And it turns out there is an elegant way of doing this, at least for custom made UI lists.
First and foremost, in the UI list’s draw_item method store the item in a dynamically created and globally accessible variable via layout.contex_pointer_set(item, “arbitrary_name”) and then create a custom drawing method that will be appended to a built-in UI_MT_button_context_menu.
This custom drawing method will handle the layout or GUI content added to the right click context menu.
Here’s a really simple example of such implementation:
#TESTED IN BLENDER 4.1
import bpy
from bpy.props import IntProperty, StringProperty, CollectionProperty, PointerProperty
from bpy.types import Operator, Panel, UIList, PropertyGroup
# ---------------------------
# Property Group for List Items
# ---------------------------
class PersonItem(PropertyGroup):
name: StringProperty(name="Name", default="John Doe")
age: IntProperty(name="Age", default=30, min=0, max=120)
birth_year: IntProperty(name="Birth Year", default=1990, min=1900, max=2020)
# ---------------------------
# Custom UI List
# ---------------------------
class PERSON_UL_List(UIList):
def draw_item(self, context, layout, data, item, icon, active_data, active_propname):
# Set context pointer for right-click
layout.context_pointer_set("person_item", item)
# Display item info
row = layout.row()
row.alignment = 'LEFT'
row.prop(item, "name", text="", emboss=False)
row.separator()
row.prop(item, "age", text="Age:", emboss=False)
row.separator()
row.prop(item, "birth_year", text="Year of Birth:", emboss=False)
# ---------------------------
# Right-Click Context Menu
# ---------------------------
def draw_context_menu(self, context):
item = context.person_item
# item = get_attr(context, "person_item", None) #alternative
layout = self.layout
layout.separator()
op = layout.operator("object.print_list_item", text="Print Item Details")
op.name = item.name
op.age = item.age
op.birth_year = item.birth_year
# ---------------------------
# Operator to Print Item Data
# ---------------------------
class OBJECT_OT_PrintListItem(Operator):
bl_idname = "object.print_list_item"
bl_label = "Print List Item"
name: StringProperty(default="")
age: IntProperty(default=0)
birth_year: IntProperty(default=2025)
def execute(self, context):
print(f"\nItem Details:")
print(f"Name: {self.name}")
print(f"Age: {self.age}")
print(f"Birth Year: {self.birth_year}")
print(f"------------------")
return {'FINISHED'}
# ---------------------------
# Panel to Display the List
# ---------------------------
class OBJECT_PT_CustomList(Panel):
bl_label = "People List"
bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_custom_list"
bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
bl_region_type = 'UI'
bl_category = 'Tool'
def draw(self, context):
layout = self.layout
scene = context.scene
row = layout.row()
row.template_list(
"PERSON_UL_List",
"",
scene,
"people_list",
scene,
"people_list_index"
)
col = row.column(align=True)
col.operator("object.add_person", icon='ADD', text="")
col.operator("object.remove_person", icon='REMOVE', text="")
# ---------------------------
# Add/Remove Operators
# ---------------------------
class OBJECT_OT_AddPerson(Operator):
bl_idname = "object.add_person"
bl_label = "Add Person"
def execute(self, context):
person = context.scene.people_list.add()
person.name = f"Person {len(context.scene.people_list)}"
person.age = 20 + len(context.scene.people_list)
person.birth_year = 2000 - len(context.scene.people_list)
return {'FINISHED'}
class OBJECT_OT_RemovePerson(Operator):
bl_idname = "object.remove_person"
bl_label = "Remove Person"
def execute(self, context):
index = context.scene.people_list_index
context.scene.people_list.remove(index)
context.scene.people_list_index = min(
max(0, index - 1),
len(context.scene.people_list) - 1
)
return {'FINISHED'}
def add_generic_items():
for i in range(6):
person = bpy.context.scene.people_list.add()
person.name = f"Person {i+1}"
person.age = 30 - i
person.birth_year = 1995 + i
# ---------------------------
# Registration
# ---------------------------
classes = (
PersonItem,
PERSON_UL_List,
OBJECT_OT_PrintListItem,
OBJECT_PT_CustomList,
OBJECT_OT_AddPerson,
OBJECT_OT_RemovePerson,
)
def register():
for cls in classes:
bpy.utils.register_class(cls)
bpy.types.Scene.people_list = CollectionProperty(type=PersonItem)
bpy.types.Scene.people_list_index = IntProperty()
# Register context menu
bpy.types.UI_MT_button_context_menu.append(draw_context_menu)
def unregister():
# Unregister context menu
if draw_context_menu in bpy.types.UI_MT_button_context_menu._dyn_ui_initialize():
bpy.types.UI_MT_button_context_menu.remove(draw_context_menu)
for cls in reversed(classes):
bpy.utils.unregister_class(cls)
del bpy.types.Scene.people_list
del bpy.types.Scene.people_list_index
if __name__ == "__main__":
register()
add_generic_items()
