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In Delphi VCL, I'm trying to identify whether a TMenuItem is a top-level menu bar item (a MenuBarItem) as opposed to a regular submenu item. I'm currently using this check: if aItem.Count > 0 then But this returns True for both top-level menu items (e.g., "File", "Edit" in the main menu bar) and submenu items that have their own children (like "Recent Files" under "File"). Is there a more reliable way—perhaps using TMenuItem properties or GetMenuItemInfo from the Windows API—to distinguish true menu bar items from submenu items with children? i'm using this: function IsMenuBarItem(aMenu: TMainMenu; aItem: TMenuItem): Boolean; var LInfo: MENUITEMINFOW; LHMenu: HMenu; I: Integer; begin Result := False; LHMenu := aMenu.Handle; ZeroMemory(@LInfo, SizeOf(LInfo)); LInfo.cbSize := SizeOf(LInfo); LInfo.fMask := MIIM_SUBMENU; for I := 0 to GetMenuItemCount(LHMenu) - 1 do begin if GetMenuItemInfoW(LHMenu, I, True, LInfo) then begin if LInfo.hSubMenu = aItem.Handle then begin Result := True; Exit; end; end; end; end; is possible to avoid iterating all items in the main menu if i trying to determine whether a given TMenuItem is a menu bar item, using only information from the TMenuItem itself ! --- 🧩 Context: The reason I'm doing this is to work around the automatic access key (Alt + key) assignment that Windows applies when menu items don't have an & in their caption. Even after setting: TMainMenu.AutoHotkeys := maManual; the issue persisted. I'm working in a Right-to-Left (BiDiMode) environment with OwnerDraw := True, and the system still assigns hotkeys unless the & is explicitly added to the menu captions. 👉Hint: the TMainMenu is hosted by TToolBar and not the Form ! -- 🛠️ MySolution: Add "&" to Non-MenuBar Items Here's the utility I use to ensure all non-menu bar items have an & prefix: procedure TdmUI.FixMenuCaptions(aMenu: TMainMenu); var I: Integer; procedure FixItem(aItem: TMenuItem); var J: Integer; begin if (Pos('&', aItem.Caption) = 0) and (not aItem.IsLine) and (not IsMenuBarItem(aMenu, aItem)) then //or (aItem.Count > 0) or (aItem.Tag <> 2) aItem.Caption := '&' + aItem.Caption; // Add & if missing for J := 0 to aItem.Count - 1 do FixItem(aItem.Items[J]); end; begin for I := 0 to aMenu.Items.Count - 1 do FixItem(aMenu.Items[I]); end; This approach above ensures that only submenu items get the &, preserving the expected behavior on the menu bar, especially in right-to-left and owner-drawn setups.