C# 0 The Complete Reference

MainMenu

and

MenuItem

, both of which inherit the 

Menu

 class. These classes create the traditional-

style menus that have been used in Windows applications for years. This approach is still 

supported. However, version 2.0 of the .NET Framework added a second way to add 

menus to a window by using a set of classes based on 

ToolStrip

, such as 

MenuStrip

 and 

ToolStripMenuItem

. Menus based on 

ToolStrip

 have many additional capabilities and give 

a modern look and feel. Understand, though, that both approaches to menus are currently 

valid for new C# applications.

Because there are two ways to create menus, both ways are described here, beginning 

with the traditional approach.

Creating a Traditional-Style Main Menu

A traditional-style main menu is constructed from a combination of two classes. The first is 

MainMenu

, which encapsulates the overall structure of the menu. The second is 

MenuItem

,

which encapsulates an individual selection. A menu selection can either represent a final 

action, such as Close, or activate another drop-down menu. As mentioned, both