Packageflash.display
Classpublic class NativeMenu
InheritanceNativeMenu Inheritance EventDispatcher Inheritance Object
SubclassesContextMenu

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

The NativeMenu class contains methods and properties for defining native menus.

AIR profile support: This feature is supported on all desktop operating systems, but is not supported on mobile devices or AIR for TV devices. You can test for support at run time using the NativeMenu.isSupported property. See AIR Profile Support for more information regarding API support across multiple profiles.

A native menu is a menu that is controlled and drawn by the operating system rather than by your application. AIR supports the following types of native menus:

A menu object contains menu items. A menu item can represent a command, a submenu, or a separator line. Add menu items to a menu using the addItem() or addItemAt() method. The display order of the menu items matches the order of the items in the menu's items array.

To create a submenu, add a menu item to the parent menu object. Assign the menu object representing the submenu to the submenu property of the matching menu item in the parent menu.

Note: The root menu of window and application menus must contain only submenu items; items that do not represent submenus may not be displayed and are contrary to user expectation for these types of menus.

Menus dispatch select events when a command item in the menu or one of its submenus is selected. (Submenu and separator items are not selectable.) The target property of the event object references the selected item.

Menus dispatch preparing events just before the menu is displayed and when a key equivalent attached to one of the items in the menu is pressed. You can use this event to update the contents of the menu based on the current state of the application.

Note: If you are using the Flex Framework, consider using the FlexNativeMenu class. It is typically easier to define menus declaratively in MXML than it is to write ActionScript code to create the menu structure item-by-item.

Note: The AIR SDK includes the MenuBuilder framework (AIRMenuBuilder.js)for defining menus using XML or JSON notation. It is typically easier to define menus declaratively than it is to write JavaScript code to create the menu structure item-by-item.

See also

flash.display.InteractiveObject.contextMenu
flash.display.NativeMenuItem
flash.display.NativeWindow.menu
flash.desktop.DockIcon
flash.desktop.SystemTrayIcon
flash.desktop.NativeApplication.menu
flash.desktop.NativeApplication.icon
mx.controls.FlexNativeMenu


Public Properties
 PropertyDefined by
 Inheritedconstructor : Object
A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.
Object
  isSupported : Boolean
[static][read-only] Indicates whether any form of native menu is supported on the client system.
NativeMenu
  items : Array
The array of NativeMenuItem objects in this menu.
NativeMenu
  numItems : int
[read-only] The number of NativeMenuItem objects in this menu.
NativeMenu
  parent : NativeMenu
[read-only] The parent menu.
NativeMenu
 Inheritedprototype : Object
[static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.
Object
Public Methods
 MethodDefined by
  
Creates a new NativeMenu object.
NativeMenu
 Inherited
addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false, priority:int = 0, useWeakReference:Boolean = false):void
Registers an event listener object with an EventDispatcher object so that the listener receives notification of an event.
EventDispatcher
  
Adds a menu item at the bottom of the menu.
NativeMenu
  
Inserts a menu item at the specified position.
NativeMenu
  
Adds a submenu to the menu by inserting a new menu item.
NativeMenu
  
Adds a submenu to the menu by inserting a new menu item at the specified position.
NativeMenu
  
Creates a copy of the menu and all items.
NativeMenu
  
Reports whether this menu contains the specified menu item.
NativeMenu
 Inherited
Dispatches an event into the event flow.
EventDispatcher
  
display(stage:Stage, stageX:Number, stageY:Number):void
Pops up this menu at the specified location.
NativeMenu
  
Gets the menu item at the specified index.
NativeMenu
  
Gets the menu item with the specified name.
NativeMenu
  
Gets the position of the specified item.
NativeMenu
 Inherited
Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event.
EventDispatcher
 Inherited
Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.
Object
  
Removes all items from the menu.
NativeMenu
 Inherited
removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false):void
Removes a listener from the EventDispatcher object.
EventDispatcher
  
Removes the specified menu item.
NativeMenu
  
Removes and returns the menu item at the specified index.
NativeMenu
  
Moves a menu item to the specified position.
NativeMenu
 Inherited
Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the primitive value of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Checks whether an event listener is registered with this EventDispatcher object or any of its ancestors for the specified event type.
EventDispatcher
Events
 EventSummaryDefined by
 Inherited [broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application gains operating system focus and becomes active.EventDispatcher
 Inherited [broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application operating loses system focus and is becoming inactive.EventDispatcher
   Dispatched by this NativeMenu object immediately before the menu is displayed.NativeMenu
   Dispatched by the NativeMenu object when a key equivalent is pressed and immediately before the menu is displayed.NativeMenu
   Dispatched by this NativeMenu object when one of its menu items or an item in one of its descendant submenus is selected.NativeMenu
Property detail
isSupportedproperty
isSupported:Boolean  [read-only]

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 2.0

Indicates whether any form of native menu is supported on the client system.

