Option Menu (Menu Type)

Use an option menu to let the user choose a value from a fixed group of possible values.

Place only cascading and value choices in an option menu.

A cascading choice in an option menu leads to another option menu.

All of the value choices in an option menu and its cascaded descendants are mutually exclusive; the user can choose only one at a time.

When focus is on an option menu button and the user presses Select, Space, or Ctrl Space, display the associated option menu and move focus to it.

If a value choice in an option menu corresponds to the value shown in its base option menu button, make it the default choice for that menu.

Make the width of the static text area of an option menu button the same as the width of the option menu displayed from it.

When the user chooses an option menu button to display an option menu, chooses an option menu button to the option menu must not cover the graphic that indicates a cascading choice in the option menu button.

Display the cascading choice in an option menu button as a horizontal bar graphic.

Display the last value chosen in the option menu or its cascaded descendants in the option menu button as static text to the left of the bar graphic. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Do not place a graphic next to a value choice in an option menu (for example, to indicate that it is the value that was last chosen).