Menubar Component (Flash Professional Only) - MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING COMPONENTS Use Manual

MenuBar component (Flash Professional only)

The MenuBar component lets you create a horizontal menu bar with pop-up menus and
commands, just like the menu bars that contain File and Edit menus in common software
applications. The MenuBar component complements the Menu component by providing a
clickable interface to show and hide menus that behave as a group for mouse and keyboard
interactivity.
The MenuBar component lets you create an application menu in a few steps. To build a menu
bar, you can either assign an XML data provider to the menu bar that describes a series of menus,
or use the
MenuBar.addMenu()
Each menu in the menu bar is composed of two parts: the menu and the button that causes the
menu to open (called the menu activator). These clickable menu activators appear in the menu
bar as a text label with inset and outset border highlight states that react to interaction from the
mouse and keyboard.
When a menu activator is clicked, the corresponding menu opens below it. The menu stays active
until the activator is clicked again, or until a menu item is selected or a click occurs outside the
menu area.
In addition to creating menu activators that show and hide menus, the MenuBar component
creates group behavior among a series of menus. This lets a user scan a large number of command
choices by rolling over the series of activators or by using the arrow keys to move through the lists.
Mouse and keyboard interactivity work together to let the user jump from menu to menu in the
menu bar.
A user cannot scroll through menus on a menu bar. If menus exceed the width of the menu bar,
they are masked.
You cannot make the MenuBar component accessible to screen readers.
Interacting with the MenuBar component (Flash Professional only)
You can use the mouse and keyboard to interact with a MenuBar component.
Rolling over a menu activator displays an outset border highlight around the activator label.
When a MenuBar instance has focus either from clicking or tabbing, you can use the following
keys to control it:
Key
Down Arrow
Up Arrow
Right Arrow
Left Arrow
Enter/Escape
Note: If a menu is open, you can't press the Tab key to close it. You must either make a selection or
close the menu by pressing Escape.
574 Chapter 6: Components Dictionary
method to add menu instances one at a time.
Description
Moves the selection down a menu row.
Moves the selection up a menu row.
Moves the selection to the next button.
Moves the selection to the previous button.
Closes an open menu.
CHAPTER 6
Components Dictionary