C# – Invoke NotifyIcon’s Context Menu

cnotifyiconwinforms

I want to have it such that left clicking on the NotifyIcon also causes the context menu (set with the ContextMenuStrip property) to open as well. How would I achieve this? Do I have to handle Click and figure out the positioning myself?
Edit: showing the menu with trayIcon.ContextMenuStrip.Show() results is a few undesirable behaviors:

The menu is not shown at the same location as if right click the NotifyIcon (it appears that you can't set the x and y coords to where the taskbar is, at least on Windows 7 which is what I'm running). It will appear above the task bar (not that big of a deal, but consistency would be nice).

While the menu is shown, there is an extra icon added to the task bar.

Clicking somewhere other than the menu does not close it (whereas if you right click to bring up the context menu clicking else where automatically closes the context menu).

Is it at all possible to just invoke the menu however the built in right click handler is doing it?

Best Answer

You would normally handle the MouseClick event to detect the click and call the ContextMenuStrip.Show() method:

    private void notifyIcon1_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {
        contextMenuStrip1.Show(Control.MousePosition);
    }

But that doesn't actually work properly, the CMS won't close when you click outside of it. Underlying issue is a Windows quirk (aka "bug") that is described in this KB article.

Invoking this workaround in your own code is pretty painful, the pinvoke is unpleasant. The NotifyIcon class has this workaround in its ShowContextMenu() method, they just made it difficult to get to since it is a private method. Reflection can bypass that restriction. I discovered this hack 5 years ago and nobody reported a problem with it yet. Set the NFI's ContextMenuStrip property and implement the MouseUp event like this:

using System.Reflection;
...
    private void notifyIcon1_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {
      if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left) {
        MethodInfo mi = typeof(NotifyIcon).GetMethod("ShowContextMenu", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
        mi.Invoke(notifyIcon1, null);
      }
    }

Related Solutions

C++ – Show a ContextMenuStrip without it showing in the taskbar

Try assigning your menu to the ContextMenuStrip property of NotifyIcon rather than showing it in the mouse click handler.

C# – How to show a Context Menu when you right click a Menu Item

Edit, due to a comment:

In:

protected override void OnClick(EventArgs e)
{
    if (SecondaryContextMenu == null || MouseButtons != MouseButtons.Right)
    {
        base.OnClick(e);
    }
}

this part

 MouseButtons != MouseButtons.Right

should and does compile as it is a call to Control.MouseButtons. Since the Form inherits Control class, it is sufficient to call MouseButtons property directly.

Hope this helps:

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    class CustomToolStripMenuItem : ToolStripMenuItem
    {
        private ContextMenuStrip secondaryContextMenu;

        public ContextMenuStrip SecondaryContextMenu
        {
            get
            {
                return secondaryContextMenu;
            }
            set
            {
                secondaryContextMenu = value;
            }
        }

        public CustomToolStripMenuItem(string text)
            : base(text)
        { }

        protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            if (disposing)
            {
                if (secondaryContextMenu != null)
                {
                    secondaryContextMenu.Dispose();
                    secondaryContextMenu = null;
                }
            }

            base.Dispose(disposing);
        }

        protected override void OnClick(EventArgs e)
        {
            if (SecondaryContextMenu == null || MouseButtons != MouseButtons.Right)
            {
                base.OnClick(e);
            }
        }
    }

    class CustomContextMenuStrip : ContextMenuStrip
    {
        private bool secondaryContextMenuActive = false;
        private ContextMenuStrip lastShownSecondaryContextMenu = null;

        protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            if (disposing)
            {
                if (lastShownSecondaryContextMenu != null)
                {
                    lastShownSecondaryContextMenu.Close();
                    lastShownSecondaryContextMenu = null;
                }
            }
            base.Dispose(disposing);
        }

        protected override void OnControlAdded(ControlEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Control.MouseClick += new MouseEventHandler(Control_MouseClick);
            base.OnControlAdded(e);
        }

        protected override void OnControlRemoved(ControlEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Control.MouseClick -= new MouseEventHandler(Control_MouseClick);
            base.OnControlRemoved(e);
        }

        private void Control_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            ShowSecondaryContextMenu(e);
        }

        protected override void OnMouseClick(MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            ShowSecondaryContextMenu(e);
            base.OnMouseClick(e);
        }

        private bool ShowSecondaryContextMenu(MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            CustomToolStripMenuItem ctsm = this.GetItemAt(e.Location) as CustomToolStripMenuItem;

            if (ctsm == null || ctsm.SecondaryContextMenu == null || e.Button != MouseButtons.Right)
            {
                return false;
            }

            lastShownSecondaryContextMenu = ctsm.SecondaryContextMenu;
            secondaryContextMenuActive = true;
            ctsm.SecondaryContextMenu.Closed += new ToolStripDropDownClosedEventHandler(SecondaryContextMenu_Closed);
            ctsm.SecondaryContextMenu.Show(Cursor.Position);
            return true;
        }

        void SecondaryContextMenu_Closed(object sender, ToolStripDropDownClosedEventArgs e)
        {
            ((ContextMenuStrip)sender).Closed -= new ToolStripDropDownClosedEventHandler(SecondaryContextMenu_Closed);
            lastShownSecondaryContextMenu = null;
            secondaryContextMenuActive = false;
            Focus();
        }

        protected override void OnClosing(ToolStripDropDownClosingEventArgs e)
        {
            if (secondaryContextMenuActive)
            {
                e.Cancel = true;
            }

            base.OnClosing(e);
        }
    }

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();


        CustomToolStripMenuItem itemPrimary1 = new CustomToolStripMenuItem("item primary 1");
        itemPrimary1.SecondaryContextMenu = new ContextMenuStrip();
        itemPrimary1.SecondaryContextMenu.Items.AddRange(new ToolStripMenuItem[] { 
            new ToolStripMenuItem("item primary 1.1"),
            new ToolStripMenuItem("item primary 1.2"),
        });

        CustomToolStripMenuItem itemPrimary2 = new CustomToolStripMenuItem("item primary 2");
        itemPrimary2.DropDownItems.Add("item primary 2, sub 1");
        itemPrimary2.DropDownItems.Add("item primary 2, sub 2");
        itemPrimary2.SecondaryContextMenu = new ContextMenuStrip();
        itemPrimary2.SecondaryContextMenu.Items.AddRange(new ToolStripMenuItem[] { 
            new ToolStripMenuItem("item primary 2.1"),
            new ToolStripMenuItem("item primary 2.2"),
        });

        CustomContextMenuStrip primaryContextMenu = new CustomContextMenuStrip();
        primaryContextMenu.Items.AddRange(new ToolStripItem[]{
            itemPrimary1,
            itemPrimary2
        });

        this.ContextMenuStrip = primaryContextMenu;
    }
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C++ – Show a ContextMenuStrip without it showing in the taskbar

C# – How to show a Context Menu when you right click a Menu Item

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