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Getting Started with WinForms ContextMenu

This tutorial will help you to quickly get started using the control.

Adding Telerik Assemblies Using NuGet

To use RadContextMenu when working with NuGet packages, install the Telerik.UI.for.WinForms.AllControls package. The package target framework version may vary.

Read more about NuGet installation in the Install using NuGet Packages article.

With the 2025 Q1 release, the Telerik UI for WinForms has a new licensing mechanism. You can learn more about it here.

Adding Assembly References Manually

When dragging and dropping a control from the Visual Studio (VS) Toolbox onto the Form Designer, VS automatically adds the necessary assemblies. However, if you're adding the control programmatically, you'll need to manually reference the following assemblies:

  • Telerik.Licensing.Runtime
  • Telerik.WinControls
  • Telerik.WinControls.UI
  • TelerikCommon

The Telerik UI for WinForms assemblies can be install by using one of the available installation approaches.

Defining the RadContextMenu

This article demonstrates how you can add RadContextMenu in the code and attach it to a specific control.

1. Adding a RadContextMenu at runtime. To programmatically add a RadContextMenu to a form, create a new instance of a RadContextMenu

2. Add RadMenuItems to RadContextMenu.

3. Subscribe to МouseClick event of the control and call the RadContextMenu.Show() method:

4. Here is the result:

WinForms RadContextMenu Apply Sample

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