - Create and manipulate 'menu' widgets and
menubars
SYNOPSIS
menu pathName ?options?
tk_menuSetFocus pathName
STANDARD OPTIONS
-activebackground -borderwidth -foreground
-activeborderwidth -cursor -relief
-activeforeground -disabledforeground -takefocus
-background -font
See the options manual entry for details on the standard options.
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
Command-Line Name:-postcommand
Database Name: postCommand
Database Class: Command
If this option is specified then it provides a Tcl command to
execute each time the menu is posted. The command is invoked by
the post widget command before posting the menu. Note that in Tk
8.0 on Macintosh and Windows, all post-commands in a system of
menus are executed before any of those menus are posted. This
is due to the limitations in the individual platforms' menu man-
agers.
Command-Line Name:-selectcolor
Database Name: selectColor
Database Class: Background
For menu entries that are check buttons or radio buttons, this
option specifies the color to display in the indicator when the
check button or radio button is selected.
Command-Line Name:-tearoff
Database Name: tearOff
Database Class: TearOff
This option must have a proper boolean value, which specifies
whether or not the menu should include a tear-off entry at the
top. If so, it will exist as entry 0 of the menu and the other
entries will number starting at 1. The default menu bindings
arrange for the menu to be torn off when the tear-off entry is
invoked. This option is ignored under Aqua/MacOS, where menus
cannot be torn off.
Command-Line Name:-tearoffcommand
Database Name: tearOffCommand
Database Class: TearOffCommand
If this option has a non-empty value, then it specifies a Tcl
command to invoke whenever the menu is torn off. The actual
command will consist of the value of this option, followed by a
space, followed by the name of the menu window, followed by a
space, followed by the name of the name of the torn off menu
window. For example, if the option's value is “a b” and menu
.x.y is torn off to create a new menu .x.tearoff1, then the com-
mand “a b .x.y .x.tearoff1” will be invoked. This option is ig-
nored under Aqua/MacOS, where menus cannot be torn off.
Command-Line Name:-title
Database Name: title
Database Class: Title
The string will be used to title the window created when this
menu is torn off. If the title is NULL, then the window will
have the title of the menubutton or the text of the cascade item
from which this menu was invoked.
Command-Line Name:-type
Database Name: type
Database Class: Type
This option can be one of menubar, tearoff, or normal, and is
set when the menu is created. While the string returned by the
configuration database will change if this option is changed,
this does not affect the menu widget's behavior. This is used by
the cloning mechanism and is not normally set outside of the Tk
library.
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INTRODUCTION
The menu command creates a new top-level window (given by the pathName
argument) and makes it into a menu widget. That menu widget can either
be used as a pop-up window or applied to a toplevel (with its -menu op-
tion) to make it into the menubar for that toplevel. Additional op-
tions, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the
option database to configure aspects of the menu such as its colors and
font. The menu command returns its pathName argument. At the time
this command is invoked, there must not exist a window named pathName,
but pathName's parent must exist.
A menu is a widget that displays a collection of one-line entries ar-
ranged in one or more columns. There exist several different types of
entries, each with different properties. Entries of different types
may be combined in a single menu. Menu entries are not the same as en-
try widgets. In fact, menu entries are not even distinct widgets; the
entire menu is one widget.
Menu entries are displayed with up to three separate fields. The main
field is a label in the form of a text string, a bitmap, or an image,
controlled by the -label, -bitmap, and -image options for the entry.
If the -accelerator option is specified for an entry then a second
textual field is displayed to the right of the label. The accelerator
typically describes a keystroke sequence that may be used in the appli-
cation to cause the same result as invoking the menu entry. This is a
display option, it does not actually set the corresponding binding
(which can be achieved using the bind command). The third field is an
indicator. The indicator is present only for checkbutton or radiobut-
ton entries. It indicates whether the entry is selected or not, and is
displayed to the left of the entry's string.
