How To Replace a Text Field Value from a Shortcut Menu

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The shortcut menu available in Visual FoxPro 5.0 provides a useful method to display choices to a user. Once the user makes a choice from the shortcut menu, the code places the text string from the menu bar into the text field. Because the shortcut menu disappears after a selection, this technique presents the user with choices while saving room on the form for other objects. This technique is useful if you simply want to present a user with choices and do not need all the functionality of a list or combo box object.

The steps listed below illustrate how to create a shortcut menu that appears when the user right-clicks a text box object:

1. Create a shortcut menu with the Menu Builder.
2. Add a menu bar to this menu with the prompt titled "One" (without the quotation marks).
3. Change the Result to Command and add the following code:

         _Screen.ActiveForm.Text1.Value=PRMBAR(POPUP(),BAR())
   						

4. Add another menu bar to the menu with the prompt "Two," change the Result to Command, and add the same code listed in step 3.
5. Generate the menu and name it "Testmenu."
6. Create a form called Test.scx with the CREATE FORM command and add a text box to it.
7. In the RightClick event of the text box, place the following code:

         Do Testmenu.mpr
   						

8. Execute the form with the DO command, position the cursor over the text box, and click the right mouse button. When the menu appears, select the bar titled "One." The text box now contains the string value of the shortcut menu bar.

A DEFINE POPUP command actually creates the shortcut menu; therefore, several Visual FoxPro functions return information useful to programmers. For example, the PRMBAR() function returns the text string of the menu bar.

The syntax of the PRMBAR() function in step 3 needs some clarification. The PRMBAR() function requires the menu name as its first argument. The POPUP() function returns the name of the currently active menu. The BAR() function returns an integer representing the chosen menu bar item.

"Shortcut" is the default name the Menu Builder assigns to the DEFINE POPUP command. If you need to change the name of the menu, simply choose Menu Options from the View menu in the Menu Builder. After you change the name of the menu and generate the menu code, the POPUP() function automatically resolves the new name.