The Windows Forms MenuStrip control replaces and extends the MainMenu control of previous versions of Visual Studio.Net. NOTE: MainMenu is retained for both backward compatibility and future use if so desired.
The MenuStrip provides improved design time support. Here are a few examples.
1. Automatically insert standard menu items - Select a MenuStrip control that has been placed on a Windows Form. View Properties. Notice the 'Insert Standard Items' link that appears at the bottom of the property grid. Clicking this link inserts the menus common to most Windows Forms applications - File, Edit, Tools, and Help with each menu containing common menu items with meaningful names.
2. Automatically gives menu items meaningful names - When you add menus and menu items to the MenuStrip, manually or through 'Insert Standard Items', the menus and menu items are automatically given meaningful names. For example, typing Exit into a menu item slot in the MenuStrip editor results in a menu item named exitToolStripMenuItem instead of a generic name e.g. MenuItem1, MenuItem2, and MenuItem3 as produced by the MainMenu control in Visual Studio 2003/2003.
3. Makes it easier to perform tasks related to building a menu. When a menu item is selected in the designer a smart tag indicator is shown. Clicking the start tag indicator opens an Actions dialog that brings up common tasks you may want to perform on the menu item at that point in time.