CreatePopupMenu function (winuser.h)

Article
02/22/2024

Creates a drop-down menu, submenu, or shortcut menu. The menu is initially empty. You can insert or append menu items by using the InsertMenuItem function. You can also use the InsertMenu function to insert menu items and the AppendMenu function to append menu items.

Syntax

HMENU CreatePopupMenu();

Return value

Type: HMENU

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the newly created menu.

If the function fails, the return value is NULL. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

The application can add the new menu to an existing menu, or it can display a shortcut menu by calling the TrackPopupMenuEx or TrackPopupMenu functions.

Resources associated with a menu that is assigned to a window are freed automatically. If the menu is not assigned to a window, an application must free system resources associated with the menu before closing. An application frees menu resources by calling the DestroyMenu function.

Examples

For an example, see Adding Lines and Graphs to a Menu.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winuser.h (include Windows.h)
Library	User32.lib
DLL	User32.dll
API set	ext-ms-win-ntuser-menu-l1-1-0 (introduced in Windows 8)