Writing a Delphi Menu Item Plugin

Trying to figure out the Delphi Open Tools API can be a daunting task. Here is a bit of code to get a menu item into the Delphi IDE's main menu. Please note that I didn't test this code and you will want to reorganize it a bit.

unit ComStdReg;

interface

uses Menus, ActnList;

type
  TMyMenus = class
  private
    FMenuItem: TMenuItem;
    FMenuAction: TAction;

    procedure DoExecute(Sender: TObject);
    procedure DoUpdate(Sender: TObject);
  public
    constructor Create;
    destructor Destroy; override;
  end;

implementation

uses ToolsAPI;

constructor TMyMenus.Create;
var
  MenuService: INTAServices;
begin
  MenuService := BorlandIDEServices as INTAServices;

  if MenuService <> nil then
  begin
    MenuItem := TMenuItem.Create(nil);
    MenuAction := TAction.Create(nil);
    MenuItem.Action := MenuAction;
    MenuItem.Name := 'MyMenuItem';
    MenuActiond.Caption := 'My Menu Item';
    MenuAction.OnExecute := DoExecute;
    MenuAction.OnUpdate := DoUpdate;
    MenuAction.Enabled := False;

    // Only set this if you want to allow F1 when the mouse if over the menu item. 
    MenuAction.HelpContext := 0;

   // Tell the menu service which item to place your menu item after. This will
   // place your menu item after Component | Installed Packages.
    MenuService.AddActionMenu('ComponentPaletteItem', MenuAction,
      MenuAction);
    MenuService.UpdateMenuAccelerators(MenuService.MainMenu);
  end;
end;

destructor TComMenus.Destroy;
begin
  FMenutItem.Free;
  FMenuAction.Free;
  inherited;
end;

procedure TComMenus.DoExecute(Sender: TObject);
begin
  // DoExecute is called when the the menu item is clicked.
end;

procedure TMyMenus.DoUpdate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  // DoUpdate is called when the menu is displayed.
  // Here you will want to set FMenuAction.Enabled to True or False or
  // FMenuAction.Visible to True or False. I personally don't like it when menu
  // items hide so don't change visible.
end;