Multiple Document Menus - Win32 Programmer's Reference

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Multiple Document Menus

The frame window of an MDI application should include a menu bar with a Window menu. The Window menu should include command items that arrange the child windows within the client window or that close all child windows. The Window menu of a typical MDI application might include the items in the following table.

Menu item	Purpose
Tile	Arranges child windows in a tile format so that each appears in its entirety in the client window.
Cascade	Arranges child windows in a cascade format. The child windows overlap one another, but the title bar of each is visible.
Arrange Icons	Arranges the icons of minimized child windows along the bottom of the client window.
Close All	Closes all child windows.

Whenever a child window is created, Windows automatically appends a new menu item to the Window menu. The text of the menu item is the same as the text on the menu bar of the new child window. By choosing the menu item, the user can activate the corresponding child window. When a child window is destroyed, Windows automatically removes the corresponding menu item from the Window menu.

Windows can add up to ten menu items to the Window menu. When the tenth child window is created, Windows adds the More Windows item to the Window menu. Choosing this item causes the Select Window dialog box to appear. The dialog box contains a list box with the titles of all MDI child windows currently available. The user can activate a child window by choosing its title from the list box.

If your MDI application supports several types of child windows, tailor the menu bar to reflect the operations associated with the active window. To do this, provide separate menu resources for each type of child window the application supports. When a new type of child window is activated, the application should send a WM_MDISETMENU message to the client window, passing to it the handle of the corresponding menu.

When no child window exists, the menu bar should contain only items used to create or open a document.

When the user is navigating through an MDI application's menus by using cursor keys, the keys behave differently than when the user is navigating through a typical application's menus. In an MDI application, control passes from the application's window menu to the window menu of the active child window, and then to the first item on the menu bar.

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