Menu

Menu UI component

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Description

A menu UI component displays an option at the top of a figure window or in a context menu. Use the Menu object to modify the appearance and behavior of a menu after you create it.

Creation

Create a menu in a figure using the uimenu function.

Properties

Menu

Text — Menu label

character vector | string scalar

Menu label, specified as a character vector or string scalar. This property specifies the label that appears on the menu or menu item.

Avoid using these case-sensitive reserved words: 'default', 'remove', and 'factory'. If you must use a reserved word, then specify a backslash character before the word. For instance, specify 'default' as '\default'.

You can specify a mnemonic keyboard shortcut (Alt+mnemonic) by using the ampersand (&) character in the text for the label. The character that follows the ampersand appears underlined in the menu when Alt is pressed. You can select the menu item by holding down the Alt key and typing the character shown.

To use mnemonics, you must specify a mnemonic for all menus and menu items that you define in the app. If you define mnemonics only for some menus or menu items, pressing the Alt key does not have any effect.

The table shows some examples:

Text Value	Menu Label with Mnemonic Hints
'&Open Selection'
'O&pen Selection'
'&Save && Go'

Accelerator — Keyboard shortcut

character | string

Keyboard shortcut, specified as a character or as a string that contains one character. Use this property to define a keyboard shortcut for selecting a menu item.

Example: mitem.Accelerator = "H"

Specifying an accelerator value enables users to select the menu item by pressing a character and another key, instead of using the mouse. The key sequence is platform specific.

• Windows^® systems: Ctrl+accelerator

• Macintosh systems: Command+accelerator

• Linux^® systems: Ctrl+accelerator

Things to keep in mind when using accelerators:

• The app window must be in focus when entering the accelerator key sequence.

• Accelerators cannot be used on top-level menus.

• Accelerators only work when the menu item meets all these criteria.

  • It does not contain any submenu items.

  • It executes a callback function.

  • It has the Visible property set to 'on'.

  • Its accelerator value is not already assigned to a different active menu item in the same figure.

Separator — Separator line mode

'off' (default) | on/off logical value

Separator line mode, specified as 'off' or 'on', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

Setting this property to 'on' draws a dividing line above the menu item.

Note

The Separator property is ignored when the menu item is a top-level menu item.

Checked — Menu check indicator

'off' (default) | on/off logical value

Menu check indicator, specified as 'off' or 'on', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

Setting this property to 'on' places a check mark next to the corresponding menu item. Setting it to 'off' removes the check mark. You can use this feature to show the state of menu items that enable or disable functionality in your application.

Note

The Checked property is ignored when the menu item is:

• A top-level menu item

• A menu item that contains one or more child menu items

ForegroundColor — Menu label color

[0 0 0] (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Menu label color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code or one of the color options listed in the table.

RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]	"#FF0000"
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]	"#00FF00"
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]	"#0000FF"
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]	"#00FFFF"
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]	"#FF00FF"
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]	"#FFFF00"
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]	"#000000"
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]	"#FFFFFF"

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB^® uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

Interactivity

Visible — State of visibility

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

State of visibility, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• 'on' — Display the object.

• 'off' — Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible UI component.

To make your app start faster, set the Visible property to 'off' for all UI components that do not need to appear at startup.

Enable — Operational state

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Operational state, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• If you set this property to 'on', the app user can interact with the component.

• If you set this property to 'off', the component appears dimmed, indicating that the app user cannot interact with it, and that it will not trigger a callback.

ContextMenu — Context menu

empty GraphicsPlaceholder array (default) | ContextMenu object

Setting this property has no effect on objects of this type.

Callbacks

MenuSelectedFcn — Menu selected callback function

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Menu selected callback function, specified as one of these values:

• A function handle.

• A cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• A character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback property value as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Specify a Callback Function.

The callback responds depending on the location of the menu item and the type of interaction:

• Left-clicking a menu expands that menu and triggers its callback.

• While any menu is expanded, pausing on any other parent menu (or top-level menu) expands that menu and triggers its callback.

Note

Do not use a callback to dynamically change menu items. Deleting, adding, and replacing menu items in a callback can result in a blank menu. Instead, use the Visible property to hide or show menu items. You can also enable and disable menu items by setting the Enable property. To fully repopulate menu items, delete and create them outside the callback.

