C++ - MFC - Set height of CMenu

Question

Is there any option to set the height if a CMenu?

I know one can draw a custom menu item and use a custom size there CMenu::MeasureItem, but is there a way to set/change the height of the menu(bar) itself?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Changing the height of a menu-bar is relatively easy, if your menu-bar is derived from the CMFCMenuBar class*. In this case, you simply need to override the CalcLayout member and specify the required height in the .y member of the returned CSize object. Here's a minimal example:

// Class declaration...
class MyMenuBar : public CMFCMenuBar {
public:     // Standard constructors and destructor ...
    MyMenuBar(void) : CMFCMenuBar() {}
    inline  MyMenuBar(const MyMenuBar&) = delete;
    inline  MyMenuBar& operator = (MyMenuBar&) = delete;
    virtual ~MyMenuBar(void) {}
protected:  // Overrides for custom behaviour ...
    CSize CalcLayout(DWORD dwMode, int nLength = -1) override;
};

// Implementation...
CSize MyMenuBar::CalcLayout(DWORD dwMode, int nLength)
{
    CSize cs = CMFCMenuBar::CalcLayout(dwMode, nLength); // Call base-class to get width
    cs.cy = 42; // Set this to your desired menu-bar height (in pixels)
    return cs;
}

To use such a menu-bar, you need only to declare it as a member of your main frame window and then create it and set its style/properties when handling the WM_CREATE message for that frame window (typically, in MFC apps, this will be in the OnCreate() member override).

Note: You could, in theory, use this method with any base-class that has the CalcLayout member (such as CMFCToolbar); however, the CMFCMenuBar class allows the framework to handle all other expected actions from the contained menu.