Get the (ToolStrip) parent of a ToolStripDropDownMenu

Question

I am writing a custom ToolStripProfessionalRenderer

Take for example, the following override:

protected override void OnRenderImageMargin(ToolStripRenderEventArgs e)
{
    if(e.ToolStrip is MenuStrip)
    {
        // It never is. It's always ToolStripDropDownMenu
    }
}

I guess that OnRenderImageMargin is called by the drop down menu since this is what will be rendered, however I want to get the parent ToolStrip/MenuStrip/StatusStrip that caused the OnRenderImageMargin call.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

I thought the e.ToolStrip.Parent property would be the key, but it's always null.

One option is to create a constructor in your ToolStripProfessionalRenderer, and pass in a reference to the control.

class CustomRenderer : ToolStripProfessionalRenderer
{
    // All those controls derive from ToolStrip so we can use the base class here
    private ToolStrip ts;

    public CustomRenderer(ToolStrip ts)
    {
        this.ts = ts;
    }

    protected override void OnRenderImageMargin(ToolStripRenderEventArgs e)
    {
        if (ts is MenuStrip)  
        {
        }
        else if (ts is StatusStrip)
        {
        }
        else  // ts is ToolStrip
        {
        }
    }

Then pass a reference in when you instantiate it:

toolStrip1.Renderer = new CustomRenderer(toolStrip1);

statusStrip1.Renderer = new CustomRenderer(statusStrip1);

---

An alternative option, modified from this answer.

Forget the ctor and test the Owner repeatedly until you get the correct parent control:

protected override void OnRenderImageMargin(ToolStripRenderEventArgs e)
{
    ToolStrip owner = e.ToolStrip;
    while (owner is ToolStripDropDownMenu)
        owner = (owner as ToolStripDropDownMenu).OwnerItem.Owner;

    if (ts is MenuStrip)  
    {
    }
    else if (ts is StatusStrip)
    {
    }
    else  // ts is ToolStrip
    {
    }      
}