Developing the editor menus

This article explains how to add editor menus. Menus are specified in an XML file.

Grammar

See the editor menus Schema.

Structure of the file

The file contains the following top-level elements:

• enumerations which define the enumeration types which can used in menus
• fileTypes which define the types of Editor XML elements on which menus will apply, and which menus apply on each kind of element

Enumeration types

Enumeration types define enumerations which can be used in menus, for example:

   <enum name="alignment">
      <enumValue value="left" />
      <enumValue value="center" />
      <enumValue value="right" />
   </enum>

For example:

File types

The fileTypes element define the types of Editor XML elements on which menus will apply, and which menus apply on each kind of element:

• fileTypes which define the types of Editor XML elements on which menus will apply, and whch menus apply on each kind of element
• articles which define the menus in articles
• categories which define the menus in categories descriptions
• images which define the menus in Image definition files
• resources which define the menus in Resource definition files
• menus which define the menus in menus files
• packages which define the menus in Packages files
• infobox which define the menus in Infobox definition files
• header which define the menus in header files
• footer which define the menus in footer files

Declaration of menus in any editor XML element

Each Editor XML element has any of the following children:

• The menuGroup element defines a parent menu group
• The menuGroupRef element defines a reference to a menu group defined previously in the file
• The menu element defines a menu
• The menuRef element defines a reference to a menu defined previously in the file

menuGroup

The menuGroup element defines a parent menu group. A menu group can contain menu groups and menus.

• The name attribute specifies the name of the menu group
• The id attribute (optional) specifies the id of the menu group, which will be usable in menuGroupRef elements

For example:

   <menuGroup name="Lists" id="lists">
      <menu name="ul" title="Unordered list" tooltip="Add an unordered list" mixed="true">           
         <property name="bullet" argumentType="enum" enumType="ulStyle" tooltip="The bullet style" defaultValue="default" />      
      </menu> 
      <menu name="ol" title="Ordered list" tooltip="Add an ordered list" mixed="true">           
         <property name="bullet" argumentType="enum" enumType="olStyle" tooltip="The bullet style" defaultValue="default" />      
         <property name="start" argumentType="string" tooltip="The start value" defaultValue="" />      
      </menu>       
      <menu name="li" title="List item" tooltip="Add an item in the list" mixed="true">           
         <contentProperty name="desc" title="Content" argumentType="string" editor="textarea" tooltip="The list item content" />   
      </menu>                
   </menuGroup>

Will show:

menuGroupRef

The menuGroupRef element defines a reference to a menu group defined previously in the file.

• The id attribute specifies the id of the menu group which is reused

For example:

   <menuGroupRef id="lists"/>

menu

The menu element defines a menu. A me nu contains a list of properties.

The attributes of the menu element are:

• The name attribute specifies the name of the menu. By default the title of the menu will use the name attribute
• The id attribute (optional) specifies the id of the menu, which will be usable in menuRef elements
• The title attribute (optional) specifies the title of the menu
• The tooltip attribute (optional) specifies the tooltip of the menu
• The mixed attribute (optional) specifies the mixed type of the element
• The multipleLines attribute (optional) specifies that here can be text lines under the element
• The includedInReplace attribute (optional) specifies that the menu will be included when replacing content

The children elements of the menu element are:

• The group element specifies a group of properties in the menu
• The title element specifies a titled line
• The property element specifies a property
• The compoundProperty element specifies a group of properties which can be enabled globally
• The contentProperty element specifies a poperty which specifies the text content of the element
• The propertyAdapter element specifies a property which will change thee result of several other properties

contentProperty

The contentProperty element specifies a property which specifies the text content of the element.

For example:

   <menu name="b" title="Bold" tooltip="Set text in Bold" includedInReplace="true">               
      <contentProperty name="b" title="Content" argumentType="string" editor="textarea" tooltip="The Bold content" useInReplace="true"/>
   </menu>

Will show:

The result will be:

group

The group element specifies a group of properties in a menu.

The attributes of the group element are:

• The orientation attribute specifies if the group is horizontal or vertical
• The border attribute (optional) specifies if the group has a border
• The title attribute (optional) specifies the title of the group
• The enabler attribute (optional) specifies if there is a checkbox in the group which will enable or disable all elements under the group

For example:

   <menu name="title" tooltip="Add a Title">      
      <property name="title" argumentType="string" mandatory="true"/>         
      <group orientation="horizontal">   
         <property name="level" argumentType="int" defaultValue="1" />
         <property name="keepCase" argumentType="boolean" defaultValue="false" />                            
      </group>      
   </menu>

Will show:

menuRef

The menuRef element defines a reference to a menu defined previously in the file.

• The id attribute specifies the id of the menu which is reused

For example:

   <menuRef id="code" />