CodeProject: Magic MenuControl - VS.NET Style. Free source code and programming help

Report Article

Discuss

Send to a friend

52 votes for this Article.

Popularity: 7.43 Rating: 4.33 out of 5

Sample Image - MagicMenuControl.gif

Why another MenuControl?

The .NET Framework contains a wide range of user interface controls, but they offer only a basic look and feel. Today's user expects a richer experience that you just cannot build with the out-of-the-box controls. The Magic Library (of which this MenuControl is a major part) aims to solve this by providing a set of user interface elements that add the sophistication expected from modern Windows applications.

Downloads

The first download MenuControl Sample contains a example application that uses shows the MenuControl from the Magic Library. This allows you to experiment and test out the feature. The actual source code is inside the separate second download. At nearly 1MB in size, I thought people would prefer to download the sample before deciding if they want to install the entire source code project!

Description

The usual way to create a menu for your application is via the Menu property of your applications main Form. Unfortunately this gives a very basic look and feel and does not support the new Visual Studio .NET appearance.

This is where the MenuControl class comes into its own as it closely mimics the Visual Studio .NET look and feel. Not only that, but you can create as many instances as you like and place them anywhere on your Form. You can even use the Dock property to place the control against the left/right and bottom edges as well as the traditional top position. When placed on the left or right edges it will draw the menu items vertically.

When using the control within an MDI application it is important that exactly one instance of the MenuControl uses the MdiContainer property. This property should be given a reference to the MDI parent Form so that it can correctly display the pendant for MDI child Forms .

MenuCommand Instances

The control exposes a property called MenuCommands that contains the collection of MenuCommand instances for display. You cannot use the builtin menu designer to generate the instances and so will need to use code to create the structure you need. Look at the sample code to see how this is done.

PopupMenu

Also demonstrated in the sample is use of the PopupMenu class that can be seen by right clicking the RichTextBox present inside each MDI child instance. This shows how to create a context menu using the VS.NET/OfficeXP look and feel. It uses the same MenuCommand instances as the MenuControl.

More Details

Download and install the Magic Libary where a couple of more detailed artiles describe how all the various features of the MenuControl and PopupMenu work.

Revision History

30 Sept 2002 - Initial Revision

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here

About the Author

Phil Wright

I am a big fan of .NET and have been working on developing a free user interface library to enhance the very basic controls that come out-of-the-box. Download the free source code project from http://www.dotnetmagic.com. I often carry out bespoke development work for companies, so feel free to email me for a quote on your .NET needs!

Occupation:	Web Developer
Location:	United Kingdom

Other popular Menus articles:

Owner Drawn Menu with Icons, Titles and Shading
An easy use of owner drawn menu with variable styles like new Office products with titles, shading and icons.
An easy way to add a Ribbon Panel Office 2007 style
GNU code of RibbonPanel, free software for personal and nonlucrative use, for rest please contact me
Cool Owner Drawn Menus with Bitmaps - Version 3.03
This class implements an owner drawn menu class that mimics the menu style used in XP, Office and Visual C++
CMenuXP - The Office XP Style Menu
Owner drawn menu with the Office XP visual style
A Revolutionary New Approach to Custom Drawn Menus
A new and unique approach to the perennial problem of how to change the default appearance of Windows menus

Article Top

You must Sign In to use this message board.

Msgs 1 to 25 of 60 (Total in Forum: 60) (Refresh)

FirstPrevNext

Subject

Author

Date

licx

HemantPune

20:32 16 Sep '07

Hi, you have included licx file. Can you please let me know how to create licx file? Please send me link of that. Your control is very good. Thanx
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Now it is no more for free

Anonymous

6:57 7 Jun '05

If tou want to develop something width this library you have TO PAY! For more information http://www.dotnetmagic.com/
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Re: Now it is no more for free

Gazon

8:54 7 Jun '05

U must pay if u want to use 2.2.2 version. But version, that was introduced here r 1.7 and it's absolutly FREE, everything u must to do if u use this version in ur commercial project - add link to them site.
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink	2.00/5 (1 vote)

Don't add the MDI child Menu

cscrazy

3:49 14 May '05

This is a good Control Menu, But When I open the MDI child Form, It automatic add the child Menu, But I don't want to do that, Can you tell me how to Control this? Thank you!! I did like to join the website
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Relate with NotifyIcon

Gazon

17:30 12 Feb '05

Hi. This control is VERY GOOD. I have 1 question. Does it possible to relate this menu with NotifyIcon, and if it does, so how to do that???
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Programmatically forcing an update?

