Java™ Platform
Standard Ed. 6

java.awt
Class Menu

java.lang.Object
  extended by java.awt.MenuComponent
      extended by java.awt.MenuItem
          extended by java.awt.Menu
All Implemented Interfaces:
MenuContainer, Serializable, Accessible
Direct Known Subclasses:
PopupMenu

public class Menu
extends MenuItem
implements MenuContainer, Accessible

A Menu object is a pull-down menu component that is deployed from a menu bar.

A menu can optionally be a tear-off menu. A tear-off menu can be opened and dragged away from its parent menu bar or menu. It remains on the screen after the mouse button has been released. The mechanism for tearing off a menu is platform dependent, since the look and feel of the tear-off menu is determined by its peer. On platforms that do not support tear-off menus, the tear-off property is ignored.

Each item in a menu must belong to the MenuItem class. It can be an instance of MenuItem, a submenu (an instance of Menu), or a check box (an instance of CheckboxMenuItem).

Since:
JDK1.0
See Also:
MenuItem, CheckboxMenuItem, Serialized Form

Nested Class Summary
protected  class Menu.AccessibleAWTMenu
          Inner class of Menu used to provide default support for accessibility.
 
Nested classes/interfaces inherited from class java.awt.MenuItem
MenuItem.AccessibleAWTMenuItem
 
Nested classes/interfaces inherited from class java.awt.MenuComponent
MenuComponent.AccessibleAWTMenuComponent
 
Constructor Summary
Menu()
          Constructs a new menu with an empty label.
Menu(String label)
          Constructs a new menu with the specified label.
Menu(String label, boolean tearOff)
          Constructs a new menu with the specified label, indicating whether the menu can be torn off.
 
Method Summary
 MenuItem add(MenuItem mi)
          Adds the specified menu item to this menu.
 void add(String label)
          Adds an item with the specified label to this menu.
 void addNotify()
          Creates the menu's peer.
 void addSeparator()
          Adds a separator line, or a hypen, to the menu at the current position.
 int countItems()
          Deprecated. As of JDK version 1.1, replaced by getItemCount().
 AccessibleContext getAccessibleContext()
          Gets the AccessibleContext associated with this Menu.
 MenuItem getItem(int index)
          Gets the item located at the specified index of this menu.
 int getItemCount()
          Get the number of items in this menu.
 void insert(MenuItem menuitem, int index)
          Inserts a menu item into this menu at the specified position.
 void insert(String label, int index)
          Inserts a menu item with the specified label into this menu at the specified position.
 void insertSeparator(int index)
          Inserts a separator at the specified position.
 boolean isTearOff()
          Indicates whether this menu is a tear-off menu.
 String paramString()
          Returns a string representing the state of this Menu.
 void remove(int index)
          Removes the menu item at the specified index from this menu.
 void remove(MenuComponent item)
          Removes the specified menu item from this menu.
 void removeAll()
          Removes all items from this menu.
 void removeNotify()
          Removes the menu's peer.
 
Methods inherited from class java.awt.MenuItem
addActionListener, deleteShortcut, disable, disableEvents, enable, enable, enableEvents, getActionCommand, getActionListeners, getLabel, getListeners, getShortcut, isEnabled, processActionEvent, processEvent, removeActionListener, setActionCommand, setEnabled, setLabel, setShortcut
 
Methods inherited from class java.awt.MenuComponent
dispatchEvent, getFont, getName, getParent, getPeer, getTreeLock, postEvent, setFont, setName, toString
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
 
Methods inherited from interface java.awt.MenuContainer
getFont, postEvent
 

Constructor Detail

Menu

public Menu()
     throws HeadlessException
Constructs a new menu with an empty label. This menu is not a tear-off menu.

Throws:
HeadlessException - if GraphicsEnvironment.isHeadless() returns true.
Since:
JDK1.1
See Also:
GraphicsEnvironment.isHeadless()

Menu

public Menu(String label)
     throws HeadlessException
Constructs a new menu with the specified label. This menu is not a tear-off menu.

Parameters:
label - the menu's label in the menu bar, or in another menu of which this menu is a submenu.
Throws:
HeadlessException - if GraphicsEnvironment.isHeadless() returns true.
See Also:
GraphicsEnvironment.isHeadless()

Menu

public Menu(String label,
            boolean tearOff)
     throws HeadlessException
Constructs a new menu with the specified label, indicating whether the menu can be torn off.

