Window Menu

Native application menus can be attached to both to a window or system tray. Available on desktop.

Creating a base-level menu

To create a base-level native window menu, and attach to a window:

JavaScript

Use the Menu.new static function to create a window menu:

import { Menu } from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [
    {
      id: 'quit',
      text: 'Quit',
      action: () => {
        console.log('quit pressed');
      },
    },
  ],
});

// If a window was not created with an explicit menu or had one set explicitly,
// this menu will be assigned to it.
menu.setAsAppMenu().then((res) => {
  console.log('menu set success', res);
});

Rust

#![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]
use tauri::menu::{MenuBuilder};

fn main() {
  tauri::Builder::default()
        .setup(|app| {
            let menu = MenuBuilder::new(app)
                .text("open", "Open")
                .text("close", "Close")
                .build()?;

            app.set_menu(menu)?;

            Ok(())
        })
}

Listening to events on custom menu items

Each custom menu item triggers an event when clicked. Use the on_menu_event API to handle them.

JavaScript

import { Menu } from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [
    {
      id: 'Open',
      text: 'open',
      action: () => {
        console.log('open pressed');
      },
    },
    {
      id: 'Close',
      text: 'close',
      action: () => {
        console.log('close pressed');
      },
    },
  ],
});

await menu.setAsAppMenu();

Rust

#![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]
use tauri::menu::{MenuBuilder};

fn main() {
  tauri::Builder::default()
        .setup(|app| {
            let menu = MenuBuilder::new(app)
                .text("open", "Open")
                .text("close", "Close")
                .build()?;

            app.set_menu(menu)?;

            app.on_menu_event(move |app_handle: &tauri::AppHandle, event| {

                println!("menu event: {:?}", event.id());

                match event.id().0.as_str() {
                    "open" => {
                        println!("open event");
                    }
                    "close" => {
                        println!("close event");
                    }
                    _ => {
                        println!("unexpected menu event");
                    }
                }
            });

            Ok(())
        })
}

Creating a multi-level menu

Multi-level menus allow you to group menu items under categories like “File,” “Edit,” etc. These will appear as part of the application window for Windows or Linux, or in the menu bar on MacOS.

Note: When using submenus on MacOS, all items must be grouped under a submenu. Top-level items will be ignored. Additionally, the first submenu will be placed under the application’s about menu by default, regardless of the text label. You should include a submenu as the first entry (say, an “About” submenu) to fill this space.

JavaScript

import { Menu, MenuItem, Submenu } from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';

// Will become the application submenu on MacOS
const aboutSubmenu = await Submenu.new({
  text: 'About',
  items: [
    await MenuItem.new({
      id: 'quit',
      text: 'Quit',
      action: () => {
        console.log('Quit pressed');
      },
    }),
  ],
});

const fileSubmenu = await Submenu.new({
  text: 'File',
  items: [
    await MenuItem.new({
      id: 'new',
      text: 'New',
      action: () => {
        console.log('New clicked');
      },
    }),
    await MenuItem.new({
      id: 'open',
      text: 'Open',
      action: () => {
        console.log('Open clicked');
      },
    }),
    await MenuItem.new({
      id: 'save_as',
      text: 'Save As...',
      action: () => {
        console.log('Save As clicked');
      },
    }),
  ],
});

const editSubmenu = await Submenu.new({
  text: 'Edit',
  items: [
    await MenuItem.new({
      id: 'undo',
      text: 'Undo',
      action: () => {
        console.log('Undo clicked');
      },
    }),
    await MenuItem.new({
      id: 'redo',
      text: 'Redo',
      action: () => {
        console.log('Redo clicked');
      },
    }),
  ],
});

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [aboutSubmenu, fileSubmenu, editSubmenu],
});

menu.setAsAppMenu();

Rust

use tauri::menu::{CheckMenuItemBuilder, MenuBuilder, SubmenuBuilder};

fn main() {
  tauri::Builder::default()
        .setup(|app| {
            let file_menu = SubmenuBuilder::new(app, "File")
                .text("open", "Open")
                .text("quit", "Quit")
                .build()?;

            let lang_str = "en";
            let check_sub_item_1 = CheckMenuItemBuilder::new("English")
                .id("en")
                .checked(lang_str == "en")
                .build(app)?;

            let check_sub_item_2 = CheckMenuItemBuilder::new("Chinese")
                .id("en")
                .checked(lang_str == "en")
                .enabled(false)
                .build(app)?;

             // Load icon from path
            let icon_image = Image::from_bytes(include_bytes!("../icons/icon.png")).unwrap();

            let icon_item = IconMenuItemBuilder::new("icon")
                .icon(icon_image)
                .build(app)?;

            let other_item = SubmenuBuilder::new(app, "language")
                .item(&check_sub_item_1)
                .item(&check_sub_item_2)
                .build()?;

            let menu = MenuBuilder::new(app)
                .items(&[&file_menu, &other_item,&icon_item])
                .build()?;

            app.set_menu(menu)?;

            Ok(())
        })
}

Note that you need to enable image-ico or image-png feature to use this API:

src-tauri/Cargo.toml

[dependencies]
tauri = { version = "...", features = ["...", "image-png"] }

Creating predefined menu

To use built-in (native) menu items that has predefined behavior by the operating system or Tauri:

