ACUCOBOL-GT also supports pop-up menus for Windows environments. Pop-up menus appear over the application in a vertical orientation while the user is selecting an item, and then they disappear from the screen. Each window and control can have its own pop-up menu. A single pop-up menu can also be shared by several windows and controls. You can invoke a pop-up menu from your program, and you can also arrange for a right mouse-click to invoke a pop-up menu that is tied to a window or control.
The menu facility uses the host system's menu handler if one exists; otherwise, it uses ACUCOBOL-GT's own generic menu handler. The generic menu handler accommodates character-based systems and gives you a large measure of control over the appearance of the menu and its submenus.
Of the host systems currently supported, only Windows and Windows NT have their own menu handlers. This chapter describes the generic menu handler provided with ACUCOBOL-GT, and notes how the Windows menu handlers differ from it.
The generic menu handler displays the main menu bar horizontally along the top of the screen. The main menu bar can take one of two forms: static or pop-up.