Access™ 2007 VBA Bible: For Data-Centric Microsoft® Office Applications

Chapter 15. Customizing the Ribbon with XML in Access Databases and Add-ins

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Customizing the Ribbon in an Access database

• Customizing the Ribbon with an Access add-in

• Tools for working with XML code

As a power user or developer, you may be used to manually customizing the Access toolbars and menus, removing controls you don't need, moving others to more convenient locations, and in general reorganizing the toolbars and menus just as you prefer, and you may have written functions to run from custom toolbar buttons or menu commands. If you expect to continue these practices in Access 2007, you're in for a shock.

The new Office 2007 Ribbon is a major interface change for Access (as well as the other Office applications), and it requires a major change in programming techniques for customizing the Access interface. Instead of working with the CommandBars collection to create menus and toolbars, or add commands to the standard ones, you customize the Ribbon with XML code stored in a table, working with tabs and groups instead of menus and toolbars (although the Ribbon does include one menu—the Office menu—and one toolbar—the Quick Access Toolbar).

For other Office applications, such as Word and Excel, Ribbon customization requires creating and loading a separate XML document, but in Access, you have a much more convenient option: just create a table containing the XML code for creating the Ribbon, load it automatically by closing and reopening the database, and then select the ...