Tear-off functionality may not be supported by all implementations of AWT. If a particular implementation doesn't support tear-off menus, this value is silently ignored.

Parameters:
label - the menu's label in the menu bar, or in another menu of which this menu is a submenu.
tearOff - if true, the menu is a tear-off menu.
Throws:
HeadlessException - if GraphicsEnvironment.isHeadless() returns true.
Since:
JDK1.0.
See Also:
GraphicsEnvironment.isHeadless()
Method Detail

addNotify

public void addNotify()
Creates the menu's peer. The peer allows us to modify the appearance of the menu without changing its functionality.

Overrides:
addNotify in class MenuItem

removeNotify

public void removeNotify()
Removes the menu's peer. The peer allows us to modify the appearance of the menu without changing its functionality.

Overrides:
removeNotify in class MenuComponent

isTearOff

public boolean isTearOff()
Indicates whether this menu is a tear-off menu.

Tear-off functionality may not be supported by all implementations of AWT. If a particular implementation doesn't support tear-off menus, this value is silently ignored.

Returns:
true if this is a tear-off menu; false otherwise.

getItemCount

public int getItemCount()
Get the number of items in this menu.

Returns:
the number of items in this menu.
Since:
JDK1.1

countItems

@Deprecated
public int countItems()
Deprecated. As of JDK version 1.1, replaced by getItemCount().


getItem

public MenuItem getItem(int index)
Gets the item located at the specified index of this menu.

Parameters:
index - the position of the item to be returned.
Returns:
the item located at the specified index.

add

public MenuItem add(MenuItem mi)
Adds the specified menu item to this menu. If the menu item has been part of another menu, removes it from that menu.

Parameters:
mi - the menu item to be added
Returns:
the menu item added
See Also:
insert(java.lang.String, int), insert(java.awt.MenuItem, int)

add

public void add(String label)
Adds an item with the specified label to this menu.

Parameters:
label - the text on the item
See Also:
insert(java.lang.String, int), insert(java.awt.MenuItem, int)

insert

public void insert(MenuItem menuitem,
                   int index)
Inserts a menu item into this menu at the specified position.

Parameters:
menuitem - the menu item to be inserted.
index - the position at which the menu item should be inserted.
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if the value of index is less than zero
Since:
JDK1.1
See Also:
add(java.lang.String), add(java.awt.MenuItem)

insert

public void insert(String label,
                   int index)
Inserts a menu item with the specified label into this menu at the specified position. This is a convenience method for insert(menuItem, index).

Parameters:
label - the text on the item
index - the position at which the menu item should be inserted
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if the value of index is less than zero
Since:
JDK1.1
See Also:
add(java.lang.String), add(java.awt.MenuItem)

addSeparator

public void addSeparator()
Adds a separator line, or a hypen, to the menu at the current position.

See Also:
insertSeparator(int)

insertSeparator

public void insertSeparator(int index)
Inserts a separator at the specified position.

Parameters:
index - the position at which the menu separator should be inserted.
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if the value of index is less than 0.
Since:
JDK1.1
See Also:
addSeparator()

remove

public void remove(int index)
Removes the menu item at the specified index from this menu.

Parameters:
index - the position of the item to be removed.

remove

public void remove(MenuComponent item)
Removes the specified menu item from this menu.

Specified by:
remove in interface MenuContainer
Parameters:
item - the item to be removed from the menu. If item is null or is not in this menu, this method does nothing.

removeAll

public void removeAll()
Removes all items from this menu.

Since:
JDK1.0.

paramString

public String paramString()
Returns a string representing the state of this Menu. This method is intended to be used only for debugging purposes, and the content and format of the returned string may vary between implementations. The returned string may be empty but may not be null.

Overrides:
paramString in class MenuItem
Returns:
the parameter string of this menu

getAccessibleContext

public AccessibleContext getAccessibleContext()
Gets the AccessibleContext associated with this Menu. For menus, the AccessibleContext takes the form of an AccessibleAWTMenu. A new AccessibleAWTMenu instance is created if necessary.

Specified by:
getAccessibleContext in interface Accessible
Overrides:
getAccessibleContext in class MenuItem
Returns:
an AccessibleAWTMenu that serves as the AccessibleContext of this Menu
Since:
1.3

Java™ Platform
Standard Ed. 6

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

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