I do exactly that in Menu-Bar+ (code: menu-bar+.el.
This is what I do, for that. First, I add a divider pseudo-menu:
(defvar menu-bar-divider-menu (make-sparse-keymap "Divider")) (define-key global-map [menu-bar divider] (cons "||" menu-bar-divider-menu)) (define-key menu-bar-divider-menu [menu-bar-divider-hint] '("<-- Current mode menus to left. || Common menus to right -->" . describe-menubar))
Then I move all of the standard menus, plus a couple Menu-Bar+ menus, to menu-bar-final-items:
(setq menu-bar-final-items (append '(divider file edit options buffer tools search) (and (boundp 'menu-bar-frames-menu) '(frames)) (and (boundp 'menu-bar-doremi-menu) '(doremi)) '(help-menu) (and (fboundp 'show-tool-bar-for-one-command) '(pop-up-tool-bar))))
You can click the divider, \\, to show help about the menu bar (command describe-menubar), which is this (it describes the predefined menus for Menu-Bar+):
(defun describe-menubar () "Explain the menu bar, in general terms." (interactive) (with-output-to-temp-buffer "*Help*" (princ (substitute-command-keys "To the right of the menu bar divider (\"||\") are the general menus that usually appear in every buffer. To the left of this symbol, there may also be additional menus that are specific to the buffer's mode \(use `\\[describe-mode]' for information on a buffer's mode). The general menus are as follows: Buffers File Tools Edit Frames Do Re Mi Help Use the \"Frames\" menu to resize, tile, and hide/show frames. Use the \"Do Re Mi\" menu to incrementally change things. The \"Help\" menu extends the \"Help\" menu described in the Emacs manual (`\\[info]'). For information on a menu item, use the \"This\" item in the \"Describe\" submenu of the \"Help\" menu.")) (if (fboundp 'help-print-return-message) (help-print-return-message) (print-help-return-message)) (with-current-buffer standard-output (help-mode) (buffer-string)))) ; Return the text we displayed.
Because local menus are added before menu-bar-final-items, then end up at the left of the menu-bar. So the effect is to have, from left to right: local menus, divider, non-local menus.