Menus Associated with Context Menus

When the menu component is associated with a context menu (as opposed to a menu item at the top of a figure window), this callback function can access specific information about the user's interaction with the app. MATLAB passes this information in a MenuSelectedData object as the second argument to your callback function. In App Designer, the argument is named event. You can query the object properties using dot notation. For example, event.ContextObject returns information about which component the user right-clicked to open the associated context menu.

Note

You can specify a MenuSelectedFcn callback for any Menu object. However, the MenuSelectedData object in the callback event data is available only when the context menu that the menu belongs to satisfies both of these conditions:

• The context menu is associated with a uifigure-based app (such as an app created in App Designer).

• The context menu is associated with a UI component (as opposed to a graphics object, such as an Axes or Line object), or is associated with a container that contains only UI components.

This table lists the properties of the MenuSelectedData object.

Property	Value
ContextObject	Object that the app user right-clicked to open the context menu
InteractionInformation	Information about where in the component the app user right-clicked to open the context menu. This information is stored as an object with different properties depending on the value of ContextObject. For example, if ContextObject is a Table object, then InteractionInformation stores information about which row and column in the table the user right-clicked. For more details on the properties that InteractionInformation can have, see the next table.
Source	Context menu object that executes the callback
EventName	'MenuSelected'

This table lists the properties of the InteractionInformation object. The properties depend on which object the app user right-clicked to open the context menu.

ContextObject	InteractionInformation Property	Value
Any	Location	Location where the user right-clicked relative to the bottom-left corner of the parent container of the ContextObject, returned as a two-element vector of the form [x y]. The value of x represents the horizontal distance from the left edge of the parent container to the right-click location. The value of y represents the vertical distance from the bottom edge of the parent container to the right-click location. Distances are measured in pixels.
	ScreenLocation	Location where the user right-clicked relative to the bottom-left corner of their primary display, returned as a two-element vector of the form [x y]. The value of x represents the horizontal distance from the left edge of the display to the right-click location. The value of y represents the vertical distance from the bottom edge of the display to the right-click location. Distances are measured in pixels.
Table	DisplayRow	Row that the user right-clicked as it appears visually in the table, returned as a numeric scalar. If the user has not sorted the table, then DisplayRow has the same value as Row. If the user right-clicked an area of the table UI component that is not associated with a row, then DisplayRow is an empty array.
	DisplayColumn	Column that the user right-clicked as it appears visually in the table, returned as a numeric scalar. If the user has not rearranged the table, then DisplayColumn has the same value as Column. If the user right-clicked an area of the table UI component that is not associated with a column, then DisplayColumn is an empty array.
	Row	Row that the user right-clicked as it corresponds to the original table data, returned as a numeric scalar. If the user has not sorted the table, then Row has the same value as DisplayRow. If the user right-clicked an area of the table UI component that is not associated with a row, then Row is an empty array.
	Column	Column that the user right-clicked as it corresponds to the original table data, returned as a numeric scalar. If the user has not rearranged the table, then Column has the same value as DisplayColumn. If the user right-clicked an area of the table UI component that is not associated with a column, then Column is an empty array.
	RowHeader	Whether the user right-clicked the table row header, returned as a logical 0 (false) or 1 (true).
	ColumnHeader	Whether the user right-clicked the table column header, returned as a logical 0 (false) or 1 (true).
Tree	Node	Right-clicked node, returned as a TreeNode object. If the user right-clicked an area of the tree that is not associated with a node, then Node is an empty array.
	Level	Level of the right-clicked node, returned as a numeric scalar. Nodes parented directly to the Tree object are at level 1, nodes parented to a node at level 1 are at level 2, and so on. If the user right-clicked an area of the tree that is not associated with a node, then Level is an empty array.
ListBox	Item	Index of the right-clicked list box item, returned as a numeric scalar. If the user right-clicked an area of the list box that is not associated with an item, then Item is an empty array.

CreateFcn — Creation function

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Object creation function, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle.

• Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Callbacks in App Designer.

This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB creates the object. MATLAB initializes all property values before executing the CreateFcn callback. If you do not specify the CreateFcn property, then MATLAB executes a default creation function.

Setting the CreateFcn property on an existing component has no effect.

If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being created using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo function to access the object.

DeleteFcn — Deletion function

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Object deletion function, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle.

• Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Callbacks in App Designer.

This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB deletes the object. MATLAB executes the DeleteFcn callback before destroying the properties of the object. If you do not specify the DeleteFcn property, then MATLAB executes a default deletion function.

