The ContextMenu class represents shortcut menus that can be displayed when the user clicks the right mouse button over a control or area of the form. Shortcut menus are typically used to combine different menu items from a MainMenu of a form that are useful for the user given the context of the application. For example, you can use a shortcut menu assigned to a TextBox control to provide menu items for changing the font of the text, finding text within the control, or Clipboard features for copying and pasting text. You can also display new MenuItem objects in a shortcut menu that are not located within a MainMenu to provide situation specific commands that are not appropriate for the MainMenu to display.

Typically, a shortcut menu is displayed when a user clicks the right mouse button over a control or the form itself. Visible controls and Form have a ContextMenu property that binds the ContextMenu class to the control that displays the shortcut menu. More than one control can use a ContextMenu. You can use the SourceControl property to determine which control last displayed the shortcut menu in order to perform tasks specific to the control or to modify the shortcut menu displayed for the control.

You might want to know when the shortcut menu is being displayed in order to set check marks, disable items, and perform other menu tasks before the menu is displayed to the user. You can handle the Popup event to determine when the shortcut menu is being displayed.

Note:
In order to reuse MenuItem objects that are displayed in a MainMenu for use in a ContextMenu, you must create a copy of the menu using the CloneMenu method of the MenuItem class. You can also merge menu items and their submenu items into a single MenuItem object using the MergeMenu method of the MenuItem class.

Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows CE Platform Note:

On the Pocket PC, avoid using shortcut menus on secondary forms because they remain displayed after you destroy their parent forms.

The following code example creates an event handler for the Popup event of the ContextMenu. The code in the event handler determines which of two controls a PictureBox named pictureBox1 and a TextBox named textBox1 is the control displaying the shortcut menu. Depending on which control caused the ContextMenu to display its shortcut menu, the control adds the appropriate MenuItem objects to the ContextMenu. This example requires that you have an instance of the ContextMenu class, named contextMenu1, defined within the form. This example also requires that you have a TextBox and PictureBox added to a form and that the ContextMenu property of these controls is set to contextMenu1.

Private Sub MyPopupEventHandler(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs)
    ' Define the MenuItem objects to display for the TextBox.
    Dim menuItem1 As New MenuItem("&Copy")
    Dim menuItem2 As New MenuItem("&Find and Replace")
    ' Define the MenuItem object to display for the PictureBox.
    Dim menuItem3 As New MenuItem("C&hange Picture")

    ' Clear all previously added MenuItems.
    contextMenu1.MenuItems.Clear()

    If contextMenu1.SourceControl Is textBox1 Then
        ' Add MenuItems to display for the TextBox.
        contextMenu1.MenuItems.Add(menuItem1)
        contextMenu1.MenuItems.Add(menuItem2)
    ElseIf contextMenu1.SourceControl Is pictureBox1 Then
        ' Add the MenuItem to display for the PictureBox.
        contextMenu1.MenuItems.Add(menuItem3)
    End If
End Sub 'MyPopupEventHandler '

private void MyPopupEventHandler(System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e)
 {
    // Define the MenuItem objects to display for the TextBox.
    MenuItem menuItem1 = new MenuItem("&Copy");
    MenuItem menuItem2 = new MenuItem("&Find and Replace");
    // Define the MenuItem object to display for the PictureBox.
    MenuItem menuItem3 = new MenuItem("C&hange Picture");

    // Clear all previously added MenuItems.
    contextMenu1.MenuItems.Clear();

    if(contextMenu1.SourceControl == textBox1)
    {
       // Add MenuItems to display for the TextBox.
       contextMenu1.MenuItems.Add(menuItem1);
       contextMenu1.MenuItems.Add(menuItem2);
    }
    else if(contextMenu1.SourceControl == pictureBox1)
    {
       // Add the MenuItem to display for the PictureBox.
       contextMenu1.MenuItems.Add(menuItem3);
    }
 }

private:
   void MyPopupEventHandler( System::Object^ /*sender*/, System::EventArgs^ /*e*/ )
   {
      // Define the MenuItem objects to display for the TextBox.
      MenuItem^ menuItem1 = gcnew MenuItem( "&Copy" );
      MenuItem^ menuItem2 = gcnew MenuItem( "&Find and Replace" );
      // Define the MenuItem object to display for the PictureBox.
      MenuItem^ menuItem3 = gcnew MenuItem( "C&hange Picture" );

      // Clear all previously added MenuItems.
      contextMenu1->MenuItems->Clear();

      if ( contextMenu1->SourceControl == textBox1 )
      {

         // Add MenuItems to display for the TextBox.
         contextMenu1->MenuItems->Add( menuItem1 );
         contextMenu1->MenuItems->Add( menuItem2 );
      }
      else if ( contextMenu1->SourceControl == pictureBox1 )
      {
         // Add the MenuItem to display for the PictureBox.
         contextMenu1->MenuItems->Add( menuItem3 );
      }
   }

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC

.NET Framework

.NET Compact Framework

Reference