Having fits with the menu bar

[James Hurley]

Jacque,

Of course you are right. I don't know what I was thinking. I just didn't realize what was going on. I'm so used to having my own way Run Rev code.

I am a firm believer in the Mac UIG. And guidelines in general. I will be the first to admit that I support the guidelines about driving on the right side of the road. 

The only one I will have some difficulty with is the Preference item. In the app I am working on there is no clear need for user preferences. Maybe I will add something like this: A couple of radio buttons with the choice:

O -- I would prefer to lose 5 pound.

O -- I would prefer to lose 10 pounds.

Or maybe something about "Less filling" "Better tasting"

I suppose someone has written the script for the Edit menu (Cut, Copy, Paste), something beyond the Auto Script. (I'm too proud to come right out and ask for it.)

Thanks again,

Jim Hurley



> 
> Message: 9
> Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:43:56 -0600
> From: "J. Landman Gay" <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
> To: How to use LiveCode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
> Subject: Re: Having fits with the menu bar
> Message-ID: <4D7BCCFC.6000402 at hyperactivesw.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> On 3/12/11 12:25 PM, James Hurley wrote:
>> 
>> But there are still some issues. In the OSX menu I now see 4 menus
>> only 3 of which are of my doing. They are:
>> 
>> LiveCode File Edit Help
> 
> Those are standard OS X conventions. The first menu item is supplied by 
> the OS and is always the name of the frontmost app. Even if you have no 
> menubar at all, you will have that menu item, as the OS needs it to 
> provide the Quit item -- which is always in the app menu. You don't need 
> to do anything about it; when you build a standalone, "Livecode" will 
> change to the name of your standalone. The menu is created by the OS, 
> not by LiveCode, and can't be removed.
> 
>> 
>> Under the LiveCode menu I now have Preferences and About, among other
>> things. I had no Preferences item in my menu group. I did have an
>> About item and it has been moved to this LiveCode menu. As has the
>> Quit item that I had under the File menu.
> 
> Standard behavior. A preferences item under the app menu is put there by 
> the OS. There are funky ways to disable it, but its presence is standard 
> and expected by all Mac users. Your Edit menu should always have 
> Preferences as its last item entry, which LiveCode will move to the 
> appropriate place on OS X, under the app menu. The About item also goes 
> there, is always the first item under the app menu, and is standard 
> layout for OS X. I don't think you can actually remove that one either.
> 
>> 
>> And I now find a "Search" window item under the "Help" menu. Where
>> did that come from?
> 
> That is Spotlight, a system service, put there by the OS and not 
> removable. It is under the Help menu in every app, system-wide.
> 
>> 
>> So.... Is there a way to get rid of the "LiveCode" menu and put those
>> items Quit and About) back where I had placed them?
> 
> No, and you shouldn't, because they are in the places they are supposed 
> to be for OS X. Moving them will confuse your Mac users, your app will 
> be non-standard and (knowing most Mac people) distained for flying in 
> the face of the HIG. The beauty of LiveCode is that it manages all this 
> menu placement for you. Your items will be where you put them on Windows 
> and Linux, which have different menu expectations, and transparently 
> moved to the required locations on OS X.
> 
> Since you're on a Mac, look at the menu bars in every app on the 
> machine, including the Finder, and you will see that all menu items and 
> placement always follow these conventions. On Mac, apps are required to 
> have an application menu (placed there by the OS) which is always 
> partially populated by OS services and features, and contains the Quit 
> menu item. After that you must have a File menu, followed by an Edit 
> menu, in that order. After that you can have any app-specific menus you 
> need. The last menu item must be Help, which the system also partially 
> populates.
> 
>> 
>> But I am grateful now just to be making progress. I assume that
>> RunRev was trying to be helpful in creating the menu for the
>> standalone, but their plans were not quite my plans.
> 
> Mac users went to some lengths to get MetaCard to provide this default 
> behavior way back when OS X first came out. The menus conventions are 
> strictly enforced by the OS, and they behave correctly in LiveCode. Go 
> with the flow, Mac users will appreciate it.
> 
> -- 
> Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
> HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com
>