In normal use, an entry becomes active (displays itself differently)
whenever the mouse pointer is over the entry. If a mouse button is re-
leased over the entry then the entry is invoked. The effect of invoca-
tion is different for each type of entry; these effects are described
below in the sections on individual entries.
Entries may be disabled, which causes their labels and accelerators to
be displayed with dimmer colors. The default menu bindings will not
allow a disabled entry to be activated or invoked. Disabled entries
may be re-enabled, at which point it becomes possible to activate and
invoke them again.
Whenever a menu's active entry is changed, a <<MenuSelect>> virtual
event is send to the menu. The active item can then be queried from the
menu, and an action can be taken, such as setting context-sensitive
help text for the entry.
TYPES OF ENTRIES
COMMAND ENTRIES
The most common kind of menu entry is a command entry, which behaves
much like a button widget. When a command entry is invoked, a Tcl com-
mand is executed. The Tcl command is specified with the -command op-
tion.
SEPARATOR ENTRIES
A separator is an entry that is displayed as a horizontal dividing
line. A separator may not be activated or invoked, and it has no be-
havior other than its display appearance.
CHECKBUTTON ENTRIES
A checkbutton menu entry behaves much like a checkbutton widget. When
it is invoked it toggles back and forth between the selected and dese-
lected states. When the entry is selected, a particular value is
stored in a particular global variable (as determined by the -onvalue
and -variable options for the entry); when the entry is deselected an-
other value (determined by the -offvalue option) is stored in the
global variable. An indicator box is displayed to the left of the la-
bel in a checkbutton entry. If the entry is selected then the indica-
tor's center is displayed in the color given by the -selectcolor option
for the entry; otherwise the indicator's center is displayed in the
background color for the menu. If a -command option is specified for a
checkbutton entry, then its value is evaluated as a Tcl command each
time the entry is invoked; this happens after toggling the entry's se-
lected state.
RADIOBUTTON ENTRIES
A radiobutton menu entry behaves much like a radiobutton widget. Ra-
diobutton entries are organized in groups of which only one entry may
be selected at a time. Whenever a particular entry becomes selected it
stores a particular value into a particular global variable (as deter-
mined by the -value and -variable options for the entry). This action
causes any previously-selected entry in the same group to deselect it-
self. Once an entry has become selected, any change to the entry's as-
sociated variable will cause the entry to deselect itself. Grouping of
radiobutton entries is determined by their associated variables: if
two entries have the same associated variable then they are in the same
group. An indicator diamond is displayed to the left of the label in
each radiobutton entry. If the entry is selected then the indicator's
center is displayed in the color given by the -selectcolor option for
the entry; otherwise the indicator's center is displayed in the back-
ground color for the menu. If a -command option is specified for a ra-
diobutton entry, then its value is evaluated as a Tcl command each time
the entry is invoked; this happens after selecting the entry.
CASCADE ENTRIES
A cascade entry is one with an associated menu (determined by the -menu
option). Cascade entries allow the construction of cascading menus.
The postcascade widget command can be used to post and unpost the asso-
ciated menu just next to of the cascade entry. The associated menu
must be a child of the menu containing the cascade entry (this is
needed in order for menu traversal to work correctly).
A cascade entry posts its associated menu by invoking a Tcl command of
the form
menu post x y
where menu is the path name of the associated menu, and x and y are the
root-window coordinates of the upper-right corner of the cascade entry.
On Unix, the lower-level menu is unposted by executing a Tcl command
with the form
menu unpost
where menu is the name of the associated menu. On other platforms, the
platform's native code takes care of unposting the menu.
If a -command option is specified for a cascade entry then it is evalu-
ated as a Tcl command whenever the entry is invoked. This is not sup-
ported on Windows.
