Introduction

This would produce:

After creating a menu (main menu and contextual menu), there are various actions you can perform to improve it and there are many ways you can enhance the user's experience with your application. Menus provide various features such as access keys and shortcuts. There are also other things you can do such as grouping menus. Although some of these actions are not required to make an application useful, they can be necessary to make it more professional.

1. Start a new Windows Forms Application named SolasPropertyRental2
2. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Form1.vb and click Rename
3. Type Central.vb and press Enter twice (to display the form)
4. Change the properties of the form as follows:
   Text: Solas Property Rental
   StartPosition: CenterScreen
5. On the main menu, click Project -> Add Class...
6. Set the Name to RentalProperty and click Add
7. Change the file as follows:
    

   Public Class RentalProperty Private code As String Private type As String Private beds As Integer Private baths As Single Private rent As Double Private status As String Public Property PropertyCode() As String Get Return code End Get Set(ByVal value As String) code = value End Set End Property Public Property PropertyType() As String Get Return type End Get Set(ByVal value As String) type = value End Set End Property Public Property Bedrooms() As Integer Get Return beds End Get Set(ByVal value As Integer) beds = value End Set End Property Public Property Bathrooms() As Single Get Return baths End Get Set(ByVal value As Single) baths = value End Set End Property Public Property MonthlyRent() As Double Get Return rent End Get Set(ByVal value As Double) rent = value End Set End Property Public Property OccupancyStatus() As String Get Return status End Get Set(ByVal value As String) status = value End Set End Property End Class

8. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Central.vb and click View Code
9. Just above the first line, type Imports System.Collections and, in the class, declare an ArrayList variable named lstRentalProperties
    

   Imports System.Collections Public Class Central Private lstRentalProperties As ArrayList End Class

10. In the Class Name combo box, select (Central Events)
11. In the Method Name combo box, select Load and initialize the variable as follows:
     

    Private Sub Central_Load(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles Me.Load lstRentalProperties = New ArrayList End Sub

12. Re-display the Central form
13. In the Menus & Toolbars section of the Toolbox, click the MenuStrip button and click the form
14. While the menu strip is still selected, in the Properties window, click (Name) and type mnuMain
15. In the Common Controls section of the Toolbox, click ListView and click the form
16. While the picture box is still selected, in the Properties window, change its characteristics as follows:
    Dock: Fill
    FullRowSelect: True
    GridLines: True
    (Name): lvwRentalProperties
    View: Details
    HeaderStyle: Nonclickable
17. Still in the Properties window, click Columns and click its ellipsis button
18. Create the columns as follows:
     

    (Name)	Text	TextAlign	Width
    colPropertyCode	Prop Code
    colPropertyType	Property Type	Center	80
    colBedrooms	Bedrooms	Right
    colBathrooms	Bathrooms	Right	62
    colMonthlyRent	Monthly Rent	Right	75
    colStatus	Status

19. Click OK
20. In the Menus & Toolbars section of the Toolbox, click the ContextMenuStrip button and click the form
21. While the menu strip is still selected, in the Properties window, click (Name) and type cmsProperties
22. On the form, click the list view
23. In the Properties window, click ContextMenuStrip and select cmsProperties

You may notice that some menu items have a letter underlined. Using this letter allows the user to access the menu using a keyboard. For example, if the letter F is underline in a File menu as in File, the user can access the File menu by pressing the Alt, then the F keys. To create this functionality, choose a letter on the menu item and precede it with the & character. For example, &File would produce File. You can apply the same principle if you are programmatically creating the menu. Here are two examples:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            mnuMain = New MenuStrip
            Controls.Add(mnuMain)

            mnuFile = New ToolStripMenuItem("&File")
            mnuFileNew = New ToolStripMenuItem("&New")

            mnuFile.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFileNew)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuFile)

End Sub

After creating the menu, to use it, the user can press Alt or F10:

