# menu The `Menu` class is used to create native menus that can be used as application menus and context menus. Each menu consists of multiple menu items, and each menu item can have a submenu. Below is an example of creating a menu dynamically in a web page by using the [remote](remote.md) module, and showing it when the user right clicks the page: ```html ``` Another example of creating the application menu with the simple template API: **Note to Window and Linux users** the `selector` member of each menu item is a Mac-only [Accelerator option](https://github.com/atom/electron/blob/master/docs/api/accelerator.md). ```html ``` ## Class: Menu ### new Menu() Creates a new menu. ### Class Method: Menu.setApplicationMenu(menu) * `menu` Menu Sets `menu` as the application menu on OS X. On Windows and Linux, the `menu` will be set as each window's top menu. ### Class Method: Menu.sendActionToFirstResponder(action) * `action` String Sends the `action` to the first responder of application, this is used for emulating default Cocoa menu behaviors, usually you would just use the `selector` property of `MenuItem`. **Note:** This method is OS X only. ### Class Method: Menu.buildFromTemplate(template) * `template` Array Generally, the `template` is just an array of `options` for constructing [MenuItem](menu-item.md), the usage can be referenced above. You can also attach other fields to element of the `template`, and they will become properties of the constructed menu items. ### Menu.popup(browserWindow, [x, y]) * `browserWindow` BrowserWindow * `x` Number * `y` Number Popups this menu as a context menu in the `browserWindow`. You can optionally provide a `(x,y)` coordinate to place the menu at, otherwise it will be placed at the current mouse cursor position. ### Menu.append(menuItem) * `menuItem` MenuItem Appends the `menuItem` to the menu. ### Menu.insert(pos, menuItem) * `pos` Integer * `menuItem` MenuItem Inserts the `menuItem` to the `pos` position of the menu. ### Menu.items Get the array containing the menu's items. ## Notes on OS X application menu OS X has a completely different style of application menu from Windows and Linux, and here are some notes on making your app's menu more native-like. ### Standard menus On OS X there are many system defined standard menus, like the `Services` and `Windows` menus. To make your menu a standard menu, you can just set your menu's label to one of followings, and Electron will recognize them and make them become standard menus: * `Window` * `Help` * `Services` ### Standard menu item actions OS X has provided standard actions for some menu items (which are called `selector`s), like `About xxx`, `Hide xxx`, and `Hide Others`. To set the action of a menu item to a standard action, you can set the `selector` attribute of the menu item. ### Main menu's name On OS X the label of application menu's first item is always your app's name, no matter what label you set. To change it you have to change your app's name by modifying your app bundle's `Info.plist` file. See [About Information Property List Files](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/general/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/AboutInformationPropertyListFiles.html) for more. ## Menu item position You can make use of `position` and `id` to control how the item would be placed when building a menu with `Menu.buildFromTemplate`. The `position` attribute of `MenuItem` has the form `[placement]=[id]` where placement is one of `before`, `after`, or `endof` and `id` is the unique ID of an existing item in the menu: * `before` - Inserts this item before the id referenced item. If the referenced item doesn't exist the item will be inserted at the end of the menu. * `after` - Inserts this item after id referenced item. If the referenced item doesn't exist the item will be inserted at the end of the menu. * `endof` - Inserts this item at the end of the logical group containing the id referenced item. (Groups are created by separator items). If the referenced item doesn't exist a new separator group is created with the given id and this item is inserted after that separator. When an item is positioned following unpositioned items are inserted after it, until a new item is positioned. So if you want to position a group of menu items in the same location you only need to specify a position for the first item. ### Examples Template: ```javascript [ {label: '4', id: '4'}, {label: '5', id: '5'}, {label: '1', id: '1', position: 'before=4'}, {label: '2', id: '2'}, {label: '3', id: '3'} ] ``` Menu: ``` - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 ``` Template: ```javascript [ {label: 'a', position: 'endof=letters'}, {label: '1', position: 'endof=numbers'}, {label: 'b', position: 'endof=letters'}, {label: '2', position: 'endof=numbers'}, {label: 'c', position: 'endof=letters'}, {label: '3', position: 'endof=numbers'} ] ``` Menu: ``` - --- - a - b - c - --- - 1 - 2 - 3 ```