JavaScript

import { Menu, PredefinedMenuItem } from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';

const copy = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'copy-text',
  item: 'Copy',
});

const separator = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'separator-text',
  item: 'Separator',
});

const undo = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'undo-text',
  item: 'Undo',
});

const redo = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'redo-text',
  item: 'Redo',
});

const cut = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'cut-text',
  item: 'Cut',
});

const paste = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'paste-text',
  item: 'Paste',
});

const select_all = await PredefinedMenuItem.new({
  text: 'select_all-text',
  item: 'SelectAll',
});

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [copy, separator, undo, redo, cut, paste, select_all],
});

await menu.setAsAppMenu();

Rust

#![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]
use tauri::menu::{MenuBuilder, PredefinedMenuItem};

fn main() {
  tauri::Builder::default()
        .setup(|app| {
      let menu = MenuBuilder::new(app)
                .copy()
                .separator()
                .undo()
                .redo()
                .cut()
                .paste()
                .select_all()
                .item(&PredefinedMenuItem::copy(app, Some("custom text"))?)
                .build()?;
            app.set_menu(menu)?;

            Ok(())
        })
}

For more preset capabilities, please refer to the documentation PredefinedMenuItem.

Tip

The menu builder has dedicated methods to add each predefined menu item so you can call .copy() instead of .item(&PredefinedMenuItem::copy(app, None)?).

Change menu status

If you want to change the status of the menu, such as text, icon, or check status, you can set_menu again:

JavaScript

import {
  Menu,
  CheckMenuItem,
  IconMenuItem,
  MenuItem,
} from '@tauri-apps/api/menu';
import { Image } from '@tauri-apps/api/image';

let currentLanguage = 'en';

const check_sub_item_en = await CheckMenuItem.new({
  id: 'en',
  text: 'English',
  checked: currentLanguage === 'en',
  action: () => {
    currentLanguage = 'en';
    check_sub_item_en.setChecked(currentLanguage === 'en');
    check_sub_item_zh.setChecked(currentLanguage === 'cn');
    console.log('English pressed');
  },
});

const check_sub_item_zh = await CheckMenuItem.new({
  id: 'zh',
  text: 'Chinese',
  checked: currentLanguage === 'zh',
  action: () => {
    currentLanguage = 'zh';
    check_sub_item_en.setChecked(currentLanguage === 'en');
    check_sub_item_zh.setChecked(currentLanguage === 'zh');
    check_sub_item_zh.setAccelerator('Ctrl+L');
    console.log('Chinese pressed');
  },
});

// Load icon from path
const icon = await Image.fromPath('../src/icon.png');
const icon2 = await Image.fromPath('../src/icon-2.png');

const icon_item = await IconMenuItem.new({
  id: 'icon_item',
  text: 'Icon Item',
  icon: icon,
  action: () => {
    icon_item.setIcon(icon2);
    console.log('icon pressed');
  },
});

const text_item = await MenuItem.new({
  id: 'text_item',
  text: 'Text Item',
  action: () => {
    text_item.setText('Text Item Changed');
    console.log('text pressed');
  },
});

const menu = await Menu.new({
  items: [
    {
      id: 'change menu',
      text: 'change_menu',
      items: [text_item, check_sub_item_en, check_sub_item_zh, icon_item],
    },
  ],
});

await menu.setAsAppMenu();

Rust

// change-menu-status
#![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]

use tauri::{
    image::Image,
    menu::{CheckMenuItemBuilder, IconMenuItem, MenuBuilder, MenuItem, SubmenuBuilder},
};

fn main() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .setup(|app| {
            let check_sub_item_en = CheckMenuItemBuilder::with_id("en", "EN")
                .checked(true)
                .build(app)?;

            let check_sub_item_zh = CheckMenuItemBuilder::with_id("zh", "ZH")
                .checked(false)
                .build(app)?;

            let text_menu = MenuItem::with_id(
                app,
                "change_text",
                &"Change menu".to_string(),
                true,
                Some("Ctrl+Z"),
            )
            .unwrap();

            let icon_menu = IconMenuItem::with_id(
                app,
                "change_icon",
                &"Change icon menu",
                true,
                Some(Image::from_bytes(include_bytes!("../icons/icon.png")).unwrap()),
                Some("Ctrl+F"),
            )
            .unwrap();

            let menu_item = SubmenuBuilder::new(app, "Change menu")
                .item(&text_menu)
                .item(&icon_menu)
                .items(&[&check_sub_item_en, &check_sub_item_zh])
                .build()?;
            let menu = MenuBuilder::new(app).items(&[&menu_item]).build()?;
            app.set_menu(menu)?;
            app.on_menu_event(move |_app_handle: &tauri::AppHandle, event| {
                match event.id().0.as_str() {
                    "change_text" => {
                        text_menu
                            .set_text("changed menu text")
                            .expect("Change text error");

                        text_menu
                            .set_text("changed menu text")
                            .expect("Change text error");
                    }
                    "change_icon" => {
                        icon_menu
                            .set_text("changed menu-icon text")
                            .expect("Change text error");
                        icon_menu
                            .set_icon(Some(
                                Image::from_bytes(include_bytes!("../icons/icon-2.png")).unwrap(),
                            ))
                            .expect("Change icon error");
                    }

                    "en" | "zh" => {
                        check_sub_item_en
                            .set_checked(event.id().0.as_str() == "en")
                            .expect("Change check error");
                        check_sub_item_zh
                            .set_checked(event.id().0.as_str() == "zh")
                            .expect("Change check error");
                        check_sub_item_zh.set_accelerator(Some("Ctrl+L"))
                        .expect("Change accelerator error");
                    }
                    _ => {
                        println!("unexpected menu event");
                    }
                }
            });

            Ok(())
        })
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}