Is it possible to duplicate the "submenu" in the json file?

[manngo]

I’m working on a simple package with a number of menu items. The menu json file looks something like this:

{
	"context-menu": {
		"atom-text-editor": [{
			"label": "Pulsar Text Tools",
			"submenu": [
//	collection of items
			]
		}]
	},
	"menu": [{
		"label": "Packages",
		"submenu": [{
			"label": "Pulsar Text Tools",
			"submenu": [
//	the same as above
			]
		}]
	}]
}

As commented (I know, you can’t comment a JSON file), I want the main submenu to have the same content as the context menu. Apart from the tedium (all right, copy & paste isn’t so difficult, but it’s annoying every time I want to make a change), there’s also the risk of error.

Is there a way of setting one submenu and using it for the other?

[confused-Techie]

I was in that section of code some time ago working on localization, and iirc there unfortunately isn't any established method to duplicate this data.

You could add a build step in your package maybe to do this kind of work? Or if there's something you have in mind we could look at a PR or feature request

[manngo]

Here is an outline of what I might end up doing.

First, I can add the menu items as a separate key, and leave the submenus empty:

{
	"menu-items" : [
		{ "label": "…", "command": "…" },
		{ "label": "…", "command": "…" },
		{ "label": "…", "command": "…" }
	],
	"context-menu": {
		"atom-text-editor": [{
			"label": "Pulsar Text Tools",
			"submenu": []
		}]
	},
	"menu": [{
		"label": "Packages",
		"submenu": [{
			"label": "Pulsar Text Tools",
			"submenu": []
		}]
	}]
}

Next I can iterate through the menu items (I haven’t worked out that part yet) and apply the following:

let projectLabel = 'Pulsar Text Tools';
let item = {
	label: '…',
	command = '…'
};

atom.contextMenu.itemSets
.filter(iset => iset.selector=='atom-text-editor' && iset.items[0].label==projectLabel)[0].items[0].submenu.push(item);

atom.menu.template
.filter(iset => iset.label=='Packages')[0].submenu.filter(m => m.label==projectLabel)[0].submenu.push(item);
atom.menu.update();

Now, I’m sure that there’s a better way to locate the submenus, but, so far, I’ve failed to find it.

[savetheclocktower]

Hey, if it works, go for it.

[manngo]

I have nearly got it working. — I’ll post it when it’s finished.

My only issue now is where to put the code. I’ve tried putting it in the activate(state) method and in the initialize(state) method, together with a few debugging console.log() calls, but I can’t get the code to run on startup.

When I run one of the fixed menu items (pulsar-text-tools:test) from the Packages menu, only then do the activate() or initialize() methods run, which defeats the purpose.

I’ve tried looking at another package (Atom Notes) and find that the console messages appear do appear on startup. I can’t see where it’s doing anything different, but obviously it is.

Have you any suggestions?

[savetheclocktower]

Sounds like your package has an activationCommands field in its package.json to defer its activation until the first time you run a command. If so, remove the entire entry.

If that doesn't fix it, or if activationCommands isn't present, I might have to take a look at the code.

[manngo]

Ah, brilliant. I wondered what the activationCommands section was doing there, given that it appeared to be a duplicate of what was going on elsewhere. I have deleted it, and everything works now as planned. It was only there because I was blindly following the tutorial without fully understanding all the details.

My script now contains the following:

module.exports = {
	activate(state) {
		console.info('activate pulsar-text-tools');
		this.init();

		this.subscriptions = new CompositeDisposable();

		this.subscriptions.add(
			atom.commands.add('atom-workspace', {
				'pulsar-text-tools:test': () => this.test(),
				//	etc
			})
		);
	},

//	etc

	init() {
		//	Populate Menus
			let projectLabel = 'Pulsar Text Tools';
			let projectName = 'pulsar-text-tools';

			//	get menu items
				let menuItems = atom.packages.getLoadedPackage(projectName).menus[0][1]['menu-items'];

			menuItems.forEach(item => {
			//	populate context menu
				atom.contextMenu.itemSets.filter(iset => iset.selector=='atom-text-editor' && iset.items[0].label==projectLabel)[0].items[0].submenu.push(item);

			//	populate Packages submenu
				atom.menu.template.filter(iset => iset.label=='Packages')[0].submenu.filter(m => m.label==projectLabel)[0].submenu.push(item);
				atom.menu.update();
			});
	},

//	etc
}

It’s all doing its thing now. Thanks so much for your help.