Property Menu

Jan 20, 2023
4 minutes to read

The PropertyGridControl can show menu for each property. To enable or disable property menu, use the PropertyDefinition.ShowMenuButton property.

The PropertyGridControl displays the following default menu items:

The Refresh button invokes a bound property getter to refresh the value displayed in PropertyGridControl. This is useful when you edit an object that does not support change notifications.
The Reset button resets a property to its initial value. This button is enabled when the CanResetValue method of a corresponding property descriptor returns true. To enable the Reset button for standard non-dependency properties, specify the DefaultValue attribute.

The PropertyGridControl allows you to customize property menus. To add new menu items or remove existing items, use the following members:

PropertyGridControl.MenuOpeningOccurs when a user opens the PropertyGridControl‘s menu and allows you to customize it.PropertyGridControl.MenuCustomizationsSpecifies the menu customizations for the entire property grid.PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizationsSpecifies the menu customizations for individual properties.

Note

The PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations property has higher precedence than the PropertyGridControl.MenuCustomizations property.

The following table lists members that allow you to interact with property grid menus in code:

API	Description
ShowPropertyMenu(String)	Invokes the Property Menu for the property definition with the specified path.
ShowNewItemMenu(String)	Invokes the New Item Menu for the collection definition with the specified path.
IsMenuVisible	Gets whether a property grid menu is open.
HideMenu()	Closes the opened property grid menu.

The following example demonstrates how to add a custom menu item to a property definition and specify the new item’s position:

Refer to the following help topic for more information: The List of Bar Items and Links.

In XAML

Add a bar item (for example, BarCheckItem) to the PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations collection and specify item properties. Attach the BarItemLinkActionBase.ItemLinkIndex property to this item to insert it into a specific position.

XAML

xaml

<Window ...
    xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
    xmlns:dxb="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/bars"
    xmlns:dxprg="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/propertygrid">
    <!-- ... -->
    <dxprg:PropertyDefinition Type="sys:String">
        <dxprg:PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations>
            <dxb:BarCheckItem Content="Checked" IsChecked="True" dxb:BarItemLinkActionBase.ItemLinkIndex="0"/>
            <dxb:BarItemLinkSeparator dxb:BarItemLinkActionBase.ItemLinkIndex="1"/>
        </dxprg:PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations>
    </dxprg:PropertyDefinition>

In Code

Handle the PropertyGridControl.MenuOpening event.

XAML

xaml

<Window ...
    xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
    xmlns:dxprg="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/propertygrid">
    <!-- ... -->
    <dxprg:PropertyGridControl ...
                               MenuOpening="OnMenuOpening">
        <dxprg:PropertyDefinition Type="sys:String"/>
    </dxprg:PropertyGridControl>

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Xpf.Bars;
using DevExpress.Xpf.PropertyGrid;
// ...

void OnMenuOpening(object sender, PropertyGridMenuEventArgs e) {
    if (e.Row.Type == typeof(string)) {
        BarCheckItem checkItem = new BarCheckItem {Content = "Checked", IsChecked = true};
        BarItemLinkActionBase.SetItemLinkIndex(checkItem, 0);
        e.Customizations.Add(checkItem);

        BarItemLinkSeparator separator = new BarItemLinkSeparator();
        BarItemLinkActionBase.SetItemLinkIndex(separator, 1);
        e.Customizations.Add(separator);
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Xpf.Bars
Imports DevExpress.Xpf.PropertyGrid
' ...

Private Sub OnMenuOpening(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As PropertyGridMenuEventArgs)
    If e.Row.Type = GetType(String) Then
        Dim checkItem As BarCheckItem = New BarCheckItem With {
            .Content = "Checked",
            .IsChecked = True
        }
        BarItemLinkActionBase.SetItemLinkIndex(checkItem, 0)
        e.Customizations.Add(checkItem)

        Dim separator As BarItemLinkSeparator = New BarItemLinkSeparator()
        BarItemLinkActionBase.SetItemLinkIndex(separator, 1)
        e.Customizations.Add(separator)
    End If
End Sub

The following example removes the Reset item from the property menu:

In XAML

Add the RemoveBarItemAndLinkAction object to the PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations collection. Assign the menu item name from the BarItemNames class to the ItemName property.

XAML

xaml

<Window ...
    xmlns:dxb="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/bars"
    xmlns:dxprg="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/propertygrid">
    <!-- ... -->
    <dxprg:PropertyDefinition Type="sys:String">
        <dxprg:PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations>
            <dxb:RemoveBarItemAndLinkAction ItemName="{x:Static dxprg:BarItemNames.Reset}"/>
        </dxprg:PropertyDefinition.MenuCustomizations>
    </dxprg:PropertyDefinition>

In Code

Handle the PropertyGridControl.MenuOpening event.

XAML

xaml

<Window ...
    xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
    xmlns:dxprg="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/propertygrid">
    <!-- ... -->
    <dxprg:PropertyGridControl ...
                               MenuOpening="OnMenuOpening">
        <dxprg:PropertyDefinition Type="sys:String"/>
    </dxprg:PropertyGridControl>

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Xpf.Bars;
using DevExpress.Xpf.PropertyGrid;
// ...

void OnMenuOpening(object sender, PropertyGridMenuEventArgs e) {
    if (e.Row.Type == typeof(string)) {
        e.Customizations.Add(new RemoveBarItemAndLinkAction {ItemName = BarItemNames.Reset});
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Xpf.Bars
Imports DevExpress.Xpf.PropertyGrid
' ...

Private Sub OnMenuOpening(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As PropertyGridMenuEventArgs)
    If e.Row.Type = GetType(String) Then
        e.Customizations.Add(New RemoveBarItemAndLinkAction With {
            .ItemName = BarItemNames.Reset
        })
    End If
End Sub

Disable all the PropertyGridControl’s Menus

If you do not want to display any of the PropertyGridControl‘s menus, follow the steps below:

Handle the PropertyGridControl.MenuOpening event.
In the event handler, set the e.Handled property to true.

XAML

xaml

<Window ...
    xmlns:dxprg="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/propertygrid">
    <!-- ... -->
    <dxprg:PropertyGridControl ...
                               MenuOpening="OnMenuOpening"/>

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Xpf.PropertyGrid;
// ...

void OnMenuOpening(object sender, PropertyGridMenuEventArgs e) {
    e.Handled = true;
}

Imports DevExpress.Xpf.PropertyGrid
' ...

Private Sub OnMenuOpening(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As PropertyGridMenuEventArgs)
    e.Handled = True
End Sub

Property Menu

Property Menu Overview

Add Custom Menu Items

In XAML

In Code

Remove Existing Menu Items

In XAML

In Code

Disable all the PropertyGridControl’s Menus