Re: creating a sub-menu

[Stephen Berman]

On Tue, 12 Mar 2013 03:38:09 -0400 ken <gebser@mousecar.com> wrote:

> On 03/07/2013 09:14 AM Stephen Berman wrote:
>
>> [...] If you want a submenu, then instead of
>> a command name, the third item in your menu-item list should be a
>> (variable whose value is a) keymap defining the menu items of the
>> submenu, e.g., something like the following:
>>
>> (defun kg-insert-ä ()
>>    (interactive)
>>    (insert "ä"))
>>
>> (defun kg-insert-Ä ()
>>    (interactive)
>>    (insert "Ä"))
>>
>> (defvar xascii-menu
>>    (let ((menu (make-sparse-keymap "Insert non-ASCII characters")))
>>      (define-key menu [kg-insert-Ä]
>>        '(menu-item "Insert `Ä'" kg-insert-Ä :keys "C-x a A"))
>>      (define-key menu [kg-insert-ä]
>>        '(menu-item "Insert `ä'" kg-insert-ä :keys "C-x a a"))
>>      menu))
>>
>> (define-key menu-bar-edit-menu [xascii-menu]
>>    `(menu-item "Insert non-ASCII characters" ,xascii-menu))
>>
>> Steve Berman
>
> Thanks, Steve,
>
> I tried this code and it is definitely progress over mine in that it displays
> menu items under the "Insert non-ASCII characters" heading. However, those
> non-ASCII characters (e.g., `Ä' and `ä') don't display in the menu under that
> heading properly; probably owing to the menu subsystem of the emacs frame not
> handling utf-8... or 8-bit characters of any kind.  

They display fine in the menu in my Emacs.  If you're using a
Unicode-capable Emacs (23 or later), they should display for you too,
unless some setting in your system, or maybe some X setting, is
preventing it.

>                                                     Secondly, the key combos
> (e.g., C-xaA and C-xaa) remain undefined.

The use of :keys in a menu item is only for displaying in the menu the
string corresponding to a key binding that you have defined elsewhere,
either using global-set-key, local-set-key, or, if you only want them to
be used in a specific key map, using define-key.

> But you've advanced the code over what I had and I appreciate that very much.
> The bit of explanation you provide is also helpful.  Together with the bits in
> the Elisp Manual and other sources on the web, the total picture on adding a
> sub-menu into an existing menu heading is starting to come together, though
> still I'm far from being able to articulate it the way I want and would need
> in order to be helpful to anyone else.  So I'll work on it more in whatever
> spare moments I have. I'm sure I'll get it eventually.

Good luck!

Steve Berman