Writing a class extension

I am trying to extend the GtkMenuBar object so that I can add an array of values to a menu. For example. ====== CLASS CODE ====== <?php class GtkMenuBarExt extends GtkMenuBar{

    function fill_from_array($items){
        if (!is_array($items)){
        return false;
        }

        foreach ($items as $menu_name => $menu_array){
        $menu =& new GtkMenu();
            foreach ($menu_array as $item_name => $item_label){
            $item =& new GtkMenuItem($item_label);
            $item->show();
            $menu->append($item);
            }
        $menu->show();
        parent::add($menu);
        }
    }

} ?> ====== MAIN SCRIPT ======== $menubar =& new GtkMenuBarExt(); $menu_items = Array("file" => Array("new" => "New", "save" => "Save"), "help" => Array("help_contents" => "Help", "about" => "About...")); $menubar->fill_from_array($menu_items); $menubar->show(); //// pack this into the window etc ========================== I have tried everything, but the menu doesn't seem to have the array items added. Am I losing a reference somewhere, or is this something php-gtk can't do? Mike