vb.net get contextmenustrip applicable to multiple pictureboxes - vb.net

Question

In my form I have several pictureboxes and one contextmenustrip, the contextmenustrip is supposed to use at all these pictureboxes.
A tool in the contextmenustrip is to open and view the a pdf file.
The current code is:
Private Sub ViewToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ViewToolStripMenuItem.Click
Process.Start("C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe", "C:\vb_test\" + picDrawing(1))
End Sub
I have no idea how the tool can determine which picturebox is focused and open different files.
I am using vb.net.

Answer 1

It seems that ContextMenu.SourceControl returns always Nothing in particular situations. I verified this problem on VS2010 when I put my ToolStripMenuItem inside a ToolStripDropDownMenu. So the answer posted by #Justin Ryan couldn't working.
A workaround could be manually set a variable when opening ContextMenu with its SourceControl.
Public Class Form1
Dim ctrlSourceControl As Control
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
AddHandler Me.ContextMenuStrip1.Opening, AddressOf setSourceControl
End Sub
Private Sub setSourceControl(sender As Object, e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs)
Me.ctrlSourceControl = CType(sender, ContextMenuStrip).SourceControl
End Sub
Private Sub Item1ToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Item1ToolStripMenuItem.Click
MsgBox(Me.ctrlSourceControl.Name)
End Sub
End Class

Answer 2

From this question, Tim Lentine shows how to use the SourceControl property Of a ContextMenuStrip to determine the control which opened the context menu:
Private Sub mnuWebCopy_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuWebCopy.Click
Dim myItem As ToolStripMenuItem = CType(sender, ToolStripMenuItem)
Dim cms As ContextMenuStrip = CType(myItem.Owner, ContextMenuStrip)
MessageBox.Show(cms.SourceControl.Name)
End Sub

Answer 3

This answer is likely the same as tezzo's. Just used to this
scenario a lot, and wanted to share some security checks among many
others that may help.
Assuming
ONLY PictureBoxes can show your ContextMenu named MyContextMenu :
and you have a ToolStripMenuItem named ViewToolStripMenuItem
Declarations :
Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Option Infer Off
Imports System.IO
' File.Exist()
Imports System.Diagnostics
' Process.Start()
Public Class Form1
Private p_SelectedPictureB As PictureBox
Private p_AcroRedPath As String = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe"
Private p_ImageFolderPath As String = "C:\vb_test\"
Private p_TargetFileName As String = ""
' ...
End Class
Handle the Opening Event of your MyContextMenu [ContextMenu]
either by a Handles MyContextMenu.Opening hook
or AddHandler MyContextMenu.Opening, AddressOf MyContextMenu_Opening
Private Sub MyContextMenu_Opening( _
sender As Object, e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) _
Handles MyContextMenu.Opening ' Requires Private WithEvents MyContextMenu
'Try
p_SelectedPictureB = DirectCast(MyContextMenu.SourceControl, PictureBox)
If p_SelectedPictureB.Image IsNot Nothing Then
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True
Select Case True
Case p_SelectedPictureB Is PictureBox1:
p_TargetFileName = picDrawing(1)
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Text = "Open [" + p_TargetFileName + "]"
Case p_SelectedPictureB Is PictureBox2:
p_TargetFileName = picDrawing(2)
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Text = "Open [" + p_TargetFileName + "]"
' ...
Case Else
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Text = "Open [<Wrong PBox>]"
p_TargetFileName = ""
'e.Cancel = True
End Select
Else
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
ViewToolStripMenuItem.Text = "Open [<No Image>]"
p_TargetFileName = ""
'e.Cancel = True
End If
'Catch CurrentException As Exception
' MessageBox.Show(CurrentException.Message)
' ViewToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
' p_TargetFileName = ""
' e.Cancel = True
'End Try
' ^^ remove commenting if you're unsure.
End Sub
Prefer the use of top declared variables.
If you write plain file/folder paths inside a method or function, you could loose track of it quickly, and some time later, you don't understand why your application suddenly started to crash (because the file went deleted/application uninstalled, or the folder renamed)
=> Put path to File/Folder in a global variable
However, the best move is to retrieve that path at Runtime, and ensure the existence of the File/Folder before going further...
Private Sub ViewToolStripMenuItem_Click( _
sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles ViewToolStripMenuItem.Click
Dim TargetFile As String = p_ImageFolderPath + p_TargetFileName
If File.Exists(TargetFile) Then
' (p_AcroRedPath existence checked when application starts)
Process.Start(p_AcroRedPath, TargetFile)
Else
MessageBox.Show("The File [" + TargetFile + "] doesn't exist.")
End If
End Sub