TEAR-OFF ENTRIES
A tear-off entry appears at the top of the menu if enabled with the
-tearoff option. It is not like other menu entries in that it cannot
be created with the add widget command and cannot be deleted with the
delete widget command. When a tear-off entry is created it appears as
a dashed line at the top of the menu. Under the default bindings, in-
voking the tear-off entry causes a torn-off copy to be made of the menu
and all of its submenus.
MENUBARS
Any menu can be set as a menubar for a toplevel window (see toplevel
command for syntax). On the Macintosh, whenever the toplevel is in
front, this menu's cascade items will appear in the menubar across the
top of the main monitor. On Windows and Unix, this menu's items will be
displayed in a menubar across the top of the window. These menus will
behave according to the interface guidelines of their platforms. For
every menu set as a menubar, a clone menu is made. See the CLONES sec-
tion for more information.
As noted, menubars may behave differently on different platforms. One
example of this concerns the handling of checkbuttons and radiobuttons
within the menu. While it is permitted to put these menu elements on
menubars, they may not be drawn with indicators on some platforms, due
to system restrictions.
SPECIAL MENUS IN MENUBARS
Certain menus in a menubar will be treated specially. On the Macin-
tosh, access to the special Application, Window and Help menus is pro-
vided. On Windows, access to the Windows System menu in each window is
provided. On X Windows, a special right-justified help menu may be
provided if Motif menu compatibility is enabled. In all cases, these
menus must be created with the command name of the menubar menu con-
catenated with the special name. So for a menubar named .menubar, on
the Macintosh, the special menus would be .menubar.apple, .menubar.win-
dow and .menubar.help; on Windows, the special menu would be
.menubar.system; on X Windows, the help menu would be .menubar.help.
When Tk sees a .menubar.apple menu as the first menu in a menubar on
the Macintosh, that menu's contents make up the first items of the Ap-
plication menu whenever the window containing the menubar is in front.
After all of the Tk-defined items, the menu will have a separator, fol-
lowed by all standard Application menu items. Such a .apple menu must
be present in a menu when that menu is first configured as a toplevel's
menubar, otherwise a default application menu (hidden from Tk) will be
inserted into the menubar at that time and subsequent addition of a
.apple menu will no longer result in it becoming the Application menu.
When Tk sees a .menubar.window menu on the Macintosh, the menu's con-
tents are inserted into the standard Window menu of the user's menubar
whenever the window's menubar is in front. The first items in the menu
are provided by Mac OS X, and the names of the current toplevels are
automatically appended after all the Tk-defined items and a separator.
The Window menu on the Mac also allows toggling the window into a
fullscreen state, and managing a tabbed window interface (multiple win-
dows grouped into a single window) if supported by that version of the
operating system.
When Tk sees a .menubar.help menu on the Macintosh, the menu's contents
are appended to the standard Help menu of the user's menubar whenever
the window's menubar is in front. The first items in the menu are pro-
vided by Mac OS X.
When Tk sees a System menu on Windows, its items are appended to the
system menu that the menubar is attached to. This menu is tied to the
application icon and can be invoked with the mouse or by typing
Alt+Spacebar. Due to limitations in the Windows API, any font changes,
colors, images, bitmaps, or tearoff images will not appear in the sys-
tem menu.
When Tk sees a Help menu on X Windows and Motif menu compatibility is
enabled the menu is moved to be last in the menubar and is right justi-
fied. Motif menu compatibility is enabled by setting the Tk option
*Menu.useMotifHelp to true or by calling tk::classic::restore menu.
CLONES
When a menu is set as a menubar for a toplevel window, or when a menu
is torn off, a clone of the menu is made. This clone is a menu widget
in its own right, but it is a child of the original. Changes in the
configuration of the original are reflected in the clone. Additionally,
any cascades that are pointed to are also cloned so that menu traversal
will work right. Clones are destroyed when either the tearoff or
menubar goes away, or when the original menu is destroyed.
WIDGET COMMAND
The menu command creates a new Tcl command whose name is pathName.
This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget.
