Building a Swing Interface - Java 6 - page 289

JMenu m1 = new JMenu(“File”);
m1.add(j1);
m1.add(j2);
m1.add(j3);
m1.addSeparator();
m1.add(j4);
m1.add(j5);
m1.addSeparator();
m1.add(j6);
m1.addSeparator();
m1.add(j7);

A JMenuBar container holds one or more JMenu containers and displays each of their
names. The most common place to see a menu bar is directly below an application's title
bar.

To create a menu bar, call the JMenuBar() constructor method with no arguments. Add
menus to the end of a bar by calling its add( JMenu) method.

10

After you have created all your items, added them to menus, and added the menus to a
bar, you're ready to add them to a frame. Call the frame's setJMenuBar( JMenuBar)
method.

The following statement finishes off the current example by creating a menu bar, adding
a menu to it, and then placing the bar on a frame called gui :

JMenuBar bar = new JMenuBar();
bar.add(m7);
gui.setJMenuBar(bar);

Figure 10.14 shows what this menu looks like on an otherwise empty menu bar.

FIGURE 10.14
A frame with a
menu bar.

Although you can open and close a menu and select items, nothing happens in response.
You'll learn how to receive user input for this component and others during Day 12,
“Responding to User Input.”