/ 
TUI-Vision-v2.0.1
/ TUI::Menus::MenuBox

NAME

TUI::Menus::MenuBox - pull-down or pop-up menu box

HIERARCHY

TObject
  TView
    TMenuView
      TMenuBox

SYNOPSIS

use TUI::Menus;
use TUI::Objects;

my $bounds = TRect->new( ax => 10, ay => 5, bx => 40, by => 12 );

my $menu = new_TMenu(
  new_TMenuItem( '~A~dd Watch',        1, 0 ),
  new_TMenuItem( '~D~elete Watch',     2, 0 ),
  new_TMenuItem( '~E~dit Watch...',    3, 0 ),
  new_TMenuItem( '~R~emove all',       4, 0 ),
);

my $menuBox = TMenuBox->new(
  bounds     => $bounds,
  menu       => $menu,
  parentMenu => undef,
);
my $cmd = $desktop->execView( $menuBox );   # returns selected command

DESCRIPTION

TMenuBox implements a menu box that displays the contents of a menu either as a pull-down menu originating from a menu bar or as a standalone pop-up menu.

Menu boxes handle drawing, keyboard navigation, and mouse interaction for menu items. They are most commonly created indirectly as part of a menu bar, but may also be instantiated explicitly to present a temporary selection menu.

For standard pull-down menus, the parent menu view is typically the menu bar. For standalone menu boxes, the parent menu may be omitted.

Commonly Used Features

In most applications TMenuBox is never referenced directly, because pull-down menus are built automatically through the menu bar. The practical use case is a standalone pop-up: construct the box with new_TMenuBox, passing the desired bounding rectangle, a menu built from new_TMenu and new_TMenuItem calls, and undef as the parent. Pass the resulting object to $desktop->execView, which returns the command constant of the selected item.

VARIABLES

The following global variable defines the frame characters used by TMenuView.

$frameChars

Character sequence used to draw menu frames and borders.

CONSTRUCTOR

new

my $menuBox = TMenuBox->new(
  bounds     => $bounds,
  menu       => $menu,
  parentMenu => $parentMenu
);

Creates a new menu box.

bounds

Bounding rectangle of the menu box (TRect).

Menu structure defining the items displayed by the menu box (TMenu).

parentMenu

Optional parent menu view (TMenuView). This parameter may be omitted for standalone menu boxes.

new_TMenuBox

my $menuBox = new_TMenuBox($bounds, $menu, | $parentMenu);

Factory-style constructor using positional arguments.

This constructor is equivalent to calling new with named parameters and is provided for compatibility with traditional Turbo Vision construction patterns.

METHODS

draw

$menuBox->draw();

Draws the menu box and its contents, highlighting the currently focused item.

getItemRect

my $rect = $menuBox->getItemRect($item | undef);

Returns the screen rectangle occupied by the specified menu item. This method is used internally to determine whether a mouse click occurred on a particular menu entry.

SEE ALSO

TUI::Menus::MenuBar, TUI::Menus::MenuView, TUI::Menus::MenuItem, TUI::Views::View

AUTHORS

  • Borland International (original Turbo Vision design)

  • J. Schneider <brickpool@cpan.org> (Perl implementation and maintenance)

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (c) 1990-1994, 1997 by Borland International

Copyright (c) 2026 the "AUTHORS" as listed above.

This software is licensed under the MIT license (see the LICENSE file, which is part of the distribution).