+-------------------------------------+
 |           |                         |
 |           |                         |
 |  primary  |        secondary        |
 |   area    |           area          |        
 |           |                         |
 |           |                         |
 |-------------------------------------|
 |            footer area              |
 +-------------------------------------+
 

The entries in the primary area are always visible. The secondary area entries are shown based on the currently active element in the primary area. There are three different types of primary entries:

• Associated ActionListener passed to the constructor of the RibbonApplicationMenuEntryPrimary. When this entry is armed (with mouse rollover or via keyboard navigation), the contents of the secondary area are cleared. The Quit menu item is an example of such a primary menu entry.
• Associated RibbonApplicationMenuEntryPrimary.PrimaryRolloverCallback set by the RibbonApplicationMenuEntryPrimary.setRolloverCallback(PrimaryRolloverCallback) . When this entry is armed (with mouse rollover or via keyboard navigation), the contents of the secondary area are populated by the application callback implementation of RibbonApplicationMenuEntryPrimary.PrimaryRolloverCallback.menuEntryActivated(javax.swing.JPanel). The Open menu item is an example of such a primary menu entry, showing a list of recently opened files.
• Associated list of RibbonApplicationMenuEntrySecondarys added with the RibbonApplicationMenuEntryPrimary.addSecondaryMenuGroup(String, RibbonApplicationMenuEntrySecondary...) API. When this entry is armed (with mouse rollover or via keyboard navigation), the secondary area shows menu buttons for the registered secondary menu entries. The Save As menu item is an example of such a primary menu item, showing a list of default save formats.

At runtime, the application menu entries are implemented as JCommandMenuButton, but the application code does not operate on that level. Instead, the application code creates metadata-driven description of the ribbon application menu, and that description is used to create and populate the "real" controls of the application menu popup.

Note that once a RibbonApplicationMenu is set on the JRibbon with the JRibbon.setApplicationMenu(RibbonApplicationMenu), its contents cannot be changed. An IllegalStateException will be thrown from addMenuEntry(RibbonApplicationMenuEntryPrimary) and addFooterEntry(RibbonApplicationMenuEntryFooter).