1. Under the form, click mnuMain
2. In the Properties window, click Items and click its ellipsis button
3. In the Items Collection Editor, make sure MenuItem is selected in the Select Item And Add To List Below combo box and click Add
4. While toolStripMenuItem1 is selected in the Members combo box, in the right list, change the following characteristics:
   Text: &File
   (Name): mnuFile
5. Still in the right list, click DropDownItems and click its ellipsis button
6. In the Items Collection Editor, make sure MenuItem is selected in the Select Item And Add To List Below combo box and click Add
7. While toolStripMenuItem1 is selected in the Members combo box, in the right list, change the following characteristics:
   Text: &New Property
   (Name): mnuFileNewProperty
8. In the Items Collection Editor (mnuFile.DropDownItems), click OK
9. In the Items Collection Editor, click OK

A shortcut is a key or a combination of keys that the user can press to perform an action that can also be performed using a menu item. When creating a menu, to specify a shortcut, use the ShortcutKeys property.

To visually specify a shortcut, in the menu designer, click the menu item. In the Properties window, click ShortcutKeys and click the arrow of the field, a window would come up:

To specify just a letter for the shortcut, you can click the arrow of the combo box on the left side of the Reset button. A list would come up from which you can select the desired letter:

You are probably more familiar with shortcuts made of combinations of keys, such as Ctrl + N, Alt + F6, or Ctrl + Alt + Delete. To visually create such a shortcut, click the check box(es) and select the desired letter.

If you have used applications like Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop, you may know that they don't show all of their shortcuts on the menu. If you want to hide a shortcut, after specifying it, in the Properties window, set the ShowShortcutKeys property to False.

To programmatically specify a shortcut, assign a key or a combination of keys to the ShortcutKeys property of the ToolStripMenuItem class. The ShortcutKeys property is of type Keys, which is an enumeration of the various keys of a keyboard recognized by Microsoft Windows. Here is an example:

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Module Exercise

    Public Class Starter
        Inherits Form

        Private mnuMain As MenuStrip
        Private mnuFile As ToolStripMenuItem
        Private mnuFileNew As ToolStripMenuItem
        Private mnuFileExit As ToolStripMenuItem
        Private mnuFormat As ToolStripMenuItem
        Private mnuFormatFont As ToolStripMenuItem

        Dim components As System.ComponentModel.Container

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
        End Sub

        Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            mnuMain = New MenuStrip
            Controls.Add(mnuMain)

            mnuFile = New ToolStripMenuItem("&File")
            mnuFileNew = New ToolStripMenuItem("&New")

            mnuFileExit = New ToolStripMenuItem("E&xit")

            mnuFormat = New ToolStripMenuItem("For&mat")
            mnuFormatFont = New ToolStripMenuItem("Fo&nt")

            mnuFormatFont.ShortcutKeys = Keys.F4

            mnuFile.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFileNew)
            mnuFile.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFileExit)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuFile)

            mnuFormat.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFormatFont)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuFormat)

        End Sub

    End Class

    Function Main() As Integer

        Dim frmStart As Starter = New Starter

        Application.Run(frmStart)

        Return 0
    End Function

End Module 

This would produce:

To create a shortcut that is a combination of keys, use the bit manipulation operator OR represented by |. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            mnuMain = New MenuStrip
            Controls.Add(mnuMain)

            mnuFile = New ToolStripMenuItem("&File")
            mnuFileNew = New ToolStripMenuItem("&New")

            mnuFileNew.ShortcutKeys = Keys.Control Or Keys.N

            mnuFileExit = New ToolStripMenuItem("E&xit")

            mnuFormat = New ToolStripMenuItem("For&mat")
            mnuFormatFont = New ToolStripMenuItem("Fo&nt")

            mnuFormatFont.ShortcutKeys = Keys.F4

            mnuFile.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFileNew)
            mnuFile.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFileExit)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuFile)

            mnuFormat.DropDownItems.Add(mnuFormatFont)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuFormat)

End Sub

This would produce:

Normally, when you have associated a shortcut with a menu item, when the user displays the menu, the shortcut would appear. In some applications, you may want to hide the shortcut. To support this, the ToolStripMenuItem class is equipped with the Boolean ShowShortcutKeys property. The default value of this property is true. If you want to hide the shortcut, you can set this property to false.