If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being deleted using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo function to access the object.

Callback Execution Control

Interruptible — Callback interruption

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Callback interruption, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

This property determines if a running callback can be interrupted. There are two callback states to consider:

• The running callback is the currently executing callback.

• The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.

MATLAB determines callback interruption behavior whenever it executes a command that processes the callback queue. These commands include drawnow, figure, uifigure, getframe, waitfor, and pause.

If the running callback does not contain one of these commands, then no interruption occurs. MATLAB first finishes executing the running callback, and later executes the interrupting callback.

If the running callback does contain one of these commands, then the Interruptible property of the object that owns the running callback determines if the interruption occurs:

• If the value of Interruptible is 'off', then no interruption occurs. Instead, the BusyAction property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines if the interrupting callback is discarded or added to the callback queue.

• If the value of Interruptible is 'on', then the interruption occurs. The next time MATLAB processes the callback queue, it stops the execution of the running callback and executes the interrupting callback. After the interrupting callback completes, MATLAB then resumes executing the running callback.

Note

Callback interruption and execution behave differently in these situations:

• If the interrupting callback is a DeleteFcn, CloseRequestFcn, or SizeChangedFcn callback, then the interruption occurs regardless of the Interruptible property value.

• If the running callback is currently executing the waitfor function, then the interruption occurs regardless of the Interruptible property value.

• If the interrupting callback is owned by a Timer object, then the callback executes according to schedule regardless of the Interruptible property value.

Note

When an interruption occurs, MATLAB does not save the state of properties or the display. For example, the object returned by the gca or gcf command might change when another callback executes.

BusyAction — Callback queuing

'queue' (default) | 'cancel'

Callback queuing, specified as 'queue' or 'cancel'. The BusyAction property determines how MATLAB handles the execution of interrupting callbacks. There are two callback states to consider:

• The running callback is the currently executing callback.

• The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.

The BusyAction property determines callback queuing behavior only when both of these conditions are met:

• The running callback contains a command that processes the callback queue, such as drawnow, figure, uifigure, getframe, waitfor, or pause.

• The value of the Interruptible property of the object that owns the running callback is 'off'.

Under these conditions, the BusyAction property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines how MATLAB handles the interrupting callback. These are possible values of the BusyAction property:

• 'queue' — Puts the interrupting callback in a queue to be processed after the running callback finishes execution.

• 'cancel' — Does not execute the interrupting callback.

BeingDeleted — Deletion status

on/off logical value

This property is read-only.

Deletion status, returned as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted property to 'on' when the DeleteFcn callback begins execution. The BeingDeleted property remains set to 'on' until the component object no longer exists.

Check the value of the BeingDeleted property to verify that the object is not about to be deleted before querying or modifying it.

Parent/Child

Parent — Parent object

Figure object | Menu object | ContextMenu object

Parent object, specified as a Figure object created using the uifigure function, another Menu object, or a ContextMenu object. You can move a menu item to a different window, or move it under a different menu by setting this property. Specify the parent as an existing Menu object to add menu items to a menu, or to nest menu items.

Children — Menu children

empty GraphicsPlaceholder array (default) | 1-D array of Menu objects

Menu children, returned as an empty GraphicsPlaceholder or a 1-D array of Menu objects.

You cannot add or remove child components using the Children property. Use this property to view the list of children or to reorder the child menu items.

To add a child menu to this list, set the Parent property of another Menu object to this Menu object.

HandleVisibility — Visibility of object handle

'on' (default) | 'callback' | 'off'

Visibility of the object handle, specified as 'on', 'callback', or 'off'.

This property controls the visibility of the object in its parent's list of children. When an object is not visible in its parent's list of children, it is not returned by functions that obtain objects by searching the object hierarchy or querying properties. These functions include get, findobj, clf, and close. Objects are valid even if they are not visible. If you can access an object, you can set and get its properties, and pass it to any function that operates on objects.

HandleVisibility Value	Description
'on'	The object is always visible.
'callback'	The object is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command-line, but allows callback functions to access it.
'off'	The object is invisible at all times. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes to the UI by another function. Set the HandleVisibility to 'off' to temporarily hide the object during the execution of that function.

Identifiers

Type — Type of graphics object

'uimenu'

This property is read-only.

Type of graphics object, returned as 'uimenu'.

