# Menu The `menu` class is used to create native menus that can be used as application menus and [context menus](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/XUL/PopupGuide/ContextMenus). This module is a main process module which can be used in a render process via the `remote` module. Each menu consists of multiple [menu items](menu-item.md) and each menu item can have a submenu. Below is an example of creating a menu dynamically in a web page (render process) by using the [remote](remote.md) module, and showing it when the user right clicks the page: ```html ``` An example of creating the application menu in the render process with the simple template API: ```javascript var template = [ { label: 'Edit', submenu: [ { label: 'Undo', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+Z', role: 'undo' }, { label: 'Redo', accelerator: 'Shift+CmdOrCtrl+Z', role: 'redo' }, { type: 'separator' }, { label: 'Cut', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+X', role: 'cut' }, { label: 'Copy', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+C', role: 'copy' }, { label: 'Paste', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+V', role: 'paste' }, { label: 'Select All', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+A', role: 'selectall' }, ] }, { label: 'View', submenu: [ { label: 'Reload', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+R', click: function(item, focusedWindow) { if (focusedWindow) focusedWindow.reload(); } }, { label: 'Toggle Full Screen', accelerator: (function() { if (process.platform == 'darwin') return 'Ctrl+Command+F'; else return 'F11'; })(), click: function(item, focusedWindow) { if (focusedWindow) focusedWindow.setFullScreen(!focusedWindow.isFullScreen()); } }, { label: 'Toggle Developer Tools', accelerator: (function() { if (process.platform == 'darwin') return 'Alt+Command+I'; else return 'Ctrl+Shift+I'; })(), click: function(item, focusedWindow) { if (focusedWindow) focusedWindow.toggleDevTools(); } }, ] }, { label: 'Window', role: 'window', submenu: [ { label: 'Minimize', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+M', role: 'minimize' }, { label: 'Close', accelerator: 'CmdOrCtrl+W', role: 'close' }, ] }, { label: 'Help', role: 'help', submenu: [ { label: 'Learn More', click: function() { require('electron').shell.openExternal('http://electron.atom.io') } }, ] }, ]; if (process.platform == 'darwin') { var name = require('electron').app.getName(); template.unshift({ label: name, submenu: [ { label: 'About ' + name, role: 'about' }, { type: 'separator' }, { label: 'Services', role: 'services', submenu: [] }, { type: 'separator' }, { label: 'Hide ' + name, accelerator: 'Command+H', role: 'hide' }, { label: 'Hide Others', accelerator: 'Command+Shift+H', role: 'hideothers' }, { label: 'Show All', role: 'unhide' }, { type: 'separator' }, { label: 'Quit', accelerator: 'Command+Q', click: function() { app.quit(); } }, ] }); // Window menu. template[3].submenu.push( { type: 'separator' }, { label: 'Bring All to Front', role: 'front' } ); } menu = Menu.buildFromTemplate(template); Menu.setApplicationMenu(menu); ``` ## Class: Menu ### `new Menu()` Creates a new menu. ## Methods The `menu` class has the following methods: ### `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. ### `Menu.sendActionToFirstResponder(action)` _OS X_ * `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`. ### `Menu.buildFromTemplate(template)` * `template` Array Generally, the `template` is just an array of `options` for constructing a [MenuItem](menu-item.md). The usage can be referenced above. You can also attach other fields to the element of the `template` and they will become properties of the constructed menu items. ### `Menu.popup([browserWindow, x, y])` * `browserWindow` BrowserWindow (optional) * `x` Number (optional) * `y` Number (**required** if `x` is used) Pops up 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 an 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, 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 should set your menu's `role` to one of following 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, like `About xxx`, `Hide xxx`, and `Hide Others`. To set the action of a menu item to a standard action, you should set the `role` 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][AboutInformationPropertyListFiles] for more information. ## Menu Item Position You can make use of `position` and `id` to control how the item will 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, all un-positioned 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 ``` [AboutInformationPropertyListFiles]: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/general/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/AboutInformationPropertyListFiles.html