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.

Material skin	Classic skin

Common Menu Button Tasks

Inserting a new menu button control

Open the relevant screen in Designer () 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

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 | Obsolete

Property	Client	Description
AlignToGridColumn		Gets or sets the grid column that this control is aligned to. Design-time only. Not available at run-time.
BackColor		Gets or sets the background color of the object.
BackStyle		Gets or sets a style which determines if the control's background is transparent or opaque.
Blink		Gets or sets whether the caption of the control blinks.
BorderColor		Gets or sets the control's border color.
BorderStyle		Gets or sets the style of a control's border.
BorderWidth		Gets or sets the width (thickness) of the control's border.
BuddyControl		Gets or sets the control used as the buddy control.
BuddyKey		Gets or sets the AID key to be sent from the buddy control.
BuddyProperty		Gets or sets the property of the buddy control that is to be modified.
BuddyValue		Gets or sets the value that is to be passed to the buddy control.
Caption		Gets or sets the caption text of the control.
CCSID		Gets or sets the Coded Character Set Identifier (CCSID), which defines the control's code page and character set.
Column		The green screen column coordinate that marks the beginning of the object. Read only. Host generated controls only.
CssClass		Gets or sets the CSS class, or classes, for the control in Newlook Server. Server-only.
DisabledPicture		Gets or sets the image file to be displayed in a form or control when it is in the disabled state.
DownPicture		Gets or sets the image file to display in the form or control when it has ben clicked.
Enabled		Gets or sets the enabled state of the object.
FontBold		Gets or sets whether text should be shown in a bold font.
FontItalic		Gets or sets whether text should be shown with an italic style.
FontName		Gets or sets the name of the font family used to display text.
FontSize		Gets or sets the font point size used to display text.
FontUnderline		Gets or sets whether text should be diplayed underlined.
ForeColor		Gets or sets the foreground (text) color of the control.
FormControlsCollectionIndex		Sets or returns the current control index for an object.
Height		Returns or sets the height of the object's size in pixels at default size, which is the object's size at design-time.
HoverColor		Gets or sets the color displayed when the user hovers over the control with a mouse.
HoverPicture		Gets or sets the image file to display in the form or control when it the user hovers over it with a mouse.
Hyperlink		Specifies the anchor tag for the control.
Left		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.
MaskColor		Returns or sets the color in a bitmap image that should be interpreted as the transparent color. Deprecated property. Obsolete
Name		Gets or sets the name of this object.
OnClick		Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the Click event is triggered.
OnGotFocus		Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the GotFocus event is triggered. Smartclient-only property.
OnLostFocus		Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the LostFocus event is triggered. Smartclient-only property.
OnMouseEnter		Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the MouseEnter event occurs. Smartclient-only.
OnMouseExit		Gets or sets the name of the macro or script to be run when the MouseExit event occurs. Smartclient-only.
Picture		Gets or sets the file name of the image to display in the control or form.
Row		The green screen row coordinate that marks the beginning of the object. Read only. Host generated controls only.
TabIndex		Gets or sets a value which determines the control's tab order.
TabStop		Gets or sets whether the Tab key can be used to set focus to the control.
Tag		Gets or sets user defined information for the control.
TakeFocusOnClick		Gets or sets whether the control will recieve focus when the user clicks on it.
TextStyle		Gets or sets the text style of the control. Server-only for this control.
ToolTipText		Gets or sets the control's tool-tip text.
Top		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.
Type		Returns a value which specifies the control's type. Read only.
UseHoverColor		Gets or sets a value which determines whether the HoverColor property will be used. Smartclient-only.
UseMaskColor		Determines whether the color assigned in the MaskColor property is used. Deprecated property. Obsolete
UseMnemonic		Gets or sets whether the control's keystroke mnemonic is embedded within the text.
Visible		Gets or sets whether the control, object or form is visible or hidden.
Width		Gets or sets the width of the object in pixels at default size, which is the object's size at design-time.