DataGridView.RowContextMenuStripNeeded Event

Definition

Occurs when a row's shortcut menu is needed.

public event System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewRowContextMenuStripNeededEventHandler RowContextMenuStripNeeded;
public event System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewRowContextMenuStripNeededEventHandler? RowContextMenuStripNeeded;

Event Type

Examples

The following code example handles the RowContextMenuStripNeeded event to provide a ContextMenuStrip based on the title of the employee. In this example, there are two shortcut menus, one for managers and one for all other employees.

void dataGridView1_RowContextMenuStripNeeded(object sender,
    DataGridViewRowContextMenuStripNeededEventArgs e)
{
    DataGridViewRow dataGridViewRow1 = dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex];

    toolStripMenuItem1.Enabled = true;

    // Show the appropriate ContextMenuStrip based on the employees title.
    if ((dataGridViewRow1.Cells["Title"].Value.ToString() ==
        "Sales Manager") ||
        (dataGridViewRow1.Cells["Title"].Value.ToString() ==
        "Vice President, Sales"))
    {
        e.ContextMenuStrip = managerMenuStrip;
    }
    else
    {
        e.ContextMenuStrip = employeeMenuStrip;
    }

    contextMenuRowIndex = e.RowIndex;
}

Remarks

The RowContextMenuStripNeeded event occurs only when the DataGridView control DataSource property is set or its VirtualMode property is true. Handling the RowContextMenuStripNeeded event is useful when you want to display a shortcut menu determined by a row's current state or the values it contains.

When you handle the RowContextMenuStripNeeded event, the shortcut menu that you specify in the handler is shown whenever the user right-clicks a row unless the CellContextMenuStripNeeded overrides the shortcut menu for the specific cell that was clicked.

The RowContextMenuStripNeeded event also occurs whenever the value of the DataGridViewRow.ContextMenuStrip property is retrieved, either programmatically or when the user right-clicks a row.

You can use the DataGridViewRowContextMenuStripNeededEventArgs.RowIndex property to determine the state of a row or the values it contains, and use this information to change or modify the DataGridViewRowContextMenuStripNeededEventArgs.ContextMenuStrip property. This property is initialized with the value of the row ContextMenuStrip property, which the event value overrides.

Handle the RowContextMenuStripNeeded event when working with large amounts of data to avoid the performance penalties of setting the row ContextMenuStrip value for multiple rows. For more information, see Best Practices for Scaling the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.

For more information about how to handle events, see Handling and Raising Events.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also