Overview

Menus and timers are both children of windows used to perform specialized tasks. A menu consists of a list of choices and may appear much like a gadget in the choice category, but distinct differences exist in how their items are characterized. Menu choices can be characterized individually whereas gadget choices have a distinct dependency on the parent element. The list of attributes available to describe the characteristics of menu choices, and their appearance in menus, is more extensive than those available to gadget choices.

One of the major differences between menus and gadgets is in the area of event processing. Each menu choice can have its own event node so callbacks may be directed to the individual choice. In contrast, a callback for a gadget's selection would be directed to the element's event node where processing follows the same path regardless of choice. Another major difference is the ability to link menu choices into a hierarchy of options. The selection of one menu choice can cause another menu to display with another selection that causes yet another menu to appear building a hierarchical structure of choices. You have more flexibility in the way choices appear in menus than you do with gadgets in the choice category.

The Creation and Modification section explains how menus and timers are created and how their characteristics are modified. The attributes specified for both menus and timers are discussed in the Menu and Timer Attributes section. The attributes available for describing characteristics of menu...