EnableMenuItem function (winuser.h)

Enables, disables, or grays the specified menu item.

Syntax

BOOL EnableMenuItem(
  [in] HMENU hMenu,
  [in] UINT  uIDEnableItem,
  [in] UINT  uEnable
);

Parameters

[in] hMenu

Type: HMENU

A handle to the menu.

[in] uIDEnableItem

Type: UINT

The menu item to be enabled, disabled, or grayed, as determined by the uEnable parameter. This parameter specifies an item in a menu bar, menu, or submenu.

[in] uEnable

Type: UINT

Controls the interpretation of the uIDEnableItem parameter and indicate whether the menu item is enabled, disabled, or grayed. This parameter must be a combination of the following values.

Return value

Type: BOOL

The return value specifies the previous state of the menu item (it is either MF_DISABLED, MF_ENABLED, or MF_GRAYED). If the menu item does not exist, the return value is -1.

Remarks

An application must use the MF_BYPOSITION flag to specify the correct menu handle. If the menu handle to the menu bar is specified, the top-level menu item (an item in the menu bar) is affected. To set the state of an item in a drop-down menu or submenu by position, an application must specify a handle to the drop-down menu or submenu.

When an application specifies the MF_BYCOMMAND flag, the system checks all items that open submenus in the menu identified by the specified menu handle. Therefore, unless duplicate menu items are present, specifying the menu handle to the menu bar is sufficient.

The InsertMenu, InsertMenuItem, LoadMenuIndirect, ModifyMenu, and SetMenuItemInfo functions can also set the state (enabled, disabled, or grayed) of a menu item.

When you change a window menu, the menu bar is not immediately updated. To force the update, call DrawMenuBar.

Requirements

See also

Conceptual

DrawMenuBar

GetMenuItemID

InsertMenu

InsertMenuItem

LoadMenuIndirect

Menus

ModifyMenu

Reference

SetMenuItemInfo

WM_SYSCOMMAND