Stuart Roberts on all things SharePoint

public void SetEcbColumnOnView(SPView view, List internalNames)
{
    if (view == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("view");

    const string ListItemMenu = "ListItemMenu";
    const string ViewFields = "ViewFields";
    const string AttributeName = "Name";

    XElement root = XElement.Parse(view.GetViewXml());

    // Get all columns that use the ECB menu
    IEnumerable fields = from el in root.Elements(ViewFields).DescendantNodes().OfType()
                                    where el.Attribute(ListItemMenu) != null
                                    select el;

    // Remove the ECB Menu from all columns that currently use it.
    foreach (XElement el in fields)
    {
        el.Attributes(ListItemMenu).Remove();
    }

    if (internalNames.Count > 0)
    {
        //Get the field specified in the parameters
        fields = from el in root.Elements(ViewFields).DescendantNodes().OfType()
                    let nameAttribute = el.Attribute(AttributeName)
                    where nameAttribute != null && internalNames.Any(v => v.Equals(nameAttribute.Value))
                    select el;

        // Add the attribute to the columns to show the ECB menu
        foreach (XElement el in fields)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(el);
            var attribute = new XAttribute(ListItemMenu, bool.TrueString);
            el.Add(attribute);
        }
    }

    // Update the view
    string viewXml = root.ToString(SaveOptions.DisableFormatting);
    view.SetViewXml(viewXml);
    view.Update();
}