Create a Popup Menu

This example demonstrates how to create a popup menu. Before creating a popup menu, you must already have some macros defined.

üNote: If you have not done so, first create both a Hot Key macro and a Shortkey macro as described in the Creating a Hot Key and Shortkey tutorials. This example is based on the assumption that you have already created these macros. 

Initial setup of the menu
 

1.From the Macro Express - Explorer menu click on Macro > New Macro to open the Create New Macro window.

2.Make sure that the Hot Key activation is selected and the cursor is in the hot key edit box.

3.Hold down the ALT key, the SHIFT key and the Z key all at the same time and release them. ALT+SHIFT+Z should appear in the edit box. This is the hot key we will use for the popup macro.

4.Enter My Menu as the macro nickname.

5.Check the box next to build as a Popup macro and click OK to open the Menu Builder.

The Menu Builder

The Menu Builder contains two columns. The left hand column lists all macros available for use in the menu. The right hand column displays the macros that we assign to the menu. 

Adding Macros to the Menu

For this example we will only include two macros in the menu. But in practice you can add many more.
 

a.Highlight the My Address macro (the one we created earlier) and then click on the green Insert  button.

b.Next highlight the My Email Address macro (created earlier) and click on the green Insert button.

These two macros should now be displayed in the right hand column.

Select Menu Style and Positioning

a.Before saving the menu, click on the Miscellaneous tab and make sure the Menu is Enabled button is checked.

b.Select Nickname and Scope from the drop down menu as the Menu Style.

c.Enter 500 in both the X and Y menu positioning fields.

d.Check the box next to Place an icon in the notification area option.

Select an Icon to Display in Notification Area

The next step is to select an icon to use with the menu. Right above the Menu tab and to the left of the Menu Nickname is an icon. Hovering the mouse cursor over the icon displays the text - Change Macro Icon.

a.Click on this icon to open the Select an Icon window.

b.Click on the Browse (...) button to open a view of the Macro Express  folder.

c.Double click on the Icons folder to display the folder contents.

d.You will see a number of .dll files containing icon sets - .ico files.

e.Double click on the IconsLG.dll file to open the Select an Icon window.

f.Click on the blue push pin icon, item number 1, and click OK.

g.The icon in the Build a Menu window has been updated to reflect the change made.

h.This new icon will be displayed in the notification area.

i.Click on Save and Close to save the menu.

j.Return to the Macro Explorer window to see the newly defined popup macro, ALT+SHIFT+Z, added to the list of available macros. 

Testing the Popup Menu

There are two methods for activating the menu we created. One is to press the hot key we assigned or to left mouse click on the icon displaying in the notification area.

Hot Key Activation

Let's test out the popup menu and run the macros in Notepad. (To run notepad, click on Start > Run from the bottom left of the computer screen, enter notepad and click the ok button.) Once notepad is running, hold down the ALT+SHIFT+Z keys.

A menu like the one above should appear, listing the two macros previously defined. Either press the corresponding letter or number next to the macro or double click on the macro in the menu to run the selected macro in notepad.

Notification Area Activation

Another way to invoke the popup menu is to left click on the arrow01d.ico icon (yellow arrow pointing down) in the notification area. The "yellow arrow" icon should now be showing in the notification area, because of the settings we chose previously.

Menu Styles

The popup menu may be displayed in four different forms, including Nickname and Scope, which is what we are currently using. Now take a quick look at the other options for displaying the menu.

First Part of Macro

a.Double click on the Popup Menu macro from the list of macros in the Macro Explorer to open the Menu Builder window.

b.Click on the Miscellaneous tab.

c.Select the First Part of Macro option from the Menu Style drop down list.

d.Click on Menu > Save Menu to save the change.

e.Left click on the "blue push pin" icon in the notification area.

f.The menu opens displaying the first part of the contents of each macro.

Icon

a.Close the popup menu and return to the Menu Builder.

b.Click on the Miscellaneous tab and select the Icons Only option from the Menu Style drop down list.

c.Next, choose the Horizontal option and enter 10 for Maximum Icons per Row.

d.Click on Menu > Save Menu to save the change.

e.Now click on the "blue push pin" icon in the notification area.

f.The menu displays a list of icons.

g.Click on one of the icons in the menu to run the macro.

Windows Default

a.Return to the Menu Builder and click on the Miscellaneous tab.

b.Select the Windows Default option from the Menu Style drop down list.

c.Click on Menu > Save Menu to save the change.

d.Now click on the "blue push pin" icon in the notification area.

e.The menu displays as shown below.

f.Click on the macro you want in order to execute the macro.

g.Windows also assigns underscores to each of the macros, where possible.

h.So in the example above, pressing the M key activates the My Address macro.