Q143290: PRB: Setting Menu Items to Grayed Does Not Disable the Item

Article: Q143290
Product(s): Microsoft C Compiler
Version(s): winnt:2.0,2.1,2.2,4.0,4.1,4.2,5.0,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbMenu kbMFC KbUIDesign kbVC150 kbVC200 kbVC400 kbVC500 kbVC600 kbGrpDSMFCATL
Last Modified: 06-MAY-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- The Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), used with:
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 4.0, 4.1 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition, version 4.2 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition, version 4.2 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition, version 5.0 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition, version 5.0 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition, version 6.0 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition, version 6.0 
   - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Learning Edition, version 6.0 
   - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, 16-bit edition, versions 1.0, 1.5, 1.51, 1.52 
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SYMPTOMS
========

If you create a popup menu item and select its Grayed property in AppStudio, the
menu item will appear Grayed in AppStudio and the GRAYED attribute will appear
in the .RC file, but the menu item may not appear Grayed (disabled) when you run
the application. The same behavior may appear for menus with the Inactive
property.

CAUSE
=====

CFrameWnd has a member variable name m_bAutoMenuEnabled, which is described in
the Class Library reference. The documentation states that this variable is set
to TRUE by default, meaning that any menu item that has an ON_COMMAND handler
but no corresponding ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI handler will be automatically enabled.
This variable overrides any setting you may have selected in your resource file.

RESOLUTION
==========

If you would like to change this behavior, either implement the
ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI handler or set the value of m_bAutoMenuEnabled to FALSE in
the derived CFrameWnd constructor.

STATUS
======

This behavior is by design.

REFERENCES
==========

The Class Library Reference, documentation for ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI and
CFrameWnd::m_bAutoMenuEnable.

Additional query words: 1.00 1.50 2.50 2.51 2.52 2.00 2.10 2.20 3.00 3.10 3.20 4.00

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Keywords          : kbMenu kbMFC KbUIDesign kbVC150 kbVC200 kbVC400 kbVC500 kbVC600 kbGrpDSMFCATL 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbMFC
Version           : winnt:2.0,2.1,2.2,4.0,4.1,4.2,5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbprb

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