Getting Menu Reference for a VI other than the current one

[eaolson]

Is there any way to get a Menu reference for a VI that isn't the current VI? There's Current VI's Menubar, but that only works on the current VI. I'd like something that does the same thing, but accepts a VI reference to a higher-level VI. I would expect to find a Property Node entry for it, but there doesn't seem to be one. This is for 8.2.

[dan_u]

I don't think there's a property (but I agree it would be useful sometimes).
If you want to access the menubar refnum for a VI I think you have to pass it as an argument or store it somewhere (indicator, LV 2 style global, global, ...) where you can access it from the other VI.

Daniel

[Pnt]

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dan_u wrote:
I don't think there's a property (but I agree it would be useful sometimes).
If you want to access the menubar refnum for a VI I think you have to pass it as an argument or store it somewhere (indicator, LV 2 style global, global, ...) where you can access it from the other VI.

Daniel

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This is not right.

You can store the Menu Reference to a global variable for example, and you can read it, in any vi you want, just like all variables.

Note: Do not try to use a property note. Use the menu functions

[dan_u]

Ahm, sorry, did I say something different?

[Pnt]

My mistake!

I misunderstood...

I was reading too fast.

[dan_u]

I know I should write in shorter and clearer sentences. Would make it easier to read, especially when reading fast.
Thanks for reminding me of that. My English might have some German structure

[eaolson]

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@dan_u wrote:
I don't think there's a property (but I agree it would be useful sometimes).
If you want to access the menubar refnum for a VI I think you have to pass it as an argument or store it somewhere (indicator, LV 2 style global, global, ...) where you can access it from the other VI.

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A functional global is what I wound up using. It just seems odd to me that there's no other way to get access to that reference.

It also seems counter-intuitive to me that a Shortcut Menu reference is only valid inside that particular frame of the Event Structure that caught it. If you're using a producer-consumer architecture, you can not send that refnum off to the consumer loop for handling; it can only used within that frame of the Event Structure.

[Pnt]

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eaolson wrote:

A functional global is what I wound up using. It just seems odd to me that there's no other way to get access to that reference.

It also seems counter-intuitive to me that a Shortcut Menu reference is only valid inside that particular frame of the Event Structure that caught it. If you're using a producer-consumer architecture, you can not send that refnum off to the consumer loop for handling; it can only used within that frame of the Event Structure.

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I am not sure what you mean. The refnum seems to be accessible from everywhere .

As i wrote above:

You can store the Menu Reference to a global variable for example, and you can read it, in any vi you want, just like all variables.

Note: Do not try to use a property note. Use the menu functions

[eaolson]

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@Pnt wrote:

I am not sure what you mean. The refnum seems to be accessible from everywhere .

As i wrote above:

You can store the Menu Reference to a global variable for example, and you can read it, in any vi you want, just like all variables.

Note: Do not try to use a property note. Use the menu functions

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Sorry, that was a little unclear. Yes, the menu refnum you get from Current VI's Menubar is usable anywhere. I was just pointing out some additional oddity about the Shortcut Menu refnum (what you get when you right-click on a control while the VI is running). Namely that if you pass that refnum out of the event loop, via a queue for example, you get error 1160, "Illegal menu."

[DougFerguson]

Still the case in 8.6. The menu reference is only available and useful in the Activation? event frame.