Can't change MenuItems Icon with Subitems

General
1

I know its friday, weekend is close but I got stuck and can’t believe that this bug is not discovered by anybody else. Maybe I am missing something… but I don’t think so.

The Problem: I would like to change Icons of existing MenuItems in the Xojo built-in Menu Generator. But there is no property Icon in the right pane (screen1). When I select regular menuitem without subitems this property is shown (screen2 below), but not when selected item contains subitems… what the heck?

Feedback is written…

2

Curious

3

ja… indeed

4

Tomas, just affect the icon to the MenuItem in code, it works just fine in both Mac OS X and Windows.

MyMenuItemWithSubMenus.icon = myicon

.
That said, it maybe a good idea to file a feature request or bug report.

5

@Michel: Seems I have to do this… :frowning:
Thought I could “just” swap menu icons in all toolbars (I am using more than one) within couple of minutes… farewell my friday evening barbecue :wink:

(https://xojo.com/issue/40330)]https://xojo.com/issue/40330

6

Two remarks:

I’ve never seen a submenu item having an icon on OS X.

And you should read the OS X Human Interface Guidelines.

For example a menu item like “Quit” should not have an icon. Go through all the menu items of Finder, Safari, Mail, etc. to see how a OS X applications use icons in their menu system.

7

Really? Just two examples on first sight… guess there are lot more…

8

Windows design guidelines for menus https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb226797(v=vs.85).aspx show menus with much icons. The only exception is for menu commands, with check boxes and what they call Option Button (pretty much like radio buttons).

[quote=205162:@Tomas Jakobs]Really? Just two examples on first sight… guess there are lot more…
[/quote]

While it is technically possible to have an icon for each menuItem, I am not sure it improves readability. I find it somewhat distracting for the eye. A bit too busy.

That said, we Europeans tend to use pictographs a lot, as a natural bridge over our diverse languages. I should admit that while my knowledge of German is anecdotal, icons would greatly help me use the software chosen as example here.

Culture is an important part of an UI. In Europe, most road signs are purely pictographic. In the US, they often tend to be textual. Probably because language is more homogeneous there.

9

That’s exactly what Apple recommend when you read the HIG:[quote]include them only for menu items for which they add significant value[/quote]
So Quit, Print, etc. do not have icons on OS X.

10

@Eli: Ah ok, sorry I’ve understood you are talking about Menu icons in general…