ZMenubar

• 

  A menubar

• 

  in disabled state

• 

  with submenu open

A menu bar allows users to browse and select from a fairly big number of commands. It is a classic user interface element to enable users to discover and use functionality of an application without having to read the manual. For faster access on repeated use, often menu items additionally display a keyboard shortcut that also allows accessing the command.

Usually applications have a global menu bar that is almost always reachable. The menu bar can be activated by pressing F10 or by pressing Alt in combination with one of the the highlighted characters on the menu bar. The menu can then be navigated using the cursor keys and a command selected using Enter or by pressing the highlighted character (this time without using Alt as modifier) or the menu can be left using Esc.

The menu system uses commands to determine if a menu item is currently available and to trigger an action if the user activates a menu item.

The application must setup the menu with a collection of menu items to gain a functional menu using void Tui::ZMenubar::setItems(QVector<Tui::ZMenuItem> items). Currently only menu bar entries and one level of sub-menus are supported.

See also: ZMenuItem, ZMenu

Example

Tui::ZMenubar *menubar = new Tui::ZMenubar(root);

QVector<Tui::ZMenuItem> items = {
    { "<m>F</m>ile", "", {}, {
        { "<m>N</m>ew", "", "NewFile", {}},
        { "<m>O</m>pen", "", "OpenFile", {}},
        { "<m>S</m>ave", "", "SaveFile", {}},
        { },
        { "<m>Q</m>uit", "Ctrl-q", "Quit", {}},
    }},
    { "<m>H</m>elp", "", {}, {
        { "<m>A</m>bout", "", "AboutDialog", {}}
    }}
};
menubar->setItems(items);

layout->addWidget(menubar);

QObject::connect(new Tui::ZCommandNotifier("NewFile", root),
                 &Tui::ZCommandNotifier::activated, [&] { /* ... */ });

QObject::connect(new Tui::ZCommandNotifier("OpenFile", root),
                 &Tui::ZCommandNotifier::activated, [&] { /* ... */ });

Tui::ZCommandNotifier *saveCommand = new Tui::ZCommandNotifier("SaveFile", root);
QObject::connect(saveCommand, &Tui::ZCommandNotifier::activated, [&] { /* ... */ });

saveCommand->setEnabled(false);

QObject::connect(new Tui::ZCommandNotifier("Quit", root),
                 &Tui::ZCommandNotifier::activated, [&] { /* ... */ });

QObject::connect(new Tui::ZCommandNotifier("AboutDialog", root),
                 &Tui::ZCommandNotifier::activated, [&] { /* ... */ });

Keyboard Usage

Key	Context	Result
F10	application shortcut	Activate the menu bar
Alt + (setup mnemonic)	application shortcut active menu bar sub-menu	Activate/Open the menu item
←	active menu bar sub-menu	Cycle through menu items / sub-menus left
→	active menu bar sub-menu	Cycle through menu items / sub-menus right
Esc	active menu bar sub-menu	Close the menu
F10	active menu bar sub-menu	Close the menu
Enter	active menu bar sub-menu	Active the current menu item
↑	active sub-menu	Cycle through menu items up
↓	active sub-menu	Cycle through menu items down
(highlighted letter)	active sub-menu	Active the menu item with the corresponding letter

Behavior

The menu bar does not accept focus and is one cell high and has a expanding vertical layout policy. The size request of a menu bar is calculated from the width of the top level menu items.

The menu bar ensures that its parent widget has a command manager by calling ensureCommandManager() on its parent and then bind to it to track command status changes and reflect them to the top-level menu item’s shortcuts.

It setups F10 as an application context shortcut to activate the menu. For the mnemonic letters of the top level menu items it similarly creates application context shortcuts to activate them (possibly showing their sub items as sub-menu).

When activated the menu bar grabs the keyboard. It then allows the user to browse the menu and activate the menu items. If a top level menu item has sub items it will create a browsable sub-menu (using Tui::ZMenu). The keyboard grab is transfered between the menu bar and sub-menus as needed.

Palette

Palette Color	Usage
menu.fg, menu.bg	Main color for the menu
menu.shortcut.fg, menu.shortcut.bg	Shortcut character in menu items
menu.selected.bg, menu.selected.fg	Selected menu items
menu.selected.shortcut.fg, menu.selected.shortcut.bg	Shortcut character in selected menu items
menu.disabled.fg, menu.disabled.bg	Menu items with disabled command or disabled menu bar
menu.selected.disabled.fg, menu.selected.disabled.bg	Selected menu items with disabled command

ZMenubar

class Tui::ZMenubar : public Tui::ZWidget

A menu bar widget.

Functions

void setItems(QVector<Tui::ZMenuItem> items)

QVector<Tui::ZMenuItem> items() const

The menu items to display in the menu.

The items can contain nested items lists to support sub-menus. Currently only menu bar entries and one level of sub-menus are supported.

void keyActivate(Tui::ZKeyEvent *event)

Used by sub-menus to implement Alt + mnemonic handling.

Slots

void left()

Used by sub-menus to implement ←.

void right()

Used by sub-menus to implement →.

void close()

Close any open sub-menu and deactivate the menu bar.