Tag — Object identifier

'' (default) | character vector | string scalar

Object identifier, specified as a character vector or string scalar. You can specify a unique Tag value to serve as an identifier for an object. When you need access to the object elsewhere in your code, you can use the findobj function to search for the object based on the Tag value.

UserData — User data

[] (default) | array

User data, specified as any MATLAB array. For example, you can specify a scalar, vector, matrix, cell array, character array, table, or structure. Use this property to store arbitrary data on an object.

If you are working in App Designer, create public or private properties in the app to share data instead of using the UserData property. For more information, see Share Data Within App Designer Apps.

uifigure-Based Apps Only

Tooltip — Tooltip

'' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string array | 1-D categorical array

Note

This property is valid only for menus in App Designer and in apps created using the uifigure function.

Tooltip, specified as a character vector, cell array of character vectors, string array, or 1-D categorical array. Use this property to display a message when the user hovers the pointer over the component at run time. To display multiple lines of text, specify a cell array of character vectors or a string array. Each element in the array becomes a separate line of text. If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the full set of categories.

Examples

Menu Item with Keyboard Shortcuts and Callback

Add a menu item with keyboard shortcuts to the menu bar and define a callback that executes when the menu item is selected.

First, create a program file called importmenu.m. Within the program file:

• Create a figure.

• Add a menu called Import. Create a mnemonic keyboard shortcut for the menu by specifying '&Import' as the text label.

• Create a menu item and specify mnemonic and accelerator keyboard shortcuts.

• Define a MenuSelectedFcn callback that executes when the user clicks the menu item or uses the mnemonic or accelerator keyboard shortcuts.

Run the program file.

function importmenu
fig = uifigure;
m = uimenu(fig,'Text','&Import');
 
mitem = uimenu(m,'Text','&Text File');
mitem.Accelerator = 'T';
mitem.MenuSelectedFcn = @MenuSelected;
 
    function MenuSelected(src,event)
        file = uigetfile('*.txt');
    end
 
end

You can interact with the menu and menu item, using the keyboard, in the following ways:

• Select the Import menu by pressing Alt+I.

• Select the Text File menu item and execute the callback by pressing Alt+I+T.

• Select the Text File menu item and execute the callback by using the accelerator Ctrl+T.

When you select the Text File menu item, the Select File to Open dialog box opens with the extension field filtered to text files.

Menu with Checked Menu Item and Shared Callback

Create a checked menu item that can be selected or cleared to show a grid in axes. Share the callback with a push button so that pushing it also shows or hides the grid.

First, create a program file called plotOptions.m. Within the program file:

• Create a figure with a push button, and axes that display a grid.

• Add a menu and a menu item with mnemonics. Specify that the menu item is checked.

• Define a MenuSelectedFcn callback that hides or shows the grid when the user interacts with the menu item.

• Define a ButtonPushedFcn that uses the same callback function as the menu item.

Run the program file.

function plotOptions
fig = uifigure;
ax = uiaxes(fig);
grid(ax);
btn = uibutton(fig,'Text','Show Grid');
btn.Position = [155 325 100 20];

m = uimenu(fig,'Text','&Plot Options');
mitem = uimenu(m,'Text','Show &Grid','Checked','on');
mitem.MenuSelectedFcn = @ShowGrid;
btn.ButtonPushedFcn = @ShowGrid;

    function ShowGrid(src,event)
        grid(ax);
        if strcmp(mitem.Checked,'on')
            mitem.Checked = 'off';
        else
            mitem.Checked = 'on';
        end
    end
end

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2023b: Access information about action used to open context menu

The MenuSelectedFcn callback has additional event data when the callback is defined for a menu item in a context menu, and when that context menu is associated with a UI component. Use this data to customize and share context menus in an app.

Event Data Property	Description
ContextObject	Object that the app user right-clicked to open the context menu
InteractionInformation	Information about where in the component the app user right-clicked to open the context menu, such as the cell of a table

R2017b: Label property is not recommended

Starting in R2017b, using the Label property to specify the menu label is not recommended. Use the Text property instead. The property values are the same.

R2017b: Position property is not recommended

Starting in R2017b, using the Position property to specify the menu placement is not recommended. Modify the Children property to reorder the menu items instead. For more information, see Lay Out Apps Programmatically.

R2017b: Callback property is not recommended

Starting in R2017b, using the Callback property to assign a menu selected callback is not recommended. Use the MenuSelectedFcn property instead. The property values are the same.