Enabled, Grayed, and Disabled Menu Items

A menu item can be enabled, grayed, or disabled. By default, a menu item is enabled. When the user chooses an enabled menu item, Windows sends a command message to the owner window or displays the corresponding submenu, depending on what kind of menu item it is.

When menu items are not available to the user, they should be grayed or disabled. Grayed and disabled menu items cannot be chosen. A disabled item looks just like an enabled item. When the user clicks on a disabled item, the item is not selected, and nothing happens. Disabled items can be useful in, for example, a tutorial that presents a menu that looks active but isn't.

An application grays an unavailable menu item to provide a visual cue to the user that a command is not available. You can use a grayed item when an action is not appropriate (for example, you can gray the Print command in the File menu when the system does not have a printer installed).

The EnableMenuItem function enables, grays, or disables a menu item. To determine whether a menu item is enabled, grayed, or disabled, use the GetMenuItemInfo function.

Instead of GetMenuItemInfo, you can also use the GetMenuState function to determine whether a menu item is enabled, grayed, or disabled.

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More information resources

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