SAMPLE: MENUITEMTEMPLATE Structure Is Documented Incorrectly

ID: Q66247

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

MenuTemp.exe is a sample program in that demonstrates how to use the MENUITEMTEMPLATE structure and the LoadMenuIndirect() function.

The MENUITEMTEMPLATE structure is found in WINDOWS.H, which declares the structure as follows: 

   typedef struct
       {
       WORD    mtOption;
       WORD    mtID;
       char    mtString[1];
       } MENUITEMTEMPLATE;
Single-item arrays, such as mtString, provide a named field to use to access memory. The actual text of the string is stored in the structure, not a pointer to text stored elsewhere.

MORE INFORMATION

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library: 

 ~ MenuTemp.exe (size: 21078 bytes)
For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from
               Online Services
The declaration of MENUITEMTEMPLATE in WINDOWS.H from the Windows SDK version 3.1 is correct. If a program attempts to assign an LPSTR to mtString, the C compiler generates an error. Listed below is an erroneous code sample: 

   MENUITEMTEMPLATE    mit;
   LPSTR               lpch;
   ...
   mit.mtString = lpch;
   ...
The mtString field is a 1-byte placeholder for the array. Because a LPSTR is 4 bytes long, it cannot be assigned to a 1-byte quantity.

The mtString[1] declaration in the structure serves as a placeholder for an arbitrary number of characters. An application that uses the MENUITEMTEMPLATE structure must allocate memory both for the template itself and the string that is copied into mtString.

The following code sample demonstrates how an application might create a MENUITEMTEMPLATE structure for a checked menu item having an ID value of 100 and "&Menuitem" as its text: 

   HANDLE              hMem;
   LPMENUITEMTEMPLATE  lpmit;
   static char         szMenuItem[] = "&Menuitem";

   ...

   // Note that the single char in the MENUITEMTEMPLATE structure
   // provides space for the null terminator on the string.
   hMem = LocalAlloc(LMEM_MOVEABLE, sizeof(MENUITEMTEMPLATE)
                                       + lstrlen(szMenuItem));

   // LocalLock function returns a near pointer;
   // no problem casting to a far pointer
   lpmit = (LPMENUITEMTEMPLATE)LocalLock(hMem);

   // Set the ID and the checked flag.
   lpmit->mtOption = MF_CHECKED;
   lpmit->mtID = 100;

   // Copy the menu item text.
   lstrcpy(lpmit->mtString, szMenuItem);

   ...

   // Make the following call, when a pointer is no longer needed.
   LocalUnlock(hMem);

   ...

   // Make the following call, when the MENUITEMTEMPLATE
   // is no longer needed.
   LocalFree(hMem);

   ...
Additional query words: Keywords : kbfile kbsample kbdocerr kb16bitonly kbMenu kbGrpUser kbWinOS310 kbWinOS300

Last Reviewed: December 25, 1998