Volume 6A: Motif Programming Manual

*Exit.labelString: Quit

This resource sets the label for the item button to "Quit", but since the mnemonic for the button is hard−coded to "x",

there is visual feedback, and the mnemonic itself is counterintuitive.

The best way to handle this situation is to specify both the label string and the mnemonic in the same place: a resource

file or application code. For example:

*Exit.labelString: Exit

*Exit.mnemonic: x

Setting both of these resources in the same way helps ensure that an application has a consistent interface.

16.3.4 Accelerators

The purpose of menu accelerators is to provide the user with the ability to activate menu items in a PulldownMenu

without having to display the menu at all. In Figure 15−1, the Quit menu item displayed the accelerator Ctrl+C to

indicate that the user could press the CTRL−C keyboard sequence to activate that menu item and quit the application.

To install a accelerator on a menu item, use the XmNaccelerator resource to specify the accelerator translation

and XmNacceleratorText to provide visual feedback to the user. A side effect of the implementation of Motif

accelerators is that you cannot install your own accelerators using the standard methods provided by the X Toolkit

Intrinsics (such as XtInstallAccelerators() or XtInstallAllAccelerators()). These functions will

not work, and you may interfere with the Motif accelerator mechanism by attempting to use them. These resources are

defined by the Label class, but they only work for PushButtons and ToggleButtons ...