Change Shortcut of Menu Item

[Robert Maier]

I want to change the shortcuts of menu items programatically. I read in the online help that this is not possible. Does someone know a way, how I can nevertheless manage to change shortcuts?
Thanks
Robert Maier

[Nick A.]

If i've understood your question, the solution is the following:

In the caption of a menu, say Menu1, you must put an ambersand (&) in front of the letter you wish to be the shortcut for that menu. This letter will appear underlined in run-time.

i.e.

Menu1.Caption = "H&ello"



In this case, "e" is the shortcut. If you want to set "H" as the shortcut:

Menu1.Caption = "&Hello"




Hope i helped.

[Robert Maier]

No, it did not mean that. With the menu editor you can specify a key - like e.g. "Ctrl c" for a menu item, which coresponds to the Shortcut-property of the menu item. Obviously this property can not be changed during runtime. My problem is, that I want to change an application from one language to another. This implies, that the menu entries have different names and so the shortcuts, which were chosen quite reasonable for the 1st language appear odd for the other language.
Any opinions on this?
Cheers
Robert maier

[Aaron Young]

The only way I can think of to do this would be to remove the Shortcuts from the Menu via the Menu Editor and Add the Name of the Shortcut to the Menu Caption, (Which can be changed at runtime), then use the RegistHotKey and UnRegisterHotKey API's to register your own Shortcut Keys, these would be totaly under your control and to intercept the Shortcut Message and Process the Correct Menu Item you would need to Subclass the Form.

Something like this:

In a Module..

public Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" (byval hwnd as Long, byval nIndex as Long, byval dwNewLong as Long) as Long
private Declare Function CallWindowProc Lib "user32" Alias "CallWindowProcA" (byval lpPrevWndFunc as Long, byval hwnd as Long, byval Msg as Long, byval wParam as Long, byval lParam as Long) as Long
public Declare Function RegisterHotKey Lib "user32" (byval hwnd as Long, byval id as Long, byval fsModifiers as Long, byval vk as Long) as Long
public Declare Function UnregisterHotKey Lib "user32" (byval hwnd as Long, byval id as Long) as Long

private Const WM_HOTKEY = &H312
public Const MOD_ALT = &H1
public Const MOD_CONTROL = &H2
public Const MOD_SHIFT = &H4
public Const GWL_WNDPROC = (-4)

public lPrevWndProc as Long

public Function WindowProc(byval hwnd as Long, byval Msg as Long, byval wParam as Long, byval lParam as Long) as Long
If Msg = WM_HOTKEY then
'Found a Shortcut Message
'Call the Forms Shortcut Handler with the Shortcut Index Number
Form1.CallShortcut wParam
End If
WindowProc = CallWindowProc(lPrevWndProc, hwnd, Msg, wParam, lParam)
End Function



In the Form with the Menu..

private iShortcuts as Integer

private Sub Form_Load()
' Subclass the Form to Capture the Shortcut Messages (HotKeys)
lPrevWndProc = SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_WNDPROC, AddressOf WindowProc)
' Create the Shortcuts
RegisterShortcuts
End Sub

private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel as Integer)
' Remove the Shortcuts
UnRegisterShortcuts
' Remove the Subclassing
Call SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_WNDPROC, lPrevWndProc)
End Sub

private Sub mnuOpen_Click()
'Menu Item "Open" Increments a Number in the forms Caption
Caption = Val(Caption) + 1
End Sub

private Sub RegisterShortcuts()
' Create the Shortcuts for the Menu Items Here
'Use the Caption to Store the Shortcut Text"
mnuOpen.Caption = "&Open (CTRL+O)"
' Register the Shortcut Key Combo
'The 1 is a Shortcut ID/Index, increment this for each Shortcut you add
Call RegisterHotKey(hwnd, 1, MOD_CONTROL, vbKeyO)
'Repeat for other Menu Items..
'
'ie.
'mnuPrint.Caption = "&print (CTRL+P)"
'Call RegisterHotKey(hwnd, 2, MOD_CONTROL, vbKeyP)
'
'set to the Total Number of Shortcuts
iShortcuts = 1
End Sub

private Sub UnRegisterShortcuts()
Dim iIndex as Integer
'Keep things tidy and Remove the Shortcuts we registered
for iIndex = 1 to iShortcuts
Call UnregisterHotKey(hwnd, iIndex)
next
End Sub

public Sub CallShortcut(byval Index as Long)
'Handle the Processing of the Shortcuts as they are called
'The Subclassing Function will pass this Sub the
'Shortcut Index..
Select Case Index
Case 1
'Execute the Event for the Shortcut with Index of 1
mnuOpen_Click
Case 2
'Etc..
End Select
End Sub




Aaron Young
Analyst Programmer
ajyoung@pressenter.com
aarony@redwingsoftware.com

[Bruno]

>mnuOpen.Caption = "&Open (CTRL+O)"
mnuOpen.Caption = "&Open" & Chr(9) & "Ctrl+O"