TMenuItem.Caption Property

Specifies the text of the menu item.

Pascal

property Caption: string;

C++

__property AnsiString Caption;

Description

Set Caption to the string the user sees for this item in the menu. To underline a character in a string, include an ampersand (&) before the character. This type of character is called an accelerator character. If Caption includes an accelerator character, the user can select the menu item by pressing Alt while typing the underlined character.

Tip: To automatically assign or adjust the accelerator characters in menu item captions, use the RethinkHotkeys method.

Use the Caption property to identify the menu item as a line that separates the menu into parts. Specify a hyphen character (-) as the value of Caption for the menu item to indicate that the menu item is a separator. To separate the menu into multiple columns, use the Break property instead.

Note: This property is not stored with the menu item if it is supplied by a TAction object.

C++ Examples:

Copy Code

/*
This example assumes that the main form of the application
has a main menu with a menu item. The following code adds a
separator, and the name of all forms to the menu. Do not
access FormCount in the mainform's FormCreate.  The other
forms do not exist yet!
*/
void __fastcall TForm1::Button1Click(TObject *Sender)
{
  TMenuItem *NewItem;
  // first create the separator
  NewItem = new TMenuItem(this); // If you change the AOwner (this) to MainMenu1->Items[1] and then you add the new menu you will get "Menu inserted twice"?  Doesn't happen in Delphi.
  NewItem->Name = "Separator";
  NewItem->Caption = "-";
  // add the new item to the Windows menu
  MainMenu1->Items[1].Add(NewItem);
  // now create and add a menu item for each form
  for  (int I = 0; I < Screen->FormCount; I++)
  {
    NewItem = new TMenuItem(this);
    NewItem->Caption = Screen->Forms[I]->Name + "Item";
    NewItem->Name = Screen->Forms[I]->Name;
    MainMenu1->Items[1].Add(NewItem);
  }
}

void __fastcall TForm1::FormDestroy(TObject *Sender)
{
  // Count down, not up!
  for  (int I = MainMenu1->Items[1].Count - 1; I >= 0; I--)
  {
    delete MainMenu1->Items[1].Items[I];
  }
}

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/*
This example demonstrates how to add and delete menu items
to a popup menu at runtime and assign an event handler to
the OnClick event.  Place a TPopupMenu and three buttons on
the form named "AddButton", "EditButton",  and
"DestroyButton" and add OnClick events to all three buttons.
Put the TPopupMenu in the PopupMenu property of the form.
Place the PopupMenuItemsClick procedure in the TForm1 type
declaration so that it can be used as the method call for
the menu item OnClick event.
*/
void __fastcall TForm1::AddButtonClick(TObject *Sender)
{
    const int num_items = 4;
    for (int index = 0; index < num_items; ++index)
    {
        TMenuItem *NewItem = new TMenuItem(PopupMenu1); // create the new item
        PopupMenu1->Items->Add(NewItem);// add it to the Popupmenu
        NewItem->Caption = "Menu Item " + IntToStr(index);
        NewItem->Tag = index;
        NewItem->OnClick = PopupMenuItemsClick;// assign it an event handler
        TNotifyEvent();
    }
}

void __fastcall TForm1::PopupMenuItemsClick(TObject *Sender)
{
    TMenuItem *ClickedItem = dynamic_cast<TMenuItem *>(Sender);
    if (ClickedItem)
    {
        switch (ClickedItem->Tag)
        {
            case 0:
            {
                ShowMessage("first item clicked");
                break;
            }
            case 1:
            {
                ShowMessage("second item clicked");
                break;
            }
            case 2:
            {
                ShowMessage("third item clicked");
                break;
            }
            case 3:
            {
                ShowMessage("fourth item clicked");
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

/*
To edit or destroy an item, grab its pointer via the Items
property.
*/
void __fastcall TForm1::EditButtonClick(TObject *Sender)
{
    const int index = 1;
    TMenuItem *ItemToEdit = PopupMenu->Items->Items[index];
    ItemToEdit->Caption = "Changed Caption";
}

void __fastcall TForm1::DestroyButtonClick(TObject *Sender)
{
    const int index = 2;
    TMenuItem *ItemToDelete = PopupMenu->Items->Items[index];
    delete ItemToDelete;
}

Delphi Examples:

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{
This example assumes that the main form of the application
has a main menu with a menu item. The following code adds a
separator, and the name of all forms to the menu. Do not
access FormCount in the mainform's FormCreate.  The other
forms do not exist yet!
}
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  NewItem: TMenuItem;
  I : integer;
begin
  { first create the separator }
  NewItem := TMenuItem.Create(MainMenu1.Items[1]);
  NewItem.Name:= 'Separator';
  NewItem.Caption := '-';
  { add the new item to the Windows menu }
  MainMenu1.Items[1].Add(NewItem);
  { now create and add a menu item for each form }
  for  I := 0 to Screen.FormCount-1 do
  begin
    NewItem := TMenuItem.Create(MainMenu1.Items[1]);
    NewItem.Caption := Screen.Forms[I].Name + 'Item';
    NewItem.Name := Screen.Forms[I].Name;
    MainMenu1.Items[1].Add(NewItem);
   end;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
var
  I : Integer;
begin
  // Count down, not up!
  for  I := MainMenu1.Items[1].Count - 1 downto 0 do
  begin
    MainMenu1.Items[1].Items[I].Free;
  end;
end;

Copy Code

{
This example demonstrates how to add and delete menu items
to a popup menu at runtime and assign an event handler to
the OnClick event.  Place a TPopupMenu and three buttons on
the form named "AddButton", "EditButton",  and
"DestroyButton" and add OnClick events to all three buttons.
Put the TPopupMenu in the PopupMenu property of the form.
Place the PopupMenuItemsClick procedure in the TForm1 type
declaration so that it can be used as the method call for
the menu item OnClick event.
}

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    AddButton: TButton;
    EditButton: TButton;
    DestroyButton: TButton;
    PopupMenu1: TPopupMenu;
    procedure AddButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure EditButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure DestroyButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
  public
    procedure PopupMenuItemsClick(Sender: TObject);

  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.AddButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  index: Integer;
  NewItem: TMenuItem;
begin
  for index := 0 to 3 do
  begin
    NewItem :=
      TMenuItem.Create(PopupMenu1); // create the new item
    PopupMenu1.Items.Add(NewItem);// add it to the Popupmenu
    NewItem.Caption := 'Menu Item ' + IntToStr(index);
    NewItem.Tag := index;
    NewItem.OnClick :=
      PopupMenuItemsClick; // assign it an event handler
  end;
end;

procedure TForm1.PopupMenuItemsClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  with Sender as TMenuItem do
  begin
    case Tag of
      0:  ShowMessage('first item clicked');
      1:  ShowMessage('second item clicked');
      2:  ShowMessage('third item clicked');
      3:  ShowMessage('fourth item clicked');
    end;
  end;
end;

{
To edit or destroy an item, grab its pointer via the Items
property.
}
procedure TForm1.EditButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  ItemToEdit: TMenuItem;
begin
  ItemToEdit := PopupMenu.Items[1];
  ItemToEdit.Caption := 'Changed Caption';
end;

procedure TForm1.DestroyButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  ItemToDelete: TMenuItem;
begin
  ItemToDelete := PopupMenu.Items[2];
  ItemToDelete.Free;
end;