WinForm text box: MenuStrip keyboard shortcuts overriding OS-level copy/paste

Question

Update: I've figured out the source of the issue, now trying to figure out the best fix

I've got a Form with a customized MenuStrip, with all sorts of bells and whistles. Of note here, is that many of my MenuStrip items have keyboard shortcuts - namely ones for Cut/Copy/Paste.

It appears that the presence of this MenuStrip is overriding (and therefore cancelling) the default Cut/Copy/Paste keyboard shortcut behaviors for my text boxes (and other controls).

All of them.

.

I can't really say I have a reason for the MenuStrip Cut/Copy/Paste options, besides the fact that I would expect to see them there. That's how Office type programs operate, and it's something the user (myself included) would expect.

I could remove the Cut/Copy/Paste options from the MenuStrip, but that would be admitting defeat! So how do I keep my overly engineered MenuStrip from forcing me to implement custom code for EVERY control that's Cut/Copy/Paste friendly?

.

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** Original Post: **I've got a TextBox control in a toolbar which is to be used throughout my program. Imagine my surprise when native OS-level Copy/Paste events were not supported by default.

Sure, I could code something manually, but when I right-click on the control, Cut/Copy/Paste are already built in. How can I leverage this existing functionality?

I figure adding a KeyDown event with Ctrl+C, P, and X would be about the maximum I should have to code. For those events I just call a built-in method or something. That, or find a setting that enables native cut/copy/paste.

What am I overlooking/missing?

Answer 1

Easy Solution: Use the SendKeys.Send() call within the Click event.

SendKeys.Send("^X"); 

I'm doing something a little more complicated, so here's the details: I'm making several Forms, which all share some custom controls: MenuStrip, StatusStrip, and a few other custom controls. I've decided to have the Forms all inherit from the same base class, to allow common implementation of lots of stuff.

public partial class CommonFormBase : Form
{
    private void Initialize()
    {
        //Bind click event for custom MenuStrip to events in the local Form
        CommonMenuStrip.Edit_Cut.Click += new EventHandler(Edit_Cut_Click);
        CommonMenuStrip.Edit_Copy.Click += new EventHandler(Edit_Copy_Click);
        CommonMenuStrip.Edit_Paste.Click += new EventHandler(Edit_Paste_Click);
    }

    //Implement Click events for the MenuStrip by calling local methods
    internal void Edit_Cut_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { Cut(); }
    internal void Edit_Copy_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { Copy(); }
    internal void Edit_Paste_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { Paste(); }

    //Generic implementation of common commands for the CommonFormBase
    public virtual void Cut() { SendKeys.Send("^X"); }
    public virtual void Copy() { SendKeys.Send("^C"); }
    public virtual void Paste() { SendKeys.Send("^V"); }
}

I implemented the MenuStrip's click event at the Form level (not the MenuStrip level), but in that event I only call a generic method, which does all the code. In this example it's overkill, but I have other MenuStrip commands that will change in functionality for different child Forms, so I figured having them all work the same would be easier.

Anyway, this works almost perfectly! It seems to push the shortcut-key-activated MenuStrip_Click event to the underlying control (or maybe the Form?), which then implements default shortcut key events.

The only thing it does wrong is it only triggers ONCE when you do Ctrl + V + V + V... or hold Ctrl+V. Still, that's just a matter of the trigger not recognizing multiple events, not an issue with the solution itself.