Expert Access™ 2007 Programming

Chapter 11. Creating Dynamic Ribbon Customizations

The Ribbon, first introduced in Office 2007, provides many new and interesting opportunities for user-interface development in Access applications. Unlike menus, the Ribbon gives you a chance to expose functionality in an application that might otherwise be overlooked. For new users, the Ribbon is designed to reduce the barrier to entry, making it easier to find the item the user is looking for.

In this chapter, you learn how to:

• Create ribbon customizations for use in Access applications

• Program the ribbon to provide dynamic user experiences

• Use images effectively in ribbon customizations to provide experiences that are fun and easy-to-use

• Disable or repurpose built-in controls to provide your own functionality

Overview of Ribbon Customizations in Access

Ribbon customizations that you write for Access applications are generally designed to replace the menu bars and toolbars of applications created in previous versions. Although this may be how you typically create ribbon customizations, it is not the only way that you can use them.

You can create two types of customizations for the Ribbon. You can use the first type of customization with a particular database, which appears when a given database is open in Access. The second type of ribbon customization you can create is in a COM add-in. Because COM add-ins are available for any database open in Access, it stands to reason that ribbon customizations created as part of a COM add-in are ...