Why is context menu not showing?

Question

I am trying to create and show a context menu for arcmap desktop 10.2. I have followed the steps in the link provided by esri, which explains that I must override OnContextMenu. I am not sure if I am doing it right and need your help.

What I did was, I got the same code that is provided on the webpage and pasted it in my project, but nothing happens when I right click on the map. I am sure I am missing something.. do I have to register the context menu somewhere ?

I am a nooby it is obvious from my other questions, I do a lot of reading, but it gets very confusing, so I need someone to simplify things a bit.

Here is my understanding of what I should do, and correct me where I am wrong. According to the link provided below, there are two ways to get a context menu to show. either by implementing the ITool.OnContextMenu in case I want the menu to show for a specific tool, or by implementing the IDocumentEvents.OnContextMenu, which for both cases the event OnContextMenu will automatically fire when the user right-clicks on the active view.

The implementation for the event is also provided in the link, which I copied and pasted into VStudio.. now comes the part where I am confused about. how do I get the event to fire ?. When running the project arcmap starts, I right click on the active view, but no menu pops up. do I have to create the menu myself using windows forms?

http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/conceptualhelp/index.html#//0001000004p9000000

Update, here is a chunk of the code, I want to start listening to those events OnMouseDown and OnContextMenu in this part

    public class PTCExternalComponent : BaseTool, ISchematicXmlGenerate, ISchematicXmlUpdate{
    private Application _application;

    public void GenerateXmlData(string diagramName, string diagramClassName, ref   object xmlSource, ref bool cancel) {
               cancel = false;
        try {
            var app = NEAutomation2.Application.Instance().IApplication;
            var nameofActivetool = app.CurrentTool.Command.Name;
            var activeTool = (ITool)app.CurrentTool;
            var toolIndex = app.CurrentTool.Index;
            //((IToolbarControlEvents).OnItemClick(ss);
        //    activeTool.OnMouseDown(0, 0, 0, 0);

            var diagramGenerator = DiagramGenerationFactory.GetDiagramGenerator(
                diagramName, diagramClassName);
            if (diagramGenerator == null) {
                Logger.ShowMessageDialog("Unable to find a Diagram Generator for    diagram type [" + diagramClassName + "]", true);
            } else {
                bool canceled;
                var diagram = diagramGenerator.GenerateDiagram(out canceled);
                var sxg = new SchematicXmlGenerator(diagram, false); // for debugging
                if (diagram != null)
                    xmlSource = sxg.GenerateDiagramXml();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Logger.ShowMessageDialog(
                "An exception occurred while trying to generate diagram of type " +
                diagramClassName + "; Exception " + e.Message, true);
            ProgressTrackingUtility.HideProgressBar();
        }
    }

    public override void OnMouseDown(int button, int shift, int i, int i1) {
              // do stuff here
    }

    public override bool OnContextMenu(int x, int y) {
      //do stuff here
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    object ISchematicXmlGenerate.ApplicationHook {
        get { return _application as AppRef; }
        set { _application = value as Application; }
    }
Rest of Code .....

Answer 1

Implementing BaseTool is the old way, there are quite a few things you will need to do to get ArcMap to 'see' the tool. I would strongly recommend creating a new project starting as an ArcGis addin, which is an available option if you have the ArcObjects SDK installed... this does the hard part for you. If you choose to do it that way it would be much easier as everything comes pre-wired and you would need to implement ISchematicXmlGenerate, ISchematicXmlUpdate on top of ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool.

If you want to persist with what you've got I can give you an example of functions from one of my old tools called Eddie_Lives in the namespace HandiToolBar:

[Guid("e272d412-85b4-4c5c-bfcf-33dee1dd3003")]
[ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.None)]
[ProgId("HandiToolBar.Eddie_Lives")]
public sealed class Eddie_Lives : BaseTool
{
    #region COM Registration Function(s)
    [ComRegisterFunction()]
    [ComVisible(false)]
    static void RegisterFunction(Type registerType)
    {
        // Required for ArcGIS Component Category Registrar support
        ArcGISCategoryRegistration(registerType);
    }

    [ComUnregisterFunction()]
    [ComVisible(false)]
    static void UnregisterFunction(Type registerType)
    {
        // Required for ArcGIS Component Category Registrar support
        ArcGISCategoryUnregistration(registerType);
    }

    #region ArcGIS Component Category Registrar generated code
    /// <summary>
    /// Required method for ArcGIS Component Category registration -
    /// Do not modify the contents of this method with the code editor.
    /// </summary>
    private static void ArcGISCategoryRegistration(Type registerType)
    {
        string regKey = string.Format("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{{{0}}}", registerType.GUID);
        MxCommands.Register(regKey);

    }
    /// <summary>
    /// Required method for ArcGIS Component Category unregistration -
    /// Do not modify the contents of this method with the code editor.
    /// </summary>
    private static void ArcGISCategoryUnregistration(Type registerType)
    {
        string regKey = string.Format("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{{{0}}}", registerType.GUID);
        MxCommands.Unregister(regKey);

    }

    #endregion
    #endregion

Obviously you will need to generate your own GUID because this one is already taken.

Then in the class initializer:

public Eddie_Lives()
{
    base.m_category = "my Tools"; //localizable text 
    base.m_caption = "Eddie, the editor.";  //localizable text 
    base.m_message = "Opens the eddie editor interface.";  //localizable text
    base.m_toolTip = "Opens the eddie editor interface.";  //localizable text
    base.m_name = "Eddie Lives!";   //unique id, non-localizable (e.g. "MyCategory_ArcMapTool")

    try
    {
      //
      // TODO: change resource name if necessary
      //
      //string bitmapResourceName = GetType().Name + ".bmp";
        base.m_bitmap = Properties.Resources.Eddie.ToBitmap();
      //base.m_cursor = new System.Windows.Forms.Cursor(GetType(), GetType().Name + ".cur");
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
      System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(ex.Message, "Invalid Bitmap");
    }
}

base is a property of the BaseTool which you're implementing.

Then in the overriden class OnCreate:

public override void OnCreate(object hook)
{
    m_application = hook as IApplication;

    //Disable if it is not ArcMap
    if (hook is IMxApplication)
    { 
        base.m_enabled = true; // enable the tool

After you've jumped through all those hoops you can add the compiled dll (after it is registered using C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ArcGIS\bin\ESRIRegAsm.exe) to ArcMap and the tool will be available in the customize dialog, place it on a tool bar and your events should fire. Com types are being replaced by addins which means this code will definitely have a limited lifespan before you need to create an addin just to get it to work.