[syslinux] submenus and menu title

[Ady Ady]

> Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 07:33:42 -0400
> From: gene.cumm at gmail.com
> To: syslinux at zytor.com
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] submenus and menu title
> 
> I can not speak for the intentions of the authors/contributors but
> this may be a documentation bug rather than an implementation bug.
> 

I doubt this is a documentation bug.
 
I first explicitly asked if it was, and HPA answered that the first example I posted seems correct and that there might be some bug. If he'd intended that sentence as a documentation bug, I guess he would had said so.
 
But, more importantly, any other menu characteristic is correctly inherited to the submenus, except only for the menu title.
 
 
> "When the tagname is set, The submenu's title shall be the tagname
> unless explicitly overridden inside the submenu."
 
 That is part of the problematic mix. The general rule is that the menu characteristics are inherited unless explicitly overridden. But here you have the opposite, and you would be "permanently setting"  one characteristic (menu entry) to be the same as the other (submenu title). As I mentioned, the rule should be: "if no tagname is used in the respective parent entry and a submenu title is defined for that submenu, then show the submenu title also as the respective menu entry in the parent menu.
 
 
> "The entry for the submenu is displayed as the effective menu title."
> This one will certainly need minor verification.
 
 Again an unnecessary mix. The (sub)menu title is one characteristic and the respective menu entry in the parent menu is a separated different characteristic. The rule of precedence should be:
 
 1._ If a (sub)menu title is explicitly set as directive in the respective submenu, use that as menu title for the submenu. The presence of a tagname for the submenu shall not influence this point.
 2._ If a (sub)menu title is NOT explicitly set, then the submenu title shall be inherited from the parent menu (except if some of the next rules apply to the submenu title).
 3._ If a (sub)menu title is NOT explicitly set, and the parent menu has no "menu title" directive either, then the submenu title should still inherit this condition (ie. no submenu title) (except if some of the next rules apply to the submenu title).
  
 4._ If a tagname is explicitly used in the respective directive ("menu begin" in this case), then respect that tagname as menu entry (except if some of the next rules apply to the tagname or to the menu entry). This rule is independent of the (sub)menu title.
 5._ If a tagname is NOT explicitly used in the respective directive ("menu begin" in this case), then the relevant (sub)menu title may be used as the respective menu entry in the parent menu, BUT only in case such (sub)menu title is explicitly set as directive in the respective submenu.
 
There are additional rules "connecting" tagnames, menu titles, labels and menu labels in submenus, but the rule #5 above is very important. It relates the EXPLICIT SUBmenu title with the ABSENCE of a respective tagname, BUT only if the submenu title was explicitly set and the tagname was not (and there are more conditions connecting the tagname with a "label" and a "menu label" directives in the respective submenu).
  
If the tagname is not set, and the submenu title is also not explicitly set, then you SHALL NOT use the inherited menu title as menu entry, because all submenu entries in such conditions in the parent menu would be the same! I demonstrated this problem in my example, in the 3rd entry of the parent menu.
 
If necessary, I would upload a floppy image with the above example. Just let me know.
 
TIA.