Menu Button Control
A Menu button control is used to display a single item from a menu.
Multiple menu items are normally used together to provide the user with a series of mutually exclusive choices. The recognition engine will automatically generate menu controls when it identifies a pattern of fields consistent with a menu display.
Client support
Newlook Smartclient
Newlook Server
Use
A Menu button control combines an Image and Label to represent a menu choice selection. Menu button controls are used to build and present selection sets that graphically mirror the standard OS/400 menu interface.
Host generated menu buttons
A group of menu buttons is automatically generated in the GUI whenever the Newlook recognition engine detects an entry field preceded by a series of output fields which have a format consistent with a menu item.
All automatically generated menu buttons have their BuddyValue, BuddyControl and set so that they are sending the correct value to the relevant host entry field when selected.
The menu item returns a menu item number string using the BuddyValue property. When selected, the menu button control's BuddyValue is automatically entered in the host screen using the screen location specified by the BuddyControl property, subsequently the BuddyKey key is issued to the application (usually the ENTER key).
Inserted menu buttons
Occasionally you may need to provide additional menu items to the user on the screen, in addition to those automatically generated. In this scenario you will need to insert a custom menu button and associate the control with an entry field using the steps outlined below.
Material skin considerations
When the material skin is enabled in your solution, menu buttons will be rendered with material styling. The most noticeable difference is the change in styling when a menu item is selected.
The following menu button properties are ignored when the material skin is enabled: BorderColor Property, BorderStyle Property and BorderWidth Property.
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Material skin |
Classic skin |
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Common Menu Button Tasks
Inserting a new menu button control
- Open the relevant screen
in Designer (
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mode. - Select Insert|MenuButton ()
from the main menu, then use your cursor to draw the graphic area on the
screen.
- With the menu button selected, click the Caption field in the Properties pane and enter the text portion to display.
- Select the OnClick field in the Properties pane and assign the macro or script that is to run when the user clicks the menu (if relevant).
- Set the BuddyControl, BuddyKey, BuddyProperty and BuddyValue to send a value to another control on the form when this menu item is clicked.
- Set any other relevant properties in the Properties pane.
Changing the menu icon
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The menu button control is rendered as a gray arrow by default however it is possible to assign a different graphic to display in this control. To do this you need to modify the Picture property to point to the image that you want displayed. It is important to note that Newlook uses relative file paths therefore any custom images that you assign to menu controls must be deployed with your Newlook solution files to end users in the same relative location. It is recommended that you create an Images folder within your solution directory which contains all custom images used in your solution. This solution folder can then be deployed to end users and all relative paths remain intact. If you want to change the image that displays in menu button controls globally throughout your application, this can be done via Settings > Display > Menus in Newlook Developer or Newlook Server. |
Binding the menu control to a buddy control
Binding this control to a buddy involves linking it with another control on the form which will be used to display the value and/or send the value through to the host.
- In Designer, select the menu button control.
- From the Properties Pane, select the Text property and enter the text that you want displayed beside the menu icon.
- Set the BuddyControl property. This property should be set to one of two things, either the Name of the control or, if the control is a host field, the Name OR Row and Column position of the control that will display the BuddyValue of the menu button control. If specifying the row and column position of the host field, the co-ordinates must be specified as follows: row, column
- Set the BuddyProperty property. This property should specify the property of the buddy control that is to be set. Typically this is the Text property of an menu entry field.
- If an Aid key is to be sent to the host along with the value of this control then enter the relevant key in the BuddyKey property. Usually with menu controls we want to send the value to the host when the user clicks the menu button therefore we would specify the Enter key here by selecting KeyEnter from the drop down.
- Set the BuddyValue property to specify the actual value that is to be sent to the host when the menu button is clicked.
Properties
Newlook Smartclient | Newlook Server | 
Deprecated
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Obsolete
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Property |
Client |
Description |
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Gets or sets the grid column that this control is aligned to. Design-time only. Not available at run-time. |
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Gets or sets the background color of the object. |
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Gets or sets a style which determines if the control's background is transparent or opaque. |
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Gets or sets whether the caption of the control blinks. |
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Gets or sets the control's border color. |
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Gets or sets the style of a control's border. |
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Gets or sets the width (thickness) of the control's border. |
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Gets or sets the control used as the buddy control. |
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Gets or sets the AID key to be sent from the buddy control. |
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Gets or sets the property of the buddy control that is to be modified. |
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Gets or sets the value that is to be passed to the buddy control. |
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Gets or sets the caption text of the control. |
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Gets or sets the Coded Character Set Identifier (CCSID), which defines the control's code page and character set. |
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The green screen column coordinate that marks the beginning of the object. Read only. Host generated controls only. |
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Gets or sets the CSS class, or classes, for the control in Newlook Server. Server-only. |
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Gets or sets the image file to be displayed in a form or control when it is in the disabled state. |
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Gets or sets the image file to display in the form or control when it has ben clicked. |
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Gets or sets the enabled state of the object. |
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Gets or sets whether text should be shown in a bold font. |
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Gets or sets whether text should be shown with an italic style. |
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Gets or sets the name of the font family used to display text. |
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Gets or sets the font point size used to display text. |
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Gets or sets whether text should be diplayed underlined. |
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Gets or sets the foreground (text) color of the control. |
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Sets or returns the current control index for an object. |
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Returns or sets the height of the object's size in pixels at default size, which is the object's size at design-time. |
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Gets or sets the color displayed when the user hovers over the control with a mouse. |
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Gets or sets the image file to display in the form or control when it the user hovers over it with a mouse. |
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Specifies the anchor tag for the control. |
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Determines the distance, in pixels, between the left edge of the control and the left edge of its form or parent container at default size, which is the object's size at design-time. |
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Returns or sets the color in a bitmap
image that should be interpreted as the transparent color. Deprecated property. |
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Gets or sets the name of this object. |
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Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the Click event is triggered. |
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Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the GotFocus event is triggered. Smartclient-only property. |
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Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the LostFocus event is triggered. Smartclient-only property. |
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Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the MouseEnter event occurs. Smartclient-only. |
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Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the MouseExit event occurs. Smartclient-only. |
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Gets or sets the file name of the image to display in the control or form. |
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The green screen row coordinate that marks the beginning of the object. Read only. Host generated controls only. |
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Gets or sets a value which determines the control's tab order. |
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Gets or sets whether the Tab key can be used to set focus to the control. |
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Gets or sets user defined information for the control. |
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Gets or sets whether the control will recieve focus when the user clicks on it. |
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Gets or sets the text style of the control. Server-only for this control. |
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Gets or sets the control's tool-tip text. |
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Determines the distance, in pixels, between the top edge of the control and the top edge of its form or parent container at default size, which is the object's size at design-time. |
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Returns a value which specifies the control's type. Read only. |
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Gets or sets a value which determines whether the HoverColor property will be used. Smartclient-only. |
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Determines whether the color assigned in the MaskColor
property is used. Deprecated property. |
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Gets or sets whether the control's keystroke mnemonic is embedded within the text. |
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Gets or sets whether the control, object or form is visible or hidden. |
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Gets or sets the width of the object in pixels at default size, which is the object's size at design-time. |
See Also
CommandButton control | OptionButton control
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