1. Under the form, click mnuMain
2. In the Properties window, click Items and click its ellipsis button
3. In the Members list of the Items Collection Editor, click mnuFile
4. On the right side, click DropDownItems and click its ellipsis button
5. In the Members list, click mnuFileNewProperty
6. In the right list, click ShortcutKeys and click the arrow of its combo box
7. In the window that appears, click the Ctrl check box
8. Click the arrow of the combo box next to Reset, scroll down and select N
9. In the Items Collection Editor (mnuTools.DropDownItems), click OK
10. In the Items Collection Editor, click OK

When a user has clicked a menu item, an action is supposed to occur. In some cases, an intermediary action is necessary before performing or completing the action. To indicate that an intermediary action is needed for the action related to the menu item, Microsoft standards suggest that the menu's text be followed by three periods. For example, in WordPad, if you want to display the date or the time or both on a document, you must open a dialog box that would present various options for you to choose how the date/time should be displayed. To indicate that you will perform a primary action before displaying the value, the menu that leads to it shows three periods:

In this case, when you click the menu item, a dialog box would come up for you to select the desired value.

There is no programmatic relationship between the application and the menu item that displays three periods. It is only a suggestion to show them. Therefore, when creating a menu item, if you know that an intermediary action will be used to perform or complete the actual action, add three periods on the right side of its text. Here is an example:

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Module Exercise

    Public Class Starter
        Inherits Form

        Private mnuMain As MenuStrip
        Private mnuSelect As ToolStripMenuItem
        Private mnuSelectColor As ToolStripMenuItem

        Dim components As System.ComponentModel.Container

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
        End Sub

        Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            mnuMain = New MenuStrip
            Controls.Add(mnuMain)

            mnuSelect = New ToolStripMenuItem("&Select")

            mnuSelectColor = New ToolStripMenuItem("Background Color...")

            mnuSelect.DropDownItems.Add(mnuSelectColor)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuSelect)

        End Sub

    End Class

    Function Main() As Integer

        Dim frmStart As Starter = New Starter

        Application.Run(frmStart)

        Return 0
    End Function

End Module

This would produce:

Because the three periods indicate to the user that an intermediary action will be performed, when implementing the code for the menu item, make sure you provide that intermediary action. Here is an example:

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Module Exercise

    Public Class Starter
        Inherits Form

        Private mnuMain As MenuStrip
        Private mnuSelect As ToolStripMenuItem
        Friend WithEvents mnuSelectColor As ToolStripMenuItem

        Dim components As System.ComponentModel.Container

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
        End Sub

        Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            mnuMain = New MenuStrip
            Controls.Add(mnuMain)

            mnuSelect = New ToolStripMenuItem("&Select")

            mnuSelectColor = New ToolStripMenuItem("Background Color...")

            mnuSelect.DropDownItems.Add(mnuSelectColor)
            mnuMain.Items.Add(mnuSelect)

        End Sub

        Private Sub SelectBackgroundColor(ByVal sender As Object, _
                                          ByVal e As EventArgs) _
                                          Handles mnuSelectColor.Click
            Dim dlgColor As ColorDialog = New ColorDialog

            If dlgColor.ShowDialog() = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
                BackColor = dlgColor.Color
            End If
        End Sub
    End Class

    Function Main() As Integer

        Dim frmStart As Starter = New Starter

        Application.Run(frmStart)

        Return 0
    End Function

End Module

1. Under the form, click cmsProperties
2. In the Properties window, click Items and click its ellipsis button
3. In the Select Items And Add To List Below combo box, make sure MenuItem is selected and click Add
4. On the right side, click Text and type New Property...
5. Click (Name) and type mnuProperty
6. Click Shortcut and click the arrow of its combo box
7. Click the Ctrl check box and click the arrow of the combo box to select N
8. In the Items Collection Editor, click OK
9. On the main menu, click Project -> Add Windows Form
10. Set the Name to PropertyEditor and click Add
11. Design the form as follows:
     

