Member Avatar for paul1145

I would like to assign a CTRL Q shortcut to the Quit submenuitem (filesubitem1) but can't find
the right syntax. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    If user_wants_file_menu = True Then
        Dim fileItem As ToolStripMenuItem = New ToolStripMenuItem("File")
        Dim filesubitem1 As ToolStripMenuItem = New ToolStripMenuItem("Quit")
        filesubitem1.ShowShortcutKeys = True
        filesubitem1.ShortcutKeys = Shortcut.CtrlQ  'this errors at compile time
        fileItem.DropDownItems.Add(filesubitem1)
        menustrip.Items.Add(fileItem)
        AddHandler filesubitem1.Click, AddressOf QuitToolStripMenuItem_Click_1
    End If
  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by djjeavons

Dani AI

Generated

Quick summary: the compile error comes from assigning the older System.Windows.Forms.Shortcut value to ShortcutKeys, which is a System.Windows.Forms.Keys enum. As noted, Option Strict On prevents implicit conversions. A cleaner runtime approach is to use the Keys flags directly.

Preferred runtime assignment:

filesubitem1.ShortcutKeys = Keys.Control Or Keys.Q

Notes and troubleshooting:

  • Use the Keys enum because it is the type ShortcutKeys expects; combining modifier + key is done with bitwise Or (e.g. Control Or Alt Or Q).
  • If existing code already uses the legacy Shortcut enum and changing it is not desirable, an explicit conversion is required when Option Strict is On (see for that direction).
  • When creating the MenuStrip at runtime (as in 's sample), make sure the strip is added to the form and set as the form's main menu so shortcuts are recognized:
    Me.MainMenuStrip = mainMenu
Me.Controls.Add(mainMenu)
  • If the shortcut still does not fire, check that the menu item is Enabled, no focused control is swallowing the key, and that the form is active. For system/global hotkeys (outside the app) a different approach (RegisterHotKey) is required.

Acknowledgement: the original runtime setup from is fine; choosing Keys.Control Or Keys.Q avoids conversion headaches and is the most straightforward fix for 's Ctrl+Q requirement.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    Dim mainMenu As New MenuStrip
    Dim fileMenu As New ToolStripMenuItem("File")
    Dim fileQuit As New ToolStripMenuItem("Quit")

    fileQuit.ShowShortcutKeys = True
    fileQuit.ShortcutKeys = Shortcut.CtrlQ
    fileMenu.DropDownItems.Add(fileQuit)

    mainMenu.Items.Add(fileMenu)

    AddHandler fileQuit.Click, AddressOf QuitToolStripMenuItem_Click
    Me.Controls.Add(mainMenu)

End Sub

Private Sub QuitToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs)
    Me.Close()
End Sub

End Class

Edited by Reverend Jim
Member Avatar for djjeavons

Hi

I'm guessing you have Option Strict On (which is great) as if it was Off then both your code and that posted by Reverend Jim would work fine. But with Option Strict On you get a conversion error from System.Windows.Forms.Shortcut to System.Windows.Forms.Keys.

To fix, you need to cast the shortcut key to System.Windows.Forms.Keys:

filesubitem1.ShortcutKeys = DirectCast(Shortcut.CtrlQ, Keys)

HTH

commented: Quite right. +12
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