How To Set Up a Quick Menu for an ActiveDoc App

MORE INFORMATION

Chapter 31 of the Microsoft Visual FoxPro "Programmer's Guide," version 6.0 is a good source for information on creating Active Document applications. The chapter contains an explanation of Menu Negotiation, terms used in Menu Negotiation, Help Menu Merging and enhancements to the DEFINE PAD command.

The steps below guide the developer in creating a Quick Menu that can be used in an Active Document application. This menu will have a custom menu pad and Colors, in addition to the menu pads provided by FoxPro with a Quick Menu. It also illustrates Help Menu Merging with the Fruits menu pad.

Steps to Create a Quick Menu

1. Create a new menu, not a shortcut. The code below can be typed in the Command window to accomplish this task. In the New Menu dialog box select menu. Here is the code:

   CREATE MENU ADTest
   					

2. From the System menu, point to the Menu pad, and then click Quick Menu.
3. Delete the View and Tools menu pads. This is not necessary, it just prevents the menu from getting too long in this example. The Program menu will be left in case Cancel, Resume or Suspend are needed.
4. Insert a new Menu pad between Edit and Program.
   
   NOTE: Select the Program prompt and point to the Insert button in the Menu Designer.
5. Name the new prompt \<Colors. The \< causes the C in Colors to be underlined. The result should be a submenu, which should be created now.
6. Create three submenu prompts for Colors and enter Red, Blue, and Green. The Result of each should be a Command. For the command, type in the following:

   WAIT WINDOW "Red"
   WAIT WINDOW "Blue"
   								

7. Go back to the main Menu bar. Add a new prompt on the end after the Help prompt. Name it Fr\<uits. The Result should be a submenu. Create the submenu just like the submenu for Colors. However, this time, use "Apples," "Bananas," and "Grapes" for the prompts. Make the Results WAIT WINDOW commands with the fruit names just as Color example in step six. Go back to the main Menu bar when finished.
8. Now the menu negotiation needs to be created. For the File prompt, select the Options button. In the top-right corner of the Prompt Options dialog box is a Negotiate section. For the purposes of this dialog box, remember the following:
   
   

   Container = When the menu is run in Visual FoxPro.
   Object = When the menu is run hosted in an Active Document Container, such as Internet Explorer.

   The File prompt should be set properly. Object is set to None because the File menu is Internet Explorer's when the Active Document application is hosted.
9. Check the other menu prompts:
   
   
   • The Edit prompt should have defaulted to None for Container and to Left for Object. Object is okay, however, you need to change Container to Left so that the FoxPro Edit menu is available if the Active Document is run when not hosted.
     
     
   • The Colors menu is not from the Quick Menu. First, add ALT+C as the shortcut keys. Make both the Container and Object Negotiate as Middle for Colors.
     
     
   • The Program prompt should have defaulted to Middle for Container and to Left for Object.
     
     
   • The Window prompt should have defaulted to Right for Container and to Left for Object.
     
     
   • The Help prompt will need to be changed. The prompt should be set to None for Container and to Right for Object. Change the Container to Right (so it shows up in FoxPro) and to None for Object. The Fruit menu will be merged with the Active Document host's Help menu. There can only be one menu set to Negotiate Right when the menu is hosted.
     
     
   • For the Fruits prompt, set the shortcut keys to ALT+U. Next, change the Negotiate options to Right for both the Container and Object.
10. Preview the menu to see how it looks in Visual FoxPro.
11. After previewing the menu, from the System menu, point to Menu and then click Generate to create the .mpr file.
12. Build the menu into an Active Document application, like the sample Active Document application that can be created using the Microsoft Knowledge Base article listed in the REFERENCES section below. Refer to step five in that article for information on the program code to include the menu in the application. Test the menu prompts when the Active Document application is hosted in Internet Explorer.
13. When the Active Document application with the menu is running hosted in Internet Explorer, notice what menus are there and which Application they come from. The following list should be what is observed:

          File menu:     Internet Explorer
          Edit menu:     Visual FoxPro
          Program menu:  Visual FoxPro
          Window menu:   Visual FoxPro
          Colors:        From the sample menu
          Go:            Internet Explorer
          Favorites:     Internet Explorer
          Help:          Internet Explorer
    						

14. Look at the bottom of the Help menu. There should be a prompt there with a submenu. The text of the prompt should be ActiveDoc1 Help. This text can be created by setting the Caption property of the ActiveDoc class that is the main program in the project. If the sample Active Document application from the Microsoft Knowledge Base article is being used, open the project, edit the ADTest class and change the caption property (use Fruit as a test). Rebuild the application and run it hosted. The menu prompt should now show Fruit Help, assuming Fruit is the new caption.

For more information on Active Documents and Menu Negotiation, follow the instructions below to get into the Active Documents section of the Visual FoxPro "Programmer's Guide."

Steps to Active Documents Topic

1. In the MSDN Library for Visual Studio 6.0, open the Visual FoxPro Documentation book, and go to the What's New in Visual FoxPro page. The Active Documents topic from the "Programmer's Guide" should be the second item listed.
2. Click Active Documents to go to the Active Documents section of Chapter 31, "Interoperability and the Internet"