    Control Text Name Other Properties Label Property Code:     TextBox   txtPropertyCode   Button OK btnOK DialogResult: OK Label   Property Type:   ComboBox Unknown cbxPropertyTypes Items: Unknown Apartment Townhouse Single Family Button Cancel btnCalncel DialogResult: Cancel Label Bedrooms:     TextBox 0 txtBedrooms   Label Bathrooms:     TextBox 0.00 txtBathrooms   Label Monthly Rent:     TextBox 0.00 txtMonthlyRent   Label Occupancy Status:     ComboBox Unknown cbxStatus Unknown Available Occupied Needs Repair
    Form	FormBorderStyle:	FixedDialog
    	Text:	Solas Property Rental - Property Editor
    	StartPosition:	CenterScreen
    	AcceptButton:	btnOK
    	CancelButton:	btnCancel
    	MaximizeBox:	False
    	MinimizeBox:	False
    	ShowInTaskbar:	False

12. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Central.vb and click View Code
13. In the Class Name combo box, select mnuProperty
14. In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub mnuProperty_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles mnuProperty.Click Dim RandomCode As Random Dim Editor As PropertyEditor Dim SampleProperty As RentalProperty Dim strCode1 As String, strCode2 As String RandomCode = New Random strCode1 = CStr(RandomCode.Next(100, 999)) strCode2 = CStr(RandomCode.Next(100, 999)) Editor = New PropertyEditor Editor.txtPropertyCode.Text = strCode1 & "-" & strCode2 If Editor.ShowDialog() = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then SampleProperty = New RentalProperty SampleProperty.PropertyCode = Editor.txtPropertyCode.Text SampleProperty.PropertyType = Editor.cbxPropertyTypes.Text SampleProperty.Bedrooms = CInt(Editor.txtBedrooms.Text) SampleProperty.Bathrooms = CSng(Editor.txtBathrooms.Text) SampleProperty.MonthlyRent = CDbl(Editor.txtMonthlyRent.Text) SampleProperty.OccupancyStatus= Editor.cbxStatus.Text lstRentalProperties.Add(SampleProperty) End If lvwRentalProperties.Items.Clear() If lstRentalProperties.Count > 0 Then For Each prop As RentalProperty In lstRentalProperties Dim itmProperty As ListViewItem = _ New ListViewItem(prop.PropertyCode) itmProperty.SubItems.Add(prop.PropertyType) itmProperty.SubItems.Add(CStr(prop.Bedrooms)) itmProperty.SubItems.Add(FormatNumber(prop.Bathrooms)) itmProperty.SubItems.Add(FormatNumber(prop.MonthlyRent)) itmProperty.SubItems.Add(prop.OccupancyStatus) lvwRentalProperties.Items.Add(itmProperty) Next End If End Sub

15. Return to the Central form
16. On the form, click File and click New Property
17. In the Properties window, edit its Text property to display &New Property...
18. On the form, click File and double-click New Property
19. Implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub mnuFileNewProperty_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles mnuFileNewProperty.Click mnuProperty_Click(sender, e) End Sub

20. Execute the application and try creating the following properties (let the computer generate the properties codes):
     

    Property Types	Bedrooms	Bathrooms	Monthly Rent	Status
    Apartment	1	1	925	Occupied
    Apartment	2	1	1150.50	Available
    Single Family	5	3.5	2250.85	Occupied
    Townhouse	3	2.5	1750	Occupied
    Townhouse	4	2.5	1920.50	Available
    Single Family	4	2.5	2140.50	Needs Repair
    Apartment	3	2	1250.25	Available
    Townhouse	3	1.5	1650.50	Occupied

21. Close the form and return to your programming environment