JavaFX Menu Tutorial with Examples

JavaFX Menu
JavaFX Menu example
CheckMenuItem, RadioMenuItem and SeparatorMenuItem
Event and Accelerator for MenuItem
JavaFX ContextMenu

1. JavaFX Menu

Menu items:

MenuItem
CheckMenuItem
RadioMenuItem
SeparatorMenuItem

2. JavaFX Menu example

Here is a simple example, create a MenuBar with Menus and MenuItems.

MenuDemo.java

package org.o7planning.javafx.menu;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Menu;
import javafx.scene.control.MenuBar;
import javafx.scene.control.MenuItem;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class MenuDemo extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {

        // Create MenuBar
        MenuBar menuBar = new MenuBar();
       
        // Create menus
        Menu fileMenu = new Menu("File");
        Menu editMenu = new Menu("Edit");
        Menu helpMenu = new Menu("Help");
       
        // Create MenuItems
        MenuItem newItem = new MenuItem("New");
        MenuItem openFileItem = new MenuItem("Open File");
        MenuItem exitItem = new MenuItem("Exit");
       
        MenuItem copyItem = new MenuItem("Copy");
        MenuItem pasteItem = new MenuItem("Paste");
       
        // Add menuItems to the Menus
        fileMenu.getItems().addAll(newItem, openFileItem, exitItem);
        editMenu.getItems().addAll(copyItem, pasteItem);
       
        // Add Menus to the MenuBar
        menuBar.getMenus().addAll(fileMenu, editMenu, helpMenu);
       
        BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
        root.setTop(menuBar);
        Scene scene = new Scene(root, 350, 200);
       
        stage.setTitle("JavaFX Menu (o7planning.org)");
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Application.launch(args);
    }

}

3. CheckMenuItem, RadioMenuItem and SeparatorMenuItem

Similarly a Button, you can create a MenuItem with text and Image. A menu can contain MenuItem, CheckMenuItem, RadioMenuItem or SeparatorMenuItem to separate the items.

MenuDemo2.java

package org.o7planning.javafx.menu;

import org.o7planning.javafx.utils.MyImageUtils;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.CheckMenuItem;
import javafx.scene.control.Menu;
import javafx.scene.control.MenuBar;
import javafx.scene.control.MenuItem;
import javafx.scene.control.RadioMenuItem;
import javafx.scene.control.SeparatorMenuItem;
import javafx.scene.control.ToggleGroup;
import javafx.scene.image.Image;
import javafx.scene.image.ImageView;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class MenuDemo2 extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {

        // Create MenuBar
        MenuBar menuBar = new MenuBar();

        // Create menus
        Menu fileMenu = new Menu("File");
        Menu editMenu = new Menu("Edit");
        Menu projectMenu = new Menu("Project");
        Menu helpMenu = new Menu("Help");

        // Create MenuItems
        MenuItem newItem = new MenuItem("New");
        Image newImage = MyImageUtils.getImage("/org/o7planning/javafx/icon/new-16.png");
        newItem.setGraphic(new ImageView(newImage));

        MenuItem openFileItem = new MenuItem("Open File");
        // SeparatorMenuItem.
        SeparatorMenuItem separator= new SeparatorMenuItem();
        MenuItem exitItem = new MenuItem("Exit");

        MenuItem copyItem = new MenuItem("Copy");
        MenuItem pasteItem = new MenuItem("Paste");
       
        // CheckMenuItem
        CheckMenuItem buildItem = new CheckMenuItem("Build Automatically");
        Image buildImage = MyImageUtils.getImage("/org/o7planning/javafx/icon/build-16.png");
        buildItem.setGraphic(new ImageView(buildImage));
        buildItem.setSelected(true);

        // RadioMenuItem
        RadioMenuItem updateItem1 = new RadioMenuItem("Auto Update");
        RadioMenuItem updateItem2 = new RadioMenuItem("Ask for Update");
       
        ToggleGroup group = new ToggleGroup();
        updateItem1.setToggleGroup(group);
        updateItem2.setToggleGroup(group);
        updateItem1.setSelected(true);
       
       
       
        // Add menuItems to the Menus
        fileMenu.getItems().addAll(newItem, openFileItem,separator, exitItem);
        editMenu.getItems().addAll(copyItem, pasteItem);
        projectMenu.getItems().add(buildItem);
        helpMenu.getItems().addAll(updateItem1,updateItem2);

        // Add Menus to the MenuBar
        menuBar.getMenus().addAll(fileMenu, editMenu, projectMenu, helpMenu);

        BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
        root.setTop(menuBar);
        Scene scene = new Scene(root, 350, 200);

        stage.setTitle("JavaFX Menu (o7planning.org)");
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Application.launch(args);
    }

}

MyImageUtils.java

package org.o7planning.javafx.utils;

import java.io.InputStream;

import javafx.scene.image.Image;

public class MyImageUtils {

    // sourcePath: /org/o7planning/javafx/icon/java-16.png
    public static Image getImage(String sourcePath) {
        InputStream input = null;
        try {
            Class<?> c = MyImageUtils.class;
            input = c.getResourceAsStream(sourcePath);
            Image img = new Image(input);
            return img;
        } finally {
            closeQuietly(input);
        }

    }

    private static void closeQuietly(InputStream is) {
        try {
            if (is != null) {
                is.close();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {

        }
    }
}

4. Event and Accelerator for MenuItem

With Menu Item, you can handle the event when the user clicks on it and set the accelerator for MenuItem. The example below put shortcuts Ctrl + X to "Exit" item. Users can press Ctrl + X to exit the application.

// Set Accelerator for Exit MenuItem.
exitItem.setAccelerator(KeyCombination.keyCombination("Ctrl+X"));

// When user click on the Exit item.
exitItem.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {

    @Override
    public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
        System.exit(0);
    }
});

View full example:

MenuEventDemo.java

package org.o7planning.javafx.menu;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Menu;
import javafx.scene.control.MenuBar;
import javafx.scene.control.MenuItem;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyCombination;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class MenuEventDemo extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {

        // Create MenuBar
        MenuBar menuBar = new MenuBar();

        // Create menus
        Menu fileMenu = new Menu("File");
        Menu editMenu = new Menu("Edit");
        Menu helpMenu = new Menu("Help");

        // Create MenuItems
        MenuItem newItem = new MenuItem("New");
        MenuItem openFileItem = new MenuItem("Open File");
        MenuItem exitItem = new MenuItem("Exit");

        // Set Accelerator for Exit MenuItem.
        exitItem.setAccelerator(KeyCombination.keyCombination("Ctrl+X"));

        // When user click on the Exit item.
        exitItem.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {

            @Override
            public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
                System.exit(0);
            }
        });

        // Add menuItems to the Menus
        fileMenu.getItems().addAll(newItem, openFileItem, exitItem);

        // Add Menus to the MenuBar
        menuBar.getMenus().addAll(fileMenu, editMenu, helpMenu);

        BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
        root.setTop(menuBar);
        Scene scene = new Scene(root, 350, 200);

        stage.setTitle("JavaFX Menu (o7planning.org)");
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Application.launch(args);
    }

}

5. JavaFX ContextMenu

See more:

JavaFX ContextMenu