Question

I constructed a JMenu and would now like to add menu items. So what I have is:

• JMenu jm
• Action act

Now, for adding a menu item triggering action act: Does it make a difference if I use

jm.add(act);

or

jm.add(new JMenuItem(act));

?

Answer 1

According to the documentation for JMenu.add(Action), it will create a new menu item for you, so they are essentially the same. So it’s ultimately a convenience method.

However, it also states:

As of 1.3, this is no longer the
preferred method for adding Actions to
a container. Instead it is recommended
to configure a control with an action
using setAction, and then add that
control directly to the Container.

And if we look at the source code for JMenu (retrieved from Google Code Search), this is what the add(Action) method looks like:

public JMenuItem add(Action a) {
    JMenuItem mi = createActionComponent(a);
    mi.setAction(a);
    add(mi);
    return mi;
}

So no, there isn’t a big difference. But I’d still follow the documentation’s recommendation by manually making a control anyway.