It has the following general form:
pathName option ?arg arg ...?
Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the command.
Many of the widget commands for a menu take as one argument an indica-
tor of which entry of the menu to operate on. These indicators are
called indexes and may be specified in any of the following forms:
active Indicates the entry that is currently active. If no entry
is active then this form is equivalent to none. This form
may not be abbreviated.
end Indicates the bottommost entry in the menu. If there are
no entries in the menu then this form is equivalent to
none. This form may not be abbreviated.
last Same as end.
none Indicates “no entry at all”; this is used most commonly
with the activate option to deactivate all the entries in
the menu. In most cases the specification of none causes
nothing to happen in the widget command. This form may not
be abbreviated.
@number In this form, number is treated as a y-coordinate in the
menu's window; the entry closest to that y-coordinate is
used. For example, “@0” indicates the top-most entry in
the window.
number Specifies the entry numerically, where 0 corresponds to the
top-most entry of the menu, 1 to the entry below it, and so
on.
pattern If the index does not satisfy one of the above forms then
this form is used. Pattern is pattern-matched against the
label of each entry in the menu, in order from the top
down, until a matching entry is found. The rules of string
match are used.
If the index could match more than one of the above forms, then the
form earlier in the above list takes precedence.
The following widget commands are possible for menu widgets:
pathName activate index
Change the state of the entry indicated by index to active and
redisplay it using its active colors. Any previously-active en-
try is deactivated. If index is specified as none, or if the
specified entry is disabled, then the menu ends up with no ac-
tive entry. Returns an empty string.
pathName add type ?option value option value ...?
Add a new entry to the bottom of the menu. The new entry's type
is given by type and must be one of cascade, checkbutton, com-
mand, radiobutton, or separator, or a unique abbreviation of one
of the above. If additional arguments are present, they specify
the options listed in the MENU ENTRY OPTIONS section below. The
add widget command returns an empty string.
pathName cget option
Returns the current value of the configuration option given by
option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the menu
command.
pathName clone newPathname ?cloneType?
Makes a clone of the current menu named newPathName. This clone
is a menu in its own right, but any changes to the clone are
propagated to the original menu and vice versa. cloneType can be
normal, menubar, or tearoff. Should not normally be called out-
side of the Tk library. See the CLONES section for more informa-
tion.
pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?
Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no
option is specified, returns a list describing all of the avail-
able options for pathName (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information
on the format of this list). If option is specified with no
value, then the command returns a list describing the one named
option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist
of the value returned if no option is specified). If one or
more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies
the given widget option(s) to have the given value(s); in this
case the command returns an empty string. Option may have any
of the values accepted by the menu command.
pathName delete index1 ?index2?
Delete all of the menu entries between index1 and index2 inclu-
sive. If index2 is omitted then it defaults to index1. At-
tempts to delete a tear-off menu entry are ignored (instead, you
should change the -tearoff option to remove the tear-off entry).
pathName entrycget index option
Returns the current value of a configuration option for the en-
try given by index. Option may have any of the names described
in the MENU ENTRY OPTIONS section below.
pathName entryconfigure index ?options...?
This command is similar to the configure command, except that it
applies to the options for an individual entry, whereas config-
ure applies to the options for the menu as a whole. Options may
have any of the values described in the MENU ENTRY OPTIONS sec-
tion below. If options are specified, options are modified as
indicated in the command and the command returns an empty
string. If no options are specified, returns a list describing
the current options for entry index (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for
information on the format of this list).
pathName index index
Returns the numerical index corresponding to index, or none if
index was specified as none.
pathName insert index type ?option value option value ...?
