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<title>Writing a Menu (GNU Texinfo 6.7)</title>

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<span id="Writing-a-Menu"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Menu-Example.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Menu Example</a>, Up: <a href="Menus.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Menus</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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<hr>
<span id="Writing-a-Menu-1"></span><h4 class="subsection">4.9.1 Writing a Menu</h4>
<span id="index-Writing-a-menu"></span>
<span id="index-Menu-writing"></span>

<p>A menu consists of a <code>@menu</code> command on a line by itself,
followed by menu entry lines or menu comment lines, and then followed
by an <code>@end menu</code> command on a line by itself.
</p>
<p>A menu looks like this:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@menu
Larger Units of Text

* Files::                       All about handling files.
* Multiples: Buffers.           Multiple buffers; editing
                                 several files at once.
@end menu
</pre></div>

<span id="index-Spaces_002c-in-menus"></span>
<p>In a menu, every line that begins with an &lsquo;<samp>*&nbsp;</samp>&rsquo; is a <em>menu
entry</em>.  (Note the space after the asterisk.)
</p>
<p>A line that does not start with an &lsquo;<samp>*&nbsp;</samp>&rsquo; may also appear in a
menu.  Such a line is not a menu entry but rather a <em>menu comment</em>
line that appears in the Info file.  In the example above, the line
&lsquo;<samp>Larger Units of Text</samp>&rsquo; is such a menu comment line; the two lines
starting with &lsquo;<samp>*&nbsp;</samp>&rsquo; are menu entries.
</p>
<span id="index-Hierarchical-documents_002c-and-menus"></span>
<p>Technically, menus can carry you to any node, regardless of the
structure of the document; even to nodes in a different Info file.
However, we do not recommend making use of this, because it is hard
for readers to follow.  Also, the <code>makeinfo</code> implicit pointer
creation feature (see <a href="makeinfo-Pointer-Creation.html"><code>makeinfo</code> Pointer Creation</a>) and GNU
Emacs Texinfo mode updating commands work only to create menus of
subordinate nodes in a hierarchically structured document.  It is much
better to use cross-references to refer to arbitrary nodes.
</p>
<span id="index-Menus_002c-automatically-generating"></span>
<span id="index-validatemenus"></span>
<p><code>makeinfo</code> can automatically generate menus in nodes for Info 
and HTML output, based on the chapter structure of the document.  To 
specify that you want it to do this, place the line 
&lsquo;<samp>@validatemenus off</samp>&rsquo; near the beginning of the document.
</p>
<p>In Info, a user selects a node with the <kbd>m</kbd> (<code>Info-menu</code>)
command.  The menu entry name is what the user types after the <kbd>m</kbd>
command.
<span id="index-accesskey_002c-in-HTML-output-of-menus"></span>
In the HTML output from <code>makeinfo</code>, the <code>accesskey</code>
attribute is used with the values &lsquo;<samp>1</samp>&rsquo;&hellip;&lsquo;<samp>9</samp>&rsquo; for the
first nine entries.  This allows people using web browsers to follow
the first menu entries using (typically) <kbd>M-<var>digit</var></kbd>, e.g.,
<kbd>M-1</kbd> for the first entry.
</p>
<hr>
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<p>
Next: <a href="Menu-Example.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Menu Example</a>, Up: <a href="Menus.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Menus</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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