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Creating native menus (AIR)

This topic describes how to create the various types of native menu supported by AIR.

Creating a root menu object​

To create a NativeMenu object to serve as the root of the menu, use the NativeMenu constructor:

var root:NativeMenu = new NativeMenu();

For application and window menus, the root menu represents the menu bar and should only contain items that open submenus. Context menu and pop-up menus do not have a menu bar, so the root menu can contain commands and separator lines as well as submenus.

After the menu is created, you can add menu items. Items appear in the menu in the order in which they are added, unless you add the items at a specific index using the addItemAt() method of a menu object.

Assign the menu as an application, window, icon, or context menu, or display it as a pop-up menu as shown in the following sections:

Setting the application menu or window menu​

It's important that your code accommodate both application menus (supported on Mac OS) and window menus (supported on other operating systems)

var root:NativeMenu = new NativeMenu();
if (NativeApplication.supportsMenu)
{
    NativeApplication.nativeApplication.menu = root;
}
else if (NativeWindow.supportsMenu)
{
    nativeWindow.menu = root;
}

Note: Mac OS defines a menu containing standard items for every application. Assigning a new NativeMenu object to the menu property of the NativeApplication object replaces the standard menu. You can also use the standard menu instead of replacing it.

The Adobe Flex provides a FlexNativeMenu class for easily creating menus that work across platforms. If you are using the Flex Framework, use the FlexNativeMenu classes instead of the NativeMenu class.

Setting a context menu on an interactive object​

interactiveObject.contextMenu = root;

Setting a dock icon menu or system tray icon menu​

It's important that your code accommodate both application menus (supported on Mac OS) and window menus (supported on other operating systems)

if (NativeApplication.supportsSystemTrayIcon)
{
    SystemTrayIcon(NativeApplication.nativeApplication.icon).menu = root;
}
else if (NativeApplication.supportsDockIcon)
{
    DockIcon(NativeApplication.nativeApplication.icon).menu = root;
}

Note: Mac OS X defines a standard menu for the application dock icon. When you assign a new NativeMenu to the menu property of the DockIcon object, the items in that menu are displayed above the standard items. You cannot remove, access, or modify the standard menu items.

Displaying a menu as a pop-up​

root.display(stage, x, y);

Creating a submenu​

To create a submenu, you add a NativeMenuItem object to the parent menu and then assign the NativeMenu object defining the submenu to the item's submenu property. AIR provides two ways to create submenu items and their associated menu object:

You can create a menu item and its related menu object in one step with the addSubmenu() method:

var editMenuItem:NativeMenuItem = root.addSubmenu(new NativeMenu(), "Edit");

You can also create the menu item and assign the menu object to its submenu property separately:

var editMenuItem:NativeMenuItem = root.addItem("Edit", false);
editMenuItem.submenu = new NativeMenu();

Creating a menu command​

To create a menu command, add a NativeMenuItem object to a menu and add an event listener referencing the function implementing the menu command:

var copy:NativeMenuItem = new NativeMenuItem("Copy", false);
copy.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, onCopyCommand);
editMenu.addItem(copy);

You can listen for the select event on the command item itself (as shown in the example), or you can listen for the select event on a parent menu object.

Note: Menu items that represent submenus and separator lines do not dispatch select events and so cannot be used as commands.

Creating a menu separator line​

To create a separator line, create a NativeMenuItem, setting the isSeparator parameter to true in the constructor. Then add the separator item to the menu in the correct location:

var separatorA:NativeMenuItem = new NativeMenuItem("A", true);
editMenu.addItem(separatorA);

The label specified for the separator, if any, is not displayed.

More Help topics

Using the Flex AIR components

Developing cross-platform AIR applications