fm:menu-out

fm:menu-out is used to set groups of actions with common namespaces out on the screen.

SYNTAX

The following code shows the syntax of an ‘fm:menu-out’:

<fm:menu-out namespace1:mode=”.” fox:flow=”across”/>

The mode attribute works in the same way as it does on any set out, stating what namespaces should be used. The flow attribute tells FOX whether to set the actions out “across” the screen, or “down”.

CONCEPTS

• Used to produce a group of actions (i.e. top and side menus)
• Will automatically set out all the included actions in a table

• Use namespaces to group the actions
• Can tell the menu-out what namespace(s) should be used
• More than one namespace can be specified at a time
• Menu-out will only set out the actions with the specified namespaces

• Horizontal and vertical menus as buttons or links.
• Actions will either be set out across the screen or down the screen
• The namespace:widget can be overridden on the fm:action definition

EXAMPLES

The following are 3 action statements:

<fm:action name="action1" ted:run="." fox:widget="button" ted:prompt="Action 1">
  <fm:do>
ACTION
  </fm:do>
</fm:action>
<fm:action name="action2" tom:run="." tom:widget="button" tom:prompt="Action 2">
  <fm:do>
ACTION
  </fm:do>
</fm:action>
<fm:action name="action3" ted:run="." ted:widget="button" tom:run="." tom:widget="link" fox:prompt="Action 3">
  <fm:do>
ACTION
  </fm:do>
</fm:action>

The namespaces we have used are ted and tom, so the menu-out command would look like this:

<fm:menu-out ted:mode="." fox:flow="down"/>

This will set out only the actions with ted:run down the screen:

If the menu-out command looked like this:

<fm:menu-out ted:mode="." fox:flow="across"/>

The result will look like this:

Using the tom namespace, action 3 is rendered as a link rather than a button:

          <fm:menu-out tom:mode="." fox:flow="down"/>

By using both name spaces, all the buttons are set out:

<fm:menu-out tom:mode="." ted:mode="." fox:flow="down"/>

EXERCISES

Please use your XX_ORDERMODULE (where XX are your initials) file for the following exercises.

Exercise 1

Create a new namespace called “errors” and change the namespaces of action-show-errors and action-clear-errors from “order” to “errors”.

Replace the action-outs for action-show-errors and action-clear errors with a menu-out that sets-out the actions down the screen.

Exercise 2

Replace the remaining action-outs with a menu-out that sets-out the actions across the screen.