Same as the add widget command except that it inserts the new
entry just before the entry given by index, instead of appending
to the end of the menu. The type, option, and value arguments
have the same interpretation as for the add widget command. It
is not possible to insert new menu entries before the tear-off
entry, if the menu has one.
pathName invoke index
Invoke the action of the menu entry. See the sections on the
individual entries above for details on what happens. If the
menu entry is disabled then nothing happens. If the entry has a
command associated with it then the result of that command is
returned as the result of the invoke widget command. Otherwise
the result is an empty string. Note: invoking a menu entry
does not automatically unpost the menu; the default bindings
normally take care of this before invoking the invoke widget
command.
pathName post x y ?index?
Arrange for the menu to be displayed on the screen at the root-
window coordinates given by x and y. If an index is specified
the menu will be located so that the entry with that index is
displayed at the point. These coordinates are adjusted if nec-
essary to guarantee that the entire menu is visible on the
screen. This command normally returns an empty string. If the
-postcommand option has been specified, then its value is exe-
cuted as a Tcl script before posting the menu and the result of
that script is returned as the result of the post widget com-
mand. If an error returns while executing the command, then the
error is returned without posting the menu.
pathName postcascade index
Posts the submenu associated with the cascade entry given by in-
dex, and unposts any previously posted submenu. If index does
not correspond to a cascade entry, or if pathName is not posted,
the command has no effect except to unpost any currently posted
submenu.
pathName type index
Returns the type of the menu entry given by index. This is the
type argument passed to the add or insert widget command when
the entry was created, such as command or separator, or tearoff
for a tear-off entry.
pathName unpost
Unmap the window so that it is no longer displayed. If a lower-
level cascaded menu is posted, unpost that menu. Returns an
empty string. This subcommand does not work on Windows and the
Macintosh, as those platforms have their own way of unposting
menus.
pathName xposition index
Returns a decimal string giving the x-coordinate within the menu
window of the leftmost pixel in the entry specified by index.
pathName yposition index
Returns a decimal string giving the y-coordinate within the menu
window of the topmost pixel in the entry specified by index.
MENU ENTRY OPTIONS
The following options are allowed on menu entries. Most options are not
supported by all entry types.
-activebackground value
Specifies a background color to use for displaying this entry
when it is active. This option is ignored on Aqua/MacOS. If it
is specified as an empty string (the default), then the -active-
background option for the overall menu is used. If the
tk_strictMotif variable has been set to request strict Motif
compliance, then this option is ignored and the -background op-
tion is used in its place. This option is not available for
separator or tear-off entries.
-activeforeground value
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying this entry
when it is active. This option is ignored on Aqua/macOS. If
this option is specified as an empty string (the default), then
the -activeforeground option for the overall menu is used. This
option is not available for separator or tear-off entries.
-accelerator value
Specifies a string to display at the right side of the menu en-
try. Normally describes an accelerator keystroke sequence that
may be used to invoke the same function as the menu entry. This
is a display option, it does not actually set the corresponding
binding (which can be achieved using the bind command). This op-
tion is not available for separator or tear-off entries.
-background value
Specifies a background color to use for displaying this entry
when it is in the normal state (neither active nor disabled).
This option is ignored on Aqua/macOS. If it is specified as an
empty string (the default), then the -background option for the
overall menu is used. This option is not available for separa-
tor or tear-off entries.
-bitmap value
Specifies a bitmap to display in the menu instead of a textual
label, in any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetBitmap. This op-
tion overrides the -label option (as controlled by the -compound
option) but may be reset to an empty string to enable a textual
label to be displayed. If a -image option has been specified,
it overrides -bitmap. This option is not available for separa-
tor or tear-off entries.
-columnbreak value
When this option is zero, the entry appears below the previous
entry. When this option is one, the entry appears at the top of
a new column in the menu. This option is ignored on Aqua/macOS,
where menus are always a single column.
-command value
Specifies a Tcl command to execute when the menu entry is in-
voked. Not available for separator or tear-off entries.
-compound value
Specifies whether the menu entry should display both an image
and text, and if so, where the image should be placed relative
to the text. Valid values for this option are bottom, center,
left, none, right and top. The default value is none, meaning
that the button will display either an image or text, depending
on the values of the -image and -bitmap options.