Implementation
    public static function get isSupported():Boolean

See also

itemsproperty 
items:Array  [read-write]

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

The array of NativeMenuItem objects in this menu.

The array is sorted in display order.

Note: This property is read-only in AIR 1.0. It became read/write in AIR 1.1.

Implementation
    public function get items():Array
    public function set items(value:Array):void
numItemsproperty 
numItems:int  [read-only]

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

The number of NativeMenuItem objects in this menu.

Implementation
    public function get numItems():int
parentproperty 
parent:NativeMenu  [read-only]

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

The parent menu.

The parent of the root (top-level) menu object is null.

Implementation
    public function get parent():NativeMenu
Constructor detail
NativeMenu()constructor
public function NativeMenu()

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Creates a new NativeMenu object.

Method detail
addItem()method
public function addItem(item:NativeMenuItem):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Adds a menu item at the bottom of the menu.

When creating a context menu, you can add either NativeMenuItem or ContextMenuItem objects. However, it is advisable to use only one type of object in a context menu so that all items in the menu have the same properties.

Note: Adding an item to a menu can cause an application to hang if the item's submenu is set to the menu itself (causing a circular reference).

Parameters
item:NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object to add at the bottom of the menu.

Returns
NativeMenuItem

Throws
ArgumentError — If item is null.
 
ArgumentError — If item is a member of another menu.
addItemAt()method 
public function addItemAt(item:NativeMenuItem, index:int):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Inserts a menu item at the specified position. The position is indexed from the top. Set the index parameter to zero to insert the item at the top of the menu. All types of menus: window, application, system tray icon, dock icon, context, and pop-up, index the menu position from the top.

Parameters
item:NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object to insert.
 
index:int — The (zero-based) position in menu at which to insert the menu item.

Note: Adding an item to a menu can cause an application to hang if the item's submenu is set to the menu itself (causing a circular reference).

Returns
NativeMenuItem

Throws
ArgumentError — If item is null.
 
ArgumentError — If item is a member of another menu.
 
RangeError — If the index is outside the bounds of the menu's items array.
addSubmenu()method 
public function addSubmenu(submenu:NativeMenu, label:String):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Adds a submenu to the menu by inserting a new menu item.

Calling the addSubMenu() method is equivalent to creating a new menu item, adding it to the menu, and assigning a NativeMenu object to the item's submenu property.

Note: Adding a menu as a submenu of itself (in a circular reference) can cause an application to hang.

Parameters
submenu:NativeMenu — The NativeMenu object that defines the submenu to be added.
 
label:String — The display label for the menu item to be added.

Returns
NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object created for the submenu.
addSubmenuAt()method 
public function addSubmenuAt(submenu:NativeMenu, index:int, label:String):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Adds a submenu to the menu by inserting a new menu item at the specified position.

Calling the addSubMenuAt() method is equivalent to creating a new menu item, inserting it at the desired position in the menu, and assigning a NativeMenu object to the item's submenu property.

Note: Adding a menu as a submenu of itself (in a circular reference) can cause an application to hang.

Parameters
submenu:NativeMenu — The NativeMenu object that defines the submenu to be added.
 
index:int — The position in the items array of this menu at which to insert the menu item to be added.
 
label:String — The display label for the menu item to be added.

Returns
NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object created for the submenu.
clone()method 
public function clone():NativeMenu

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Creates a copy of the menu and all items.

Returns
NativeMenu
containsItem()method 
public function containsItem(item:NativeMenuItem):Boolean

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Reports whether this menu contains the specified menu item.

Parameters
item:NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object to look up.

Returns
Booleantrue if item is in this menu.
display()method 
public function display(stage:Stage, stageX:Number, stageY:Number):void

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Pops up this menu at the specified location.

