MenuItem properties in Console UI

None of the properties is required; you can determine the user's selection by setting any of the three following properties: accelerators, labelText, or labelKey.

The following common properties are available for menu items; run time accessibility varies:

Table 1. Properties that apply to menu item variables
Property Description
help Specifies the help text that is displayed when the user selects the menu item and presses the key identified in consoleLib.key_help. Can be changed at run time.
labelKey The name of a field containing a key for searching the resource bundle that contains the label for the menu item. Cannot be changed at run time.
labelText STRING literal identifying a label for a menu item. Cannot be changed at run time.
The following properties are unique to menu items or have special meaning in this context:
accelerators
Indicates keystrokes with an openUI statement that are equivalent to the user's selection of the menu item. Each of those keystrokes causes EGL to run the OnEvent clause that corresponds to the menu item selection.
  • Type: String[]
  • Example: accelerators = ["F1", "ALT_F1"]
  • Default: none
  • Updatable at run time? No
comment
Specifies text displayed in the comment line specific to the menu item when the menu item is selected.
  • Type: String
  • Example: "Delete the record"
  • Default: Empty string
  • Updatable at run time? Yes

The comment line is located immediately below the menu line.

commentKey
Specifies a key used to search the resource bundle that includes the text displayed in the menu item-specific comment line (if any) when the menu item is selected. If you specify both comment and commentKey, comment is used.
  • Type: String
  • Example: commentKey = "myKey"
  • Default: Empty string
  • Updatable at run time? Yes

The resource bundle is identified by the consoleLib.messageResource system variable; see messageResource (EGL system variable).

labelText
The label that represents the menu item.
  • Type: String literal
  • Example: labelText = "Delete".
  • Default: none.
  • Updatable at run time? No
labelKey
Specifies a key for searching the resource bundle that contains the menu item label. If you specify both labelText and labelKey, labelText is used.
  • Type: String
  • Example: labelKey = "myKey"
  • Default: Empty string
  • Updatable at run time? No

The resource bundle is identified by the consoleLib.messageResource system variable, as described in "messageResource (EGL system variable)."

name
A name for the menu item that is resolved at run time. In particular, the name is used in the openUI statement that responds to the menu item selection.

If you use the name property, give it the same value as the name of the variable.

  • Type: String
  • Example: name = "myItem"
  • Default: none
  • Updatable at run time? No

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