Discussion:
TMainMenu replacement
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Eric Schreiber
2004-01-19 00:46:23 UTC
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I've got kind of an oddball need for a specific program, and I suspect
I'm going to have to write a custom component from scratch - though
I'd be happy to find one already out there, if anyone has any
suggestions.

What I need is a menu component that I an control the 'pop-up'
direction for, and also the colors of the font, background, icon area,
and so on.

In terms of color and appearance control, the freeware XPMenu from
www.shagrouni.com/english/software/xpmenu.html is ideal. However, as
it makes use of the standard TMainMenu control, it doesn't allow for
my other need...

My application is a launcher utility, visually nothing more than a
menu bar that snaps to the top or bottom edge of the screen. When it's
snapped to the bottom, it may be sitting above the Windows taskbar. In
this location, when there are three or more items in a menu, the menu
pops up, above the menu bar, but if there are only one or two items,
it drops down below the bar.

Several of my users have asked for the menu to always pop up when
docked to the bottom edge of the desktop, and they're right - it
should.

I've been looking for awhile and found nothing that quite matches what
I need, so I'm thinking of writing my own. I'm lucky in that I only
need two levels of depth, not an open-ended arrangement like a
TMainMenu, so the logic will be simpler. But still, it's going to be
non-trivial.

I'd happily welcome any suggestions as to how to proceed, what base
class to start with, pitfalls I might encounter, or brands of beer to
make the effort less painful.

Thanks in advance.


--
www.kobayashi.com
www.ericschreiber.com
Uwe
2004-01-19 02:21:51 UTC
Permalink
Hi Eric

Did you consider using TActionMainMenuBar and TActionToolBar? Most of what
you are asking for could be done with these comps.

Just an idea.

Uwe

The Delphi Pool
http://www.lmc-mediaagentur.de/dpool.htm
Post by Eric Schreiber
What I need is a menu component that I an control the 'pop-up'
direction for, and also the colors of the font, background, icon area,
and so on.
Eric Schreiber
2004-01-19 03:18:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Uwe
Did you consider using TActionMainMenuBar and TActionToolBar? Most of what
you are asking for could be done with these comps.
Is it possible to force these components to always pop the menu in a
specific direction, regardless of the size of the menu vs. the space
available before the edge of the desktop? I wouldn't be at all
surprised if it's buried in there somewhere, but I haven't run across
that functionality before...


--
www.kobayashi.com
www.ericschreiber.com
Uwe
2004-01-20 05:13:37 UTC
Permalink
Eric

You can right-align the menu captions of a TActionMainMenuBar, but you
cannot influence the direction of the dropped-down menu itself, as far as I
know. I might be wrong because I've never tried, but it should be very easy
to set up a quick test. Changing the BiDiMode at runtime will result in the
occasional disappearing of the menu captions by the way. I came across this
glitch when I briefly experimented with the components.

Hope that helps
Uwe
Post by Eric Schreiber
Is it possible to force these components to always pop the menu in a
specific direction, regardless of the size of the menu vs. the space
available before the edge of the desktop? I wouldn't be at all
surprised if it's buried in there somewhere, but I haven't run across
that functionality before...
--
www.kobayashi.com
www.ericschreiber.com
Stephen Quinn
2004-01-19 06:51:24 UTC
Permalink
Eric

CoolMenus Pro - http://www.cooldev.com
You can pass in top/left (X/Y) co-ordinates to popup wherever you want

--
HTH
Steve
Eric Schreiber
2004-01-19 08:46:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stephen Quinn
CoolMenus Pro - http://www.cooldev.com
You can pass in top/left (X/Y) co-ordinates to popup wherever you want
Hmmm, looks promising. The price is certainly reasonable. I'll give
the demo version a try. Thanks!

--
www.kobayashi.com
www.ericschreiber.com
Eric Schreiber
2004-01-21 04:01:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by Eric Schreiber
Post by Stephen Quinn
CoolMenus Pro - http://www.cooldev.com
You can pass in top/left (X/Y) co-ordinates to popup wherever you want
Hmmm, looks promising. The price is certainly reasonable. I'll give
the demo version a try. Thanks!
No, not going to work out I'm afraid. I was having a lot of problems
with AV errors while trying out the demo version, so the 'first
impression' opportunity was lost. Overall, the kit struck me as a
strange way to go about supplying a replacement menu, though I'm sure
it has its uses.

Looks like I'm going to end up attempting to write my own, after all.


--
www.kobayashi.com
www.ericschreiber.com

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