HOWTO: Using SET SKIP OF PAD with Custom Menu Pad

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In a menu created with the Quick Menu command, each standard menu pad is automatically assigned a name according to the "MENU - System Menu Names" section of the FoxPro 2.6 "Language Reference" manual, or in Visual FoxPro online Help, under the topic "Menu Names, Visual FoxPro System (internal)".

However, in a custom menu prompt, if the Pad Name check box is not selected, the pad is automatically assigned a unique name, such as _qp70zgq9j, by the GENMENU menu generator. This unique pad name cannot be referred to since it is assigned dynamically each time the menu is generated. If this unique name is referred to, unexpected behavior will occur during a SET SKIP OF PAD command.

To illustrate how to work around this behavior, the following steps will create a new menu system with three pads, assign a pad name to the second pad, and allow the second pad to be enabled or disabled by selecting the third pad:

1. From the File menu, choose New. Under File Type, select Menu, and then choose New. Or, type CREATE MENU in the Command window.
2. In the Prompt box, type Exit. In the Result box, select Command. In the text box, type SET SYSMENU TO DEFAULT. Press the TAB key twice, or click the next Prompt box.
3. In the second Prompt box, type Admin. In the Result box, select Procedure. Choose the Create button. In the window, type the following:

         WAIT WINDOW "You chose the Admin pad from the menu"
   						

   Press CTRL+W to close the edit window.
4. Press the TAB key once, or click the Options button. In the Prompt Options dialog box, select the Pad Name check box. In the Pad Name box, type Admin. Choose OK twice. Press the TAB key once, or click the next Prompt box.
5. In the third Prompt box, type Toggle Admin. In the Result box, select Procedure. Choose the Create button. In the window, type the following code:

         tadmin = NOT tadmin
         SET SKIP OF PAD admin OF _msysmenu tadmin
   						

   Then press CTRL+W to close the window.
6. From the Menu menu in FoxPro 2.x (the View menu in Visual FoxPro), choose General Options, select the Setup check box under Menu Code, choose OK, and then enter the following code in the window:

         PUBLIC tadmin
         tadmin = .F.
   						

   Then press CTRL+W to close the window.
7. From the File menu, choose Save As. In the Save Menu As text box, type testskip. Choose the Save button.
8. From the Program menu, choose Generate, and then choose the Generate button. When FoxPro has finished generating the menu, press ESC or choose Close from the File menu to close the Menu Builder window.

To test the menu, either type DO testskip.mpr in the Command window, or choose Do from the Program menu, select the TESTSKIP.MPR file, and then choose the Do button.

Note that the Admin menu is enabled at first and is dimmed after the Toggle Admin menu is chosen.