WPF strange context menu behaviour

Question

Hi I create a contextmenu dynamicly using this code

   protected MenuItem itemAdd, itemDelete, itemSelectBranch, itemDeleteClasp;
    protected MenuItem itemCut, itemCopy, itemPaste, itemAddParent, itemPasteWithChildren;
    protected MenuItem itemAddTask, itemAddExtTask, itemAddMileStone;
 menu = new ContextMenu();
        itemAdd = new MenuItem
                      {
                          HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                          HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                          Header = "Add"
                      };
        itemDelete = new MenuItem
                         {
                             HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                             HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                             Header = "Delete"
                         };
        itemSelectBranch = new MenuItem
        {
            HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
            HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                                   Header = "Select"
                               };
        itemAddTask = new MenuItem
        {
            HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
            HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,

                              Header = "Task",

                          };
        itemAddParent = new MenuItem
                            {
                                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                                HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                                Header = "Parent"
                            };

        itemAddMileStone = new MenuItem
                               {
                                   HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                                   HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                                   Header = "Do sth",

                               };
        itemAddExtTask = new MenuItem
                             {
                                 HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                                 HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                                 Header = "Do sth"
                             };
        itemDelete.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
        itemDelete.Click += itemDelete_Click;



        itemDeleteClasp = new MenuItem
                              {
                                  HorizontalContentAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Stretch,
                                  HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                                  Header = "Do sthm"
                              };
        itemDeleteClasp.Click += itemDeleteClasp_Click;
        itemCopy = new MenuItem {Header = Do sth",HorizontalAlignment = System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment.Left};

        itemCopy.Click += itemCopy_Click;
        itemCut = new MenuItem
                      {
                          HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                          Header = "Cut"
                      };

        itemPaste = new MenuItem
                        {
                            HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                            Header = "Paste"
                        };

        itemAddParent = new MenuItem
                            {
                                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                                Header = "Do sth"
                            };

        itemPasteWithChildren = new MenuItem
                                    {
                                        HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                                        Header = "some long text"
                                    };
        itemPasteWithChildren.Click += itemPasteWithChildren_Click;
        itemAddParent.Click += itemAddParent_Click;
        itemPaste.Click += itemPaste_Click;
        itemCut.Click += itemCut_Click;
        itemAddTask.Click += itemAddTask_Click;
        itemAddExtTask.Click += itemAddExtTask_Click;
        itemAddMileStone.Click += itemAddMileStone_Click;
        itemAddParent.Click += itemAddParent_Click;
        itemSelectBranch.Click += itemSelectBranch_Click;
        itemAdd.Items.Add(itemAddTask);
        itemAdd.Items.Add(itemAddExtTask);
        itemAdd.Items.Add(itemAddMileStone);
        itemAdd.Items.Add(itemAddParent);
        menu.Items.Add(itemAdd);
        menu.Items.Add(itemDelete);
        menu.Items.Add(itemDeleteClasp);
        menu.Items.Add(itemSelectBranch);
        menu.Items.Add(itemCopy);
        menu.Items.Add(itemCut);
        menu.Items.Add(itemPaste);

This menu is attached to textbox.contextmenu property. However menu looks strange. Every text in menu items is centered. It looks quite ugly and frankly speaking I don't know why this looks that way. Could somebody explain me how I can make it align to left ?

Answer 1

The context menus leave space on the left for icons by default. I would suggest either using that space for icon placement, or override the ContextMenu's ControlTemplate to get a different look and feel.

This example should help get you started on the ControlTemplate:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms744758(VS.85).aspx

If you already know about the icon space, and are referring to the way MenuItem Headers are positioned by default, then make sure you wrap the Header text in a StackPanel and position its vertical or horizontal layout accordingly.