Can a control's Helptag TextBox use the Menumodifier

General
1

I think this answer is negatory, but I’ll ask anyways.
There is a textbox for a control’s HelpTag. Can this textbox take in text that is OS specific, like “MenuModifier”?
My guess it has to go in via code.

2

Yes, this page may help:

http://developer.xojo.com/localization$text-localization-with-dynamic-constants

3

Thanks for the quick answer Jason. I do need to study localization.
Just to be clear, my question though is about MenuModifier for the MenuItem.
MenuModifier is the one that tells Windows menus to show the control key.

4

MenuModifier isn’t OS specific, it’s a property of MenuItem http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/MenuItem.MenuModifier

How are you hoping to use it with a HelpTag?

5

I can write the code in something like an open event. Just wondering if that was an RAD feature
Sample Code #If TargetWin32 or TargetLinux Then If Keyboard.ControlKey Then MenuItem.EditNext.HelpTag = "Control + N" End If End If

6

Ah so that circles back to Jason’s point about localization.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be by language, you can use dynamic constants to provide platform-specific things.

So, in this case, you would set up a kCtrlCmdKey (or something you like) dynamic constant and put “Control” for the Windows platform value, and “Cmd” for Mac. Then you would just use the constant in your helptag:

EditNext.HelpTag = kCtrlCmdKey + " N"

When the compiler goes to build the code it will swap out the constant placeholder with the appropriate value for the system being built.

There is a way to do it without code, but you have to put the whole phrase in the constant. You can’t do the ControlKey detection (I’m honestly not sure why you’re doing that) but you can use a constant as the help tag in the IDE by prefixing it with a # symbol. The help tag field would read #kCtrlCmdKey in the IDE.

7

You can see how this works in a brand new desktop project. Make a fresh desktop project, and check the constants on App. You’ll find one called kFileQuitShortcut which shows how you can use dynamic constants to provide different values for Mac and Windows, and use them in a MenuItem.

8

Thanks Tim. I wanted to be sure and you answered very completely as usual.
I wonder if the OS companies have a list of translated menu command names.
I have an excel spreadsheet of thousands of command names from Microsoft and it must have every language they support.

About the control key, I got the idea from a Mac game that had a PC port. On Mac the “Next” menu item has “Command + N” for the shortcut key. It is intuitive but not really used in PC, I think, and I would have this attached to a button.
Thanks.

9

Thanks. It was easy to setup