VSTO 2010 in VB.NET-Customizing Ribbon in Word Add-in

The most feature of office 2007 and later version is that these office systems are Ribbon compatible.

Basically Ribbon in office system is the user interface element that contains controls. Or you can say ribbon is the parant control of command controls.

In this article we will learn that how to customize this ribbon in word application. If you want to see that how to start vsto project click here

We can customize ribbon with two ways in our word addin

Ribbon(visual Designer)

Ribbon(XML)

In this article we will discuss about Ribbon(Visual Designer)

Adding Ribbon in your project:

Select Ribbon (Visual Designer) item and add

Note: this project requires Visual Studio 2010 and Word 2010 to run successfully.

Ribbon will be add in this view.

You can see built in 'TabAddIns' tab that contains a group without any control. We can add various office ribbon controls from toolbox. You can also set the various properties of the ribbon, tab, group and contained controls from properties windows.

You can see designer control in Ribbon1.designer.vb file:

Friend WithEvents Tab1 As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonTab

Friend WithEvents Group1 As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonGