Trying to create a MenuBar using Java.swing, and created an object of JMenu(), but it wont let me add It to the frame and not sure why?

Question

public class Menu  {

    private JMenu borders;

    //constructor
    public Menu()
    {

        //crate object
        //this.menuBar = new JMenuBar();

        //------create menu items----

        //menu item for borders
        borders = new JMenu("Border");

        // add border options
        borders.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_U);

        //add border options
        borders.add(new JMenuItem("Etched"));
        borders.add(new JMenuItem("Raised"));
        borders.add(new JMenuItem("Matte"));
        borders.add(new JMenuItem("Tilted"));
        borders.add(new JMenuItem("Compounded"));

        JMenuItem quit = new JMenuItem("Quit");
        quit.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_Q);

        borders.add(quit);

        //set Accelerator
        quit.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_Q, Event.CTRL_MASK));

        //add action listener
        //@Override
        quit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
            {
                System.exit(0);
            }

        });


    }

}

public class DrawingFrame extends JFrame{
    protected CanvasEditor canvasEditor;
    protected DrawingCanvas drawingCanvas;
    private Menu menu;



    public DrawingFrame()
    {
        this.setTitle("Drawing Application");
        this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        drawingCanvas = new DrawingCanvas();
        drawingCanvas.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(300,700));
        this.add(drawingCanvas);

        JPanel toolBarPanel = getToolBarPanel();

        this.add(drawingCanvas,BorderLayout.CENTER);

        this.add(toolBarPanel,BorderLayout.SOUTH);

        //create menu from class
        this.menu = new Menu();

        //create menu bar
        JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();

        //add menu to menuBar
        menuBar.add(menu);

---

error: cannot resolve method 'add'

not sure why it won't accept the add method

The drawingFrame class accepts objects from canvasEditor and DrawingCanvas but it doesn't accept objects from Menu class.

I want to create a menuBar and add a menu to it, and then have it on the same frame -- drawing Frame

pretty sure it's a simple fix, but not sure how to fix it

Answer 1

public class Menu  {
    private JMenu borders;

You create a class called Menu and create an instance of a JMenu in this class.

    this.menu = new Menu();

    //create menu bar
    JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();

    //add menu to menuBar
    menuBar.add(menu);

You then create an instance of the Menu class and attempt to add it to the JMenuBar, which can't be done because the Menu class is NOT a Component.

Instead you want to add the borders variable to the menubar.

This means you need to create a method in your Menu class like:

public JMenu getJMenu()
{
    return borders;
}

Then you use:

//menuBar.add(menu);
menuBar.add( menu.getJMenu() );