JMenu with no JMenuItem

Question

Hi!
I have a JMenuBar with one JMenu (File) and its JMenuItems.
I want to add another JMenu (settings) but with no JMenuItems, so when the user clicks on settings a new window is shown.
Is this possible?

Answer 1

You need to add a MenuListener to the higher level menu. See attached sample working code.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class MenuTest
  public static void main(String args[])
    new MenuTestFrame();
class MenuTestFrame extends JFrame implements ActionListener
  JMenuBar mb = new JMenuBar();
  JMenu file = new JMenu("File");
  JMenu edit = new JMenu("Edit");
  JMenu view = new JMenu("View");
  JMenu help = new JMenu("Help");
  JMenuItem fileOpen = new JMenuItem("Open...");
  JSeparator separator = new JSeparator();
  JMenuItem fileSaveAs = new JMenuItem("Save As...");
  JMenuItem editCut = new JMenuItem("Cut");
  JMenuItem editCopy = new JMenuItem("Copy");
  JMenuItem editPaste = new JMenuItem("Paste");
  JMenuItem helpAbout = new JMenuItem("About...");
  MenuTestFrame()
    super();
    /* Components should be added to the container's content pane */
    Container cp = getContentPane();
    /* Add menu items to menus */
    file.add(fileOpen);
    file.add(separator);
    file.add(fileSaveAs);
    edit.add(editCut);
    edit.add(editCopy);
    edit.add(editPaste);
    help.add(helpAbout);
    /* Add menus to menubar */
    mb.add(file);
    mb.add(edit);
    mb.add(view);
    mb.add(help);
    /* Set menubar */
    setJMenuBar(mb);
    /* Add the action listeners */
    fileOpen.addActionListener(this);
    fileSaveAs.addActionListener(this);
    editCut.addActionListener(this);
    editCopy.addActionListener(this);
    editPaste.addActionListener(this);
    helpAbout.addActionListener(this);
    /* Add menu listener */
    view.addMenuListener(new MenuListener() {
      public void menuCanceled(MenuEvent evt) {}
      public void menuDeselected(MenuEvent evt) {}
      public void menuSelected(MenuEvent evt)
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
          public void run() {
            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(MenuTestFrame.this,"Menu test dialog!","Message",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
    /* Add the window listener */
    addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter()
      public void windowClosing(WindowEvent evt)
        dispose();
        System.exit(0);
    /* Size the frame */
    setSize(200,200);
    /* Center the frame */
    Dimension screenDim = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
    Rectangle frameDim = getBounds();
    setLocation((screenDim.width - frameDim.width) / 2,(screenDim.height - frameDim.height) / 2);
    /* Show the frame */
    setVisible(true);
  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt)
    Object obj = evt.getSource();
    if (obj == fileOpen);
    else if (obj == fileSaveAs);
    else if (obj == editCut);
    else if (obj == editCopy);
    else if (obj == editPaste);
    else if (obj == helpAbout);
}