ToolStripDropDownMenu and SourceControl ??

[David]

Hello all,

I have dynamic controls all associated with a single ContextMenuStrip. For
each menu item I have click event method. For each event I have cast sender
to ToolStripMenuItem to ContextMenuStip to use SourceControl to get the
control that initiated the event.

This all works well if the the menu items are one level deep on the
contextmenustrip control, but if I create a sub menu item doing the above
logic does not work.

First of all it gives a cast error of
"Unable to cast object of type "System...ToolStripDropDownMenu" to
"System...ContextMenuStrip." So in the case of a sub menu I changed the cast
to ToolStripDropDownMenu.

ToolStripMenuItem TlStrip = (ToolStripMenuItem)sender;
ToolStripDropDownMenu temp = (ToolStripDropDownMenu)TlStrip.Owner;
TlStrip = (ToolStripMenuItem)temp.OwnerItem;
ContextMenuStrip Mnu = (ContextMenuStrip)TlStrip.Owner;

Using above code Mnu.SourceControl is always null.

What am I doing wrong?

--
Best Regards

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently" – Henry Ford

[David]

Its difficult to know when there are no responses wheather my question is not
detailed enough, not a common problem so no one is familiar with it to
answer, or just a dumb question (I have had a few). :)

For now going with need clarification. :)

I have a context menu strip as follows:
TestA
TestB - SubTestB

if I click on TestA Everything works fine. If I click on SubTestB the below
call to GetCtrl returns true but MyIcon is null.

Code Snippets:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
private bool GetCtrl(ToolStripMenuItem sender, ref MyDefIcon MyIcon)
{
bool bGood = false;
try
{
if (sender != null)
{
ContextMenuStrip Mnu = (ContextMenuStrip)sender.Owner;

if (Mnu != null)
{
MyIcon = (MyDefIcon)Mnu.SourceControl;
bGood = true;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}

return (bGood);
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
private void TestAToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MyDefIcon MyIcon = null;
if(GetCtrl((ToolStripMenuItem)sender, ref MyIcon ))
{
if (MyIcon != null)
{
// do command
}
}
}
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
private void SubTestBToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender,
EventArgs e)
{

ToolStripMenuItem TlStrip = (ToolStripMenuItem)sender;
ToolStripDropDownMenu temp =
(ToolStripDropDownMenu)TlStrip.Owner;

MyDefIcon MyIcon = null;
if(GetCtrl((ToolStripMenuItem)temp.OwnerItem, ref MyIcon ))
{
if (MyIcon != null)
{
// do command
}
}
}
}

Please give advice or direction.

[Peter Duniho]

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:52:00 -0700, David
<Da...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Its difficult to know when there are no responses wheather my question
> is not
> detailed enough, not a common problem so no one is familiar with it to
> answer, or just a dumb question (I have had a few). :)

How about option D: three hours is way too early to start getting worried
about whether anyone's going to answer your question.

Anyway, I seem to be able to reproduce the issue you're seeing. And I'd
agree that it seems to be wrong. Upon finding the top-level
ContextMenuStrip instance in which your menu item is contained, the
SourceControl property should, IMHO, _always_ tell you the name of the
control used to show the menu. But for me, just as you said, I find the
property is set to null when handling the Click event of a menu item
that's not a top-level item.

Seems like a bug to me. I suppose it might not be, but I'd have to see a
really good explanation for the behavior for me to believe that. You may
at this point simply need to consider finding a work-around and report the
bug to Microsoft in the hopes of getting it fixed.

Pete

[Peter Duniho]

By the way, a quick Google search turned up these:

What looks like an earlier, worse manifestation of the bug you found:
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=96476

A newer bug report describing the specific behavior you're running into:
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=282496

Looks like sloppy work by whoever fixed the first bug.

Both articles describe what seems to me to be a reasonable workaround
(handle the Opening event for the context menu, and get the SourceControl
value then, at which point it's apparently still correct, saving it for
later use in the Click handler for the item).

Pete

[David]

Thanks for the information Peter, and sorry for my impatience. :)