How do I get the source of a ContextMenu-originated event in WPF?

Question

I have a TreeView with a ContextMenu with Click events. When the click event in the context menu fires, I get the MenuItem as the source of the event, obviously. How can I get which node in the TreeView was the one who triggered the ContextMenu?

Answer 1

Generally you store the TreeView node (e.g. the source of the pop-up event, maybe the selected node - depends on your interface to some degree) in a private class-level variable in the ContextMenu's "pop-up" event, then refer to that variable in the menu's click event.

Answer 2

Alternatively, if you are using RoutedUICommands you can use the OriginalSource property on ExecuteRoutedEventArgs and CanExecuteRoutedEventArgs to find the FrameworkElement where Command started its bubble.

The OriginalSource however maybe the inner TextBlock, or other element in the node's DataTemplate, so you will need to use the VisualTreeHelper to find the parent you want. I have implemented a wrapper around this functionality that is similar to: http://www.hardcodet.net/2008/02/find-wpf-parent/

This approach is good if you want to separate/centralise your command logic in a large application.

Answer 3

//there has got to be a better way than this... TreeViewItem tvi = (((sender as MenuItem).Parent as ContextMenu).Parent as Popup).PlacementTarget as TreeViewItem;

This works, but why SHOULDN'T I do it this way?