Re: creating a sub-menu

[Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net>]

On Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:39:01 -0500 ken <gebser@mousecar.com> wrote:

> Trying to create a sub-menu under "Edit".  Got part of the way there, but
> still missing something.
>
> (define-key menu-bar-edit-menu [insert-xascii-chars]
>   '(menu-item "Insert non-ASCII characters" xascii
>
>    (xascii  "\C-xaa"   "ä"        "ä` (ä)"          ("ä"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xaA"   "Ä"        "Ä` (Ä)"          ("Ä"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xao"   "ö"        "ö` (ö)"          ("ö"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xaO"   "Ö"        "Ö` (Ö)"          ("Ö"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xau"   "ü"        "ü` (ü)"          ("ü"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xaU"   "Ü"        "Ü` (Ü)"          ("Ü"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xas"   "ß"        "ß` (ß)"          ("ß"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xa<"   "«"        "«` («)"          ("«"))
>    (xascii  "\C-xa>"   "»"        "»` (»)"          ("»"))))
>
> Above yields error:
> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument arrayp xascii)

When I evaluate it in a recent Emacs build from the bzr trunk, I get no
error.  But instead of adding a submenu to the Edit menu, it just adds
the entry "Insert non-ASCII characters" (when I click on that entry, it
tries to execute the xascii command, and since I have that, I get "Lisp
error: (void-function xascii)").  If you want a submenu, then instead of
a command name, the third item in your menu-item list should be a
(variable whose value is a) keymap defining the menu items of the
submenu, e.g., something like the following:

(defun kg-insert-ä ()
  (interactive)
  (insert "ä"))

(defun kg-insert-Ä ()
  (interactive)
  (insert "Ä"))

(defvar xascii-menu
  (let ((menu (make-sparse-keymap "Insert non-ASCII characters")))
    (define-key menu [kg-insert-Ä]
      '(menu-item "Insert `Ä'" kg-insert-Ä :keys "C-x a A"))
    (define-key menu [kg-insert-ä]
      '(menu-item "Insert `ä'" kg-insert-ä :keys "C-x a a"))
    menu))

(define-key menu-bar-edit-menu [xascii-menu]
  `(menu-item "Insert non-ASCII characters" ,xascii-menu))

Steve Berman