InsertMenuA function (winuser.h)

Article
02/09/2023

Inserts a new menu item into a menu, moving other items down the menu.

Note The InsertMenu function has been superseded by the InsertMenuItem function. You can still use InsertMenu, however, if you do not need any of the extended features of InsertMenuItem.

Syntax

BOOL InsertMenuA(
  [in]           HMENU    hMenu,
  [in]           UINT     uPosition,
  [in]           UINT     uFlags,
  [in]           UINT_PTR uIDNewItem,
  [in, optional] LPCSTR   lpNewItem
);

Parameters

[in] hMenu

Type: HMENU

A handle to the menu to be changed.

[in] uPosition

Type: UINT

The menu item before which the new menu item is to be inserted, as determined by the uFlags parameter.

[in] uFlags

Type: UINT

Controls the interpretation of the uPosition parameter and the content, appearance, and behavior of the new menu item. This parameter must include one of the following required values.

Value	Meaning
MF_BYCOMMAND 0x00000000L	Indicates that the uPosition parameter gives the identifier of the menu item. The MF_BYCOMMAND flag is the default if neither the MF_BYCOMMAND nor MF_BYPOSITION flag is specified.
MF_BYPOSITION 0x00000400L	Indicates that the uPosition parameter gives the zero-based relative position of the new menu item. If uPosition is -1, the new menu item is appended to the end of the menu.

The parameter must also include at least one of the following values.

Value	Meaning
MF_BITMAP 0x00000004L	Uses a bitmap as the menu item. The lpNewItem parameter contains a handle to the bitmap.
MF_CHECKED 0x00000008L	Places a check mark next to the menu item. If the application provides check-mark bitmaps (see SetMenuItemBitmaps), this flag displays the check-mark bitmap next to the menu item.
MF_DISABLED 0x00000002L	Disables the menu item so that it cannot be selected, but does not gray it.
MF_ENABLED 0x00000000L	Enables the menu item so that it can be selected and restores it from its grayed state.
MF_GRAYED 0x00000001L	Disables the menu item and grays it so it cannot be selected.
MF_MENUBARBREAK 0x00000020L	Functions the same as the MF_MENUBREAK flag for a menu bar. For a drop-down menu, submenu, or shortcut menu, the new column is separated from the old column by a vertical line.
MF_MENUBREAK 0x00000040L	Places the item on a new line (for menu bars) or in a new column (for a drop-down menu, submenu, or shortcut menu) without separating columns.
MF_OWNERDRAW 0x00000100L	Specifies that the item is an owner-drawn item. Before the menu is displayed for the first time, the window that owns the menu receives a WM_MEASUREITEM message to retrieve the width and height of the menu item. The WM_DRAWITEM message is then sent to the window procedure of the owner window whenever the appearance of the menu item must be updated.
MF_POPUP 0x00000010L	Specifies that the menu item opens a drop-down menu or submenu. The uIDNewItem parameter specifies a handle to the drop-down menu or submenu. This flag is used to add a menu name to a menu bar or a menu item that opens a submenu to a drop-down menu, submenu, or shortcut menu.
MF_SEPARATOR 0x00000800L	Draws a horizontal dividing line. This flag is used only in a drop-down menu, submenu, or shortcut menu. The line cannot be grayed, disabled, or highlighted. The lpNewItem and uIDNewItem parameters are ignored.
MF_STRING 0x00000000L	Specifies that the menu item is a text string; the lpNewItem parameter is a pointer to the string.
MF_UNCHECKED 0x00000000L	Does not place a check mark next to the menu item (default). If the application supplies check-mark bitmaps (see the SetMenuItemBitmaps function), this flag displays the clear bitmap next to the menu item.

[in] uIDNewItem

Type: UINT_PTR

The identifier of the new menu item or, if the uFlags parameter has the MF_POPUP flag set, a handle to the drop-down menu or submenu.

[in, optional] lpNewItem

Type: LPCTSTR

The content of the new menu item. The interpretation of lpNewItem depends on whether the uFlags parameter includes the MF_BITMAP, MF_OWNERDRAW, or MF_STRING flag, as follows.

Value	Meaning
MF_BITMAP 0x00000004L	Contains a bitmap handle.
MF_OWNERDRAW 0x00000100L	Contains an application-supplied value that can be used to maintain additional data related to the menu item. The value is in the itemData member of the structure pointed to by the lParam parameter of the WM_MEASUREITEM or WM_DRAWITEM message sent when the menu item is created or its appearance is updated.
MF_STRING 0x00000000L	Contains a pointer to a null-terminated string (the default).

Return value

Type: BOOL

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

The application must call the DrawMenuBar function whenever a menu changes, whether the menu is in a displayed window.

The following groups of flags cannot be used together:

MF_BYCOMMAND and MF_BYPOSITION
MF_DISABLED, MF_ENABLED, and MF_GRAYED
MF_BITMAP, MF_STRING, MF_OWNERDRAW, and MF_SEPARATOR
MF_MENUBARBREAK and MF_MENUBREAK
MF_CHECKED and MF_UNCHECKED

Note

The winuser.h header defines InsertMenu as an alias which automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winuser.h (include Windows.h)
Library	User32.lib
DLL	User32.dll
API set	ext-ms-win-ntuser-menu-l1-1-0 (introduced in Windows 8)