UIManager

Next you should create a UIManager and add the ActionGroup to the UIManager with insert_action_group(). For instance,

Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::UIManager> m_refUIManager = Gtk::UIManager::create();
m_refUIManager->insert_action_group(m_refActionGroup);
add_accel_group(m_refUIManager->get_accel_group());

Then, you can define the actual visible layout of the menus and toolbars, and add the UI layout to the UIManager:

    Glib::ustring ui_info =
        "<ui>"
        "  <menubar name='MenuBar'>"
        "    <menu action='MenuFile'>"
        "      <menuitem action='New'/>"
        "      <menuitem action='Open'/>"
        "      <separator/>"
        "      <menuitem action='Quit'/>"
        "    </menu>"
        "    <menu action='MenuEdit'>"
        "      <menuitem action='Cut'/>"
        "      <menuitem action='Copy'/>"
        "      <menuitem action='Paste'/>"
        "    </menu>"
        "  </menubar>"
        "  <toolbar  name='ToolBar'>"
        "    <toolitem action='Open'/>"
        "    <toolitem action='Quit'/>"
        "  </toolbar>"
        "</ui>";

    m_refUIManager->>add_ui_from_string(ui_info);