The action (menu) bar is a list of choices in the top part of a window used to navigate between different functions. When you click on a menu title, the menu drops down to show the menu options.
The action bar style was implemented to support a menu bar approach for character based terminals (non-graphical devices). Note: LANSA supports fully graphical menu bar application by developing application using graphical forms and components.
The action bar implementation within LANSA is at the process level. A process used must be in an SAA/CUA partition.
You can define a process as an action bar by editing the process definition.
A single line menu bar process might appear like this:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|File Edit Options Help |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
If a user selected the first menu bar choice (file), then a pull down might appear like this:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| File Edit Options Help |
+----------------|------------------------------------------------+
| 1. Open |
| 2. Close |
| 3. DTX to H/O |
| 4. FAX to H/O |
+----------------+
A menu bar can use from 1 to 3 lines across the top of the panel. Each line can contain at most 6 menu options, thus totaling 18 choices within one process.
Each menu option can have an associated pull down containing up to 9 options. Thus 18 x 9 = 162 choices can be controlled from one menu bar.
When a process is defined as menu bar, details about the layout and options in the menu bar and it's associated pull downs must be specified in the "Action Bar Control Table".
Platform Considerations
IBM i: If you are defining an action bar for an IBM i application, it is recommended that you review the information in The Action Bar Control Table the LANSA for i User Guide. The LANSA for i User Guide is written specifically for IBM i applications.
Also See
Action Bar Table in the Technical Reference Guide
SET_ACTION_BAR Built-In Function in the Technical Reference Guide
Action Bar Table Tab in the Visual LANSA User Guide.