-font value
Specifies the font to use when drawing the label or accelerator
string in this entry. If this option is specified as an empty
string (the default) then the -font option for the overall menu
is used. This option is not available for separator or tear-off
entries.
-foreground value
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying this entry
when it is in the normal state (neither active nor disabled).
This option is ignored on Aqua/macOS. If it is specified as an
empty string (the default), then the -foreground option for the
overall menu is used. This option is not available for separa-
tor or tear-off entries.
-hidemargin value
Specifies whether the standard margins should be drawn for this
menu entry. This is useful when creating palette with images in
them, i.e., color palettes, pattern palettes, etc. 1 indicates
that the margin for the entry is hidden; 0 means that the margin
is used.
-image value
Specifies an image to display in the menu instead of a text
string or bitmap. The image must have been created by some pre-
vious invocation of image create. This option overrides the
-label and -bitmap options (as controlled by the -compound op-
tion) but may be reset to an empty string to enable a textual or
bitmap label to be displayed. This option is not available for
separator or tear-off entries.
-indicatoron value
Available only for checkbutton and radiobutton entries. Value
is a boolean that determines whether or not the indicator should
be displayed.
-label value
Specifies a string to display as an identifying label in the
menu entry. Not available for separator or tear-off entries.
-menu value
Available only for cascade entries. Specifies the path name of
the submenu associated with this entry. The submenu must be a
child of the menu.
-offvalue value
Available only for checkbutton entries. Specifies the value to
store in the entry's associated variable when the entry is dese-
lected.
-onvalue value
Available only for checkbutton entries. Specifies the value to
store in the entry's associated variable when the entry is se-
lected.
-selectcolor value
Available only for checkbutton and radiobutton entries. Speci-
fies the color to display in the indicator when the entry is se-
lected. If the value is an empty string (the default) then the
-selectcolor option for the menu determines the indicator color.
-selectimage value
Available only for checkbutton and radiobutton entries. Speci-
fies an image to display in the entry (in place of the -image
option) when it is selected. Value is the name of an image,
which must have been created by some previous invocation of im-
age create. This option is ignored unless the -image option has
been specified.
-state value
Specifies one of three states for the entry: normal, active, or
disabled. In normal state the entry is displayed using the
-foreground option for the menu and the -background option from
the entry or the menu. The active state is typically used when
the pointer is over the entry. In active state the entry is
displayed using the -activeforeground option for the menu along
with the -activebackground option from the entry. Disabled
state means that the entry should be insensitive: the default
bindings will refuse to activate or invoke the entry. In this
state the entry is displayed according to the -disabledfore-
ground option for the menu and the -background option from the
entry. This option is not available for separator entries.
-underline value
Specifies the integer index of a character to underline in the
entry. This option is also queried by the default bindings and
used to implement keyboard traversal. 0 corresponds to the
first character of the text displayed in the entry, 1 to the
next character, and so on. If a bitmap or image is displayed in
the entry then this option is ignored. This option is not
available for separator or tear-off entries.
-value value
Available only for radiobutton entries. Specifies the value to
store in the entry's associated variable when the entry is se-
lected. If an empty string is specified, then the -label option
for the entry as the value to store in the variable.
-variable value
Available only for checkbutton and radiobutton entries. Speci-
fies the name of a global variable to set when the entry is se-
lected. For checkbutton entries the variable is also set when
the entry is deselected. For radiobutton entries, changing the
variable causes the currently-selected entry to deselect itself.
For checkbutton entries, the default value of this option is
taken from the -label option, and for radiobutton entries a sin-
gle fixed value is used. It is recommended that you always set
the -variable option when creating either a checkbutton or a ra-
diobutton.
MENU CONFIGURATIONS
The default bindings support four different ways of using menus:
Pulldown Menus in Menubar
This is the most common case. You create a menu widget that will
become the menu bar. You then add cascade entries to this menu,
specifying the pull down menus you wish to use in your menu bar.