Parameters
stage:Stage — The Stage object on which to display this menu.
 
stageX:Number — The number of horizontal pixels, relative to the origin of stage, at which to display this menu.
 
stageY:Number — The number of vertical pixels, relative to the origin of stage, at which to display this menu.
getItemAt()method 
public function getItemAt(index:int):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Gets the menu item at the specified index.

Parameters
index:int — The (zero-based) position of the item to return.

Returns
NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object at the specified position in the menu.

Throws
RangeError — If index is outside the bounds of the menu's items array.
getItemByName()method 
public function getItemByName(name:String):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Gets the menu item with the specified name.

Note: The name property of menu items is not assigned by default.

Parameters
name:String — The string to look up.

Returns
NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object with the specified name or null, if no such item exists in the menu.
getItemIndex()method 
public function getItemIndex(item:NativeMenuItem):int

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Gets the position of the specified item.

Parameters
item:NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object to look up.

Returns
int — The (zero-based) position of the specified item in this menu or -1, if the item is not in this menu.
removeAllItems()method 
public function removeAllItems():void

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Removes all items from the menu.

removeItem()method 
public function removeItem(item:NativeMenuItem):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Removes the specified menu item.

Parameters
item:NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object to remove from this menu.

Returns
NativeMenuItem

Throws
RangeError — If the item is not in this menu
removeItemAt()method 
public function removeItemAt(index:int):NativeMenuItem

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Removes and returns the menu item at the specified index.

Parameters
index:int — The (zero-based) position of the item to remove.

Returns
NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object removed.

Throws
RangeError — If index is outside the bounds of this menu's items array.
setItemIndex()method 
public function setItemIndex(item:NativeMenuItem, index:int):void

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Moves a menu item to the specified position. If the item is not already in the menu, calling this method adds the item to the menu.

Parameters
item:NativeMenuItem — The NativeMenuItem object to move.
 
index:int — The (zero-based) position in the menu to which to move the item.

Throws
RangeError — If index is outside the bounds of the menu's items array.
Event detail
displayingevent 
Event object type: flash.events.Event
Event.type property = flash.events.Event.DISPLAYING

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Dispatched by this NativeMenu object immediately before the menu is displayed.

Listen to this event to update the menu before it is displayed. A displaying event is also dispatched by the items in a menu.

The preparing event supersedes the displaying event and provides additional functionality. Listen for the preparing event or the displaying event, but not both.

Note: On Mac OS X, prior to AIR 2.6, menus and menu items dispatched a displaying event when the user pressed a key equivalent. (This event was not dispatched for key equivalent interaction on other operating systems.) As of AIR 2.6, displaying events are no longer dispatched when the user presses a key equivalent. Use the preparing event instead.

The Event.DISPLAYING constant defines the value of the type property of a displaying event object.

Note: This event does not go through a "capture phase" and is dispatched directly to the target, whether the target is on the display list or not.

This event has the following properties:

PropertyValue
bubblesfalse
cancelablefalse
currentTargetThe object that is actively processing the Event object with an event listener.
targetThe object that is about to be displayed.
preparingevent  
Event object type: flash.events.Event
Event.type property = flash.events.Event.PREPARING

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 2.6

Dispatched by the NativeMenu object when a key equivalent is pressed and immediately before the menu is displayed.

Listen to this event to update the menu either before it is displayed, or when a key equivalent is pressed by the user. The preparing event is dispatched before the key equivalent is fully evaluated. You can enable, disable, add, or remove items from the menu in the preparing event handler and those changes will be in effect when the key equivalent is processed. For example, if you remove or disable the menu item assigned to the triggering key equivalent, then the sequence of events is effectively canceled and no select event is dispatched. A preparing event is also dispatched by the items in a menu.

The preparing event supersedes the displaying event and provides additional functionality. Listen for the preparing event or the displaying event, but not both.

selectevent  
Event object type: flash.events.Event
Event.type property = flash.events.Event.SELECT

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 1.0

Dispatched by this NativeMenu object when one of its menu items or an item in one of its descendant submenus is selected.

A select event bubbles from a menu item to its containing menu and on up through the parent menu chain to the root menu object. The target property of the event object references the selected NativeMenuItem object; the currentTarget property references this NativeMenu object.

The Event.SELECT constant defines the value of the type property of a select event object.

This event has the following properties:

PropertyValue
bubblesfalse
cancelablefalse; there is no default behavior to cancel.
currentTargetThe object that is actively processing the Event object with an event listener.
targetThe object on which an item has been selected.