Pop-up Menus

This is the menu style used throughout DP4 for displaying menus. The options appear as a list in a pop-up window that overlays what is on the screen.

To set up a pop-up menu:

1. Add a procedure with a procedure body of type Menu/switch specified in the Procedure Overview

2. Using the Screen design dialog:

   1. Use the Map Editor to create a map to display the menu. The details will depend on whether you are using 4.5xx or 4.6xx:

      • In 4.5xx enter a title for the menu (if desired), and then add the text for the options. Then add one field for each menu option, positioned over the text for the option, and numbered appropriately - field 1 for the first option, field 2 for the second and so on.

        Typically the options are arranged in a vertical line, with a blank line between each if there are not too many options, and the fields are all made the same width, beginning one character position before the option text and ending one character position after the widest option. You can use the mnemonic editor within the field editor to assign a mnemonic for each option. We recommend that arrange the text and fields so that the fields begin in column 2 and the option text begins in column 3. Use the map properties dialog to draw a box around the menu and set the rows and columns an dwhen saving the map ensure that at least one space is left after the end of the fields

      • In 4.6xx create a text control for each menu option, and give each text control an associated field number, using field number 1 for the first option, field 2 for the second and so on. You can assign a mnemonic for a menu option by prefixing the appropriate character with a &.

        If desired you can also use icons, buttons or bitmaps to select options from the menu. These should be numbered in the same way as text options: if you like you can use the same field number in both an icon or bitmap and a text option, to give the user two ways to select the option.

        Before saving the map, remember to use the Map Properties dialog to give a title to the menu if desired, and, more importantly, to set the rows and columns (typically you set the columns to 1, and the rows to the number of the highest option).

   2. Select the Pop up window or Attach to another map output method to display the menu, to prevent maps already displayed from scrolling up to make room for the menu.

   3. Enable the clear before subsidiaries option to clear the menu once the user has selected an option.

3. Return to the Program Flow diagram and add the subsidiary procedures as described in Inserting Procedures. Usually you will need one subsidiary per option. The option numbers you use in the dialog must be the same as the ones used in the map for the menu.