Rick Pingry

10:24 21 Dec '04

I am writing a high-level automated integration test. I have some MenuCommands that update their checked state based on some criteria in their Update event handler. Is there any way I can force this event to happen programmatically so I can get the menu command to update so I can test it? Thanks, -- Rick
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Not CLS Compliant?

Rick Pingry

14:45 8 Sep '04

Hi there. Thanks for the control. It has been very useful so far. I am trying to use the menus I created on a form in a C# dll from within a MC++ client, but I have noticed that I cannot grab the MenuCommand from the control, I get a run-time error.

I tried making my C# code CLS compliant, thinking that would perhaps help, and I noticed that the only places where I had problems were when I used the MenuCommand.

Thanks for any help,
-- Rick

Re: Not CLS Compliant?

DelphiCoder

20:49 12 Oct '04

Rick Pingry wrote:
I am trying to use the menus I created on a form in a C# dll from within a MC++ client

This is a problem with marshalling across context boundaries. Do a simple search here at The Code Project on the word "Marshal."

You may also have to use the fixed C# keyword to "pin" the data in memory as the CLR moves memory around and only tracks its own internal use of memory objects. Again, a marshalling issue.

Rick Pingry wrote:
I tried making my C# code CLS compliant

Being CLS compliant is clearly not the issue. You simply cannot just willy-Nilly pass pointers to memory locations around within C#, much more so when you pass them across process boundaries to other applications or AppDomains.

-Doug

Re: Not CLS Compliant?

Rick Pingry

5:08 13 Oct '04

I am not going between managed/unmanaged code boundaries, so I do not see why marshalling is the issue. What I have is a C# dll which provides the base classes, interfaces, and top level application form that have these MenuCommands from the MagicLibrary. Then there are plug-ins can be written in the various managed languages. Then there is the application itself, which simply calls a function in the base dll that loads any available plug-ins and starts the main form.

I can write plug-ins in C# and VB that can use the MenuCommands without any problem (plug-ins can add menu items to the main menu). I can write a plug-in in managed C++ also, I just start to have problems when I try to access the MenuCommands.

The reason that I think this is a CLS compliance issue is that when I add the CSL compliant attribute to the base DLL, the only place that it fails is where I am exposing the MenuCommand in my public interface. I made a little wrapper class that has a MenuCommand as a member which forwards the member functions I am interested in. When I did that, everything worked fine. The managed C++ plug-in was able to use my wrapper without any problems at all.

I was able to get this work-around going ok. I was just wondering if I could get a CLS compliant version of the MenuCommand so I wouldn't have to.

-- Rick

Re: Not CLS Compliant?

DelphiCoder

10:43 20 Oct '04

Rick Pingry wrote:
The managed C++ plug-in was able to. . .

This is my point regarding marshalling. Managed C++ is not fully CLR compliant and it never will be. C# is unless you use the unsafe keyword. Even then it may still be unless something really unusual is happening within the unsafe section. Managed C++ on the otherhand, merely has a garbage collector and some other special features added, but it does not produce fully compliant CLR.

That is why Managed C++ will not run on Windows CE, Pocket PCs, Windows Mobile Phones, Linux, or Macs. Only fully CLR compliant languages will compile and run on all these platforms with no changes. Managed C++ uses too much native code to be fully CLR compliant. Managed C++ is not meant to be fully CLR compliant, and if it were, there would be no reason to use it over C# or VB.NET, because it would loose its special features that fully CLR compliant languages simply cannot posses. It is just too low level.

