Creating multi-column and scrollable menus

The columns and rows descriptors are used to change the display of a menu. When the frame descriptor rows is defined in the menu definition file as follows:

   menu="My First Menu"
   begrow=center
   begcol=30
   rows=1
   framemsg="The message from my first menu"
   help=`message "A help message"`
   

   .
   .
   .

Menu.rows: an example of a scrollable menu

Menu.rows will create the following menu:

Menu.rows: screen output

Because the rows descriptor defines this menu to have only one row, only one menu item can be displayed at a time: as the user navigates to any of the other defined menu items, the menu will scroll to display it.

The same menu is displayed differently when, instead of defining the rows descriptor, the columns descriptor is defined as follows:

   menu="My First Menu"
   begrow=center
   begcol=30
   columns=2
   framemsg="The message from my first menu"
   help=`message "A help message"`
   

   .
   .
   .

Menu.columns: an example of a two-column menu

The display of the menu changes as follows:

Menu.columns: screen output

The columns descriptor takes precedence over the rows descriptor if there is a conflict. For example, defining both rows=1 and columns=2 in this menu definition file results in the same display of the menu as shown in ``Menu.columns: an example of a two-column menu''. That is, the menu items are displayed in two columns but not one row.