You then create all of the pulldowns. Once you have done this,
specify the menu using the -menu option of the toplevel's widget
command. See the toplevel manual entry for details.
Pulldown Menus in Menu Buttons
This is the compatible way to do menu bars. You create one
menubutton widget for each top-level menu, and typically you ar-
range a series of menubuttons in a row in a menubar window. You
also create the top-level menus and any cascaded submenus, and
tie them together with -menu options in menubuttons and cascade
menu entries. The top-level menu must be a child of the
menubutton, and each submenu must be a child of the menu that
refers to it. Once you have done this, the default bindings
will allow users to traverse and invoke the tree of menus via
its menubutton; see the menubutton manual entry for details.
Popup Menus
Popup menus typically post in response to a mouse button press
or keystroke. You create the popup menus and any cascaded sub-
menus, then you call the tk_popup procedure at the appropriate
time to post the top-level menu.
Option Menus
An option menu consists of a menubutton with an associated menu
that allows you to select one of several values. The current
value is displayed in the menubutton and is also stored in a
global variable. Use the tk_optionMenu procedure to create op-
tion menubuttons and their menus.
Torn-off Menus
You create a torn-off menu by invoking the tear-off entry at the
top of an existing menu. The default bindings will create a new
menu that is a copy of the original menu and leave it perma-
nently posted as a top-level window. The torn-off menu behaves
just the same as the original menu.
DEFAULT BINDINGS
Tk automatically creates class bindings for menus that give them the
following default behavior:
[1] When the mouse enters a menu, the entry underneath the mouse
cursor activates; as the mouse moves around the menu, the ac-
tive entry changes to track the mouse.
[2] When the mouse leaves a menu all of the entries in the menu de-
activate, except in the special case where the mouse moves from
a menu to a cascaded submenu.
[3] When a button is released over a menu, the active entry (if any)
is invoked. The menu also unposts unless it is a torn-off menu.
[4] The Space and Return keys invoke the active entry and unpost the
menu.
[5] If any of the entries in a menu have letters underlined with the
-underline option, then pressing one of the underlined letters
(or its upper-case or lower-case equivalent) invokes that entry
and unposts the menu.
[6] The Escape key aborts a menu selection in progress without in-
voking any entry. It also unposts the menu unless it is a torn-
off menu.
[7] The Up and Down keys activate the next higher or lower entry in
the menu. When one end of the menu is reached, the active entry
wraps around to the other end.
[8] The Left key moves to the next menu to the left. If the current
menu is a cascaded submenu, then the submenu is unposted and the
current menu entry becomes the cascade entry in the parent. If
the current menu is a top-level menu posted from a menubutton,
then the current menubutton is unposted and the next menubutton
to the left is posted. Otherwise the key has no effect. The
left-right order of menubuttons is determined by their stacking
order: Tk assumes that the lowest menubutton (which by default
is the first one created) is on the left.
[9] The Right key moves to the next menu to the right. If the cur-
rent entry is a cascade entry, then the submenu is posted and
the current menu entry becomes the first entry in the submenu.
Otherwise, if the current menu was posted from a menubutton,
then the current menubutton is unposted and the next menubutton
to the right is posted.
Disabled menu entries are non-responsive: they do not activate and
they ignore mouse button presses and releases.
Several of the bindings make use of the command tk_menuSetFocus. It
saves the current focus and sets the focus to its pathName argument,
which is a menu widget.
The behavior of menus can be changed by defining new bindings for indi-
vidual widgets or by redefining the class bindings.
BUGS
At present it is not possible to use the option database to specify
values for the options to individual entries.
SEE ALSO
bind(3tk), menubutton(3tk), ttk::menubutton(3tk), toplevel(3tk)
KEYWORDS
menu, widget
Tk 4.1 menu(3tk)
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