Visual Basic insulates users by performing most marshalling functionality transparently. So it does not suprise me that VB was able to use your dll. Managed C++, or any other C++ derivative, requires you to personally deal with marshalling issues.

-- Doug

Re: Not CLS Compliant?

Rick Pingry

11:11 20 Oct '04

Ah, thanks for the insight. -- Rick
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Nedd GUI controls

send2tusharp@yahoo.com

21:11 29 Aug '04

Hi, I am Tushar, I wnat to know about your GUI Windows controls. Is these control free for use. Is your control gives XP like look n feel. If yes can you give me your control for mY project. Waiting for reply Thank You Tushar P.
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink	2.00/5 (1 vote)

Problems with dynamic contextmenu + notifyIcon

gein

1:31 29 May '04

I have a contextmenu which I dynamicly change from a click in the menu itself. It removes and adds items in a submenu. But after one change the submenu becomes "empty". But it isnt empty. The little arrow to the right at the item says that it is more items (means its a submenu). And if I make a temp. procedure which just checks items in the submenu, everyone is there.

If I use this contextmenu on my form instead it works just like it should! But when using it on my notifyIcon it doesnt work. If I for example first clicks on a item in the menu from the notifyIcon which changes the menu and then AFTER clicks on the form to popup the menu and then again go to the menu in the notifyIcon its properlly refreshed.

Anyone gets my problem!?
Some help would be nice. I have been googled a whole day not finding any solution.

Programmatically opening a menu

Rick Pingry

7:35 25 May '04

Thanks for the great stuff, it has been very helpful. Is there any way to programmatically click a menu item? In this case it is one of the top menu items that I would like to expand automatically on startup. Thanks, -- Rick
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

How I Install DotNetBar in my Visual Studio .NET

sk0rpi0n

5:44 16 Mar '04

Hi I have download the dotnetbar form devcomponents.com but i don't now how i can to do to install the *.dll into my VIsual Studio .NET. I try to execute the samples but always get an error like "FileNotFoundException' . What can i do??
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink	1.25/5 (4 votes)

Error with menu within menu

KlaasjanMors

12:17 14 Feb '04

Hi, When i create a menuitem and within this menuitem i create several sub menuitems i get a object reference set. Help how can i solve this problem Klaasjan Klaasjan
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Merge MDI Child Menu with MDI Parent Menu.

SunilNRao

19:58 11 Jan '04

I have created a mdi form with File and Edit menu items in the Parent form. I have created one child of the MDI parent. On the child window l have placed a file menu. When the program starts the Parent Menu items are shown. Now I press File menu on the Parent form to show the child form in maximized at this instance l want the child's File menu be merged with Parents File menu.

Many thanks for your help in advance

Sunil.

1.33/5 (3 votes)

Adding "Popup Menu" as Context Menu to a ToolBar

jayakarthikeyan

4:10 23 Dec '03

Hello, Is it possible to add "Popup menu" as context menu to a tool bar control. It would be be nice to have same look and feel of menu control, popupmenu. So please provide the interface to make use of this popup menu as context menu to a tool bar. Thanx in Advance Jayakarthik
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Compiling on command line

Marc Heiligers

8:04 5 Nov '03

What if for some strange reason (like I don't have VS.Net) I wanted to compile the demo on the command line (or using a response file). The response file I have is:

/target:winexe
/out:magictest.exe
/r:MagicLibrary.dll
SampleMenus.cs
AssemblyInfo.cs
/resource:MenuImages.bmp
/resource:SampleMenus.resx

This compiles fine, but the resultant exe gives a "Application has generated an exception that could not be handled." error. I'm sure there's something important I've left out of the response file. Confused

______________
Marc Heiligers

Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious

BUG: Showing a PopupMenu over controls that handle MouseEnter/MouseLeave

dacris

10:17 27 Aug '03

When you show a PopupMenu and it overlaps another control while the mouse is inside that control, the control no longer receives WM_MOUSELEAVE messages after the PopupMenu is dismissed. This is because the control still thinks the mouse is over it.

HOW TO REPRODUCE:
1. Start up the docking sample for MagicLibrary.
2. Choose Manager -> Create 3 in Column.
3. Hover the mouse over the maximize button of the Form 0 docking window, and leave the cursor there.
4. Activate and show the Settings menu via keyboard, and press ESC twice to deactivate it again.
5. Move the mouse outside of the maximize button and notice how the button is still in its hover state. Only restarting the application will fix it.

HOW TO FIX:
The solution is simple. Right before calling CreateHandle in CreateAndShowWindow for the PopupMenu, add a call to ReleaseMouse, and declare the function ReleaseMouse, as follows:

private void ReleaseMouse() 
{ 
// This is a fix to a bug in MagicLibrary! 
// Get the window underneath the mouse cursor 
// and tell it that the mouse has left its 
// client and nonclient areas. 
// Otherwise, the window will still think the 
// mouse is over it. 

IntPtr hWnd = User32.WindowFromPoint(Cursor.Position.X, Cursor.Position.Y); 
if(hWnd != IntPtr.Zero) 
{ 
User32.SendMessage(hWnd, Win32.Msgs.WM_NCMOUSELEAVE, 0, 0); 
User32.SendMessage(hWnd, Win32.Msgs.WM_MOUSELEAVE, 0, 0); 
} 
}

Declare the WindowFromPoint API function in User32 as follows:

[DllImport("User32.dll")] 
public static extern IntPtr WindowFromPoint(int xPoint, int yPoint);

You may also need to declare the WM_MOUSELEAVE and WM_NCMOUSELEAVE messages as per the Win32 API documentation.

I have a symbiotic relationship with my computer.

Re: BUG: Showing a PopupMenu over controls that handle MouseEnter/MouseLeave

Anonymous

10:05 4 Oct '04

Tried it, but the correction doesn't work... Any idea ? If I Right-Click on a control to display a Pop-Up menu, then I can Right-Click anywhere on the form and the same Pop-Up menu is always displayed, until I Left-Click on something, then the Right-Click works again.
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink	2.00/5 (1 vote)

To Phil

namortaror@hotmail.com

6:50 20 Aug '03

Phil, Good stuff. Why don't you grop me a line (namortaror@hotmail.com). There is a project you might be interested in. Roman
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Urgent!

psusong

2:17 18 Jun '03

Failed to download the source codes!!
Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink	1.00/5 (1 vote)

Sos!!How can i add my own icon to the menu??

Anonymous

2:24 8 Apr '03

According to the code followed
I do not know How can i add my own icon to the menu
can you help me!!!!
How can i to modify the code??

Protected Sub LoadResources()
' Create a strip of images by loading an embedded bitmap resource
_images = ResourceHelper.LoadBitmapStrip(Me.GetType(), _
"SampleMenus.MenuImages.bmp", _
New Size(16, 16), _
New Point(0, 0))
End Sub

Dim window1 As MenuCommand = New MenuCommand("&New Window", _images, 0, New EventHandler(AddressOf OnNewWindowSelected))
Dim window2 As MenuCommand = New MenuCommand("Cl&ose", _images, 1, New EventHandler(AddressOf OnCloseWindowSelected))

5.00/5 (2 votes)

Re: Sos!!How can i add my own icon to the menu??

Manster

4:19 7 Jul '03

This is what I did in C#, so just do that same thing in vb and you'll get the menu bitmap to show up.

// Create my menu item.
MenuCommand mImport = new MenuCommand("&Import data", m_ImageListToolBar, 16, new EventHandler(OnImportData) );

mMenuCom3.MenuCommands.AddRange(new MenuCommand[]{mImport});

All you have to do is add all your images to a imagelist and then specify the proper imagelist index like I did above.

Hope this helps Wink

2.00/5 (1 vote)

Last Visit: Saturday, August 30, 2008 5:50 AM Last Update:Saturday, August 30, 2008 5:50 AM

12 Next »

General News Question Answer Joke Rant Admin