RibbonX: Customizing the Office 2007 Ribbon

Chapter 6. RibbonX Basic Controls

It's time to start exploring the controls that reflect the RibbonX experience. This chapter begins that process by examining four of the most basic, yet most frequently used, Ribbon controls: button, checkBox, editBox, and toggleButton.

This chapter is divided into four main sections, each of which discusses an individual control in great detail. Because the XML and VBA code required to make these controls function is supposed to be agnostic across the several Office applications, in theory they can all be covered once. However, we all know the benefit of seeing how something works in our primary application, so each section also includes examples that are specific to Excel, Word, and Access. When working through the examples, we encourage you to download the companion files. The source code and files for this chapter can be found on the book's website at www.wiley.com/go/ribbonx.

The button Element

Without question, the button is the most well known of all the tools in the developer's toolbox. From early versions of the applications, users have had access to buttons on toolbars, menus, and even in other forms such as ActiveX controls. Some have pictures and others have text, and they can vary in size and shape, but they all have one thing in common: When you click a button, something happens.

The Ribbon gives you control over a very rich button experience. You can use builtin images or supply your own; you can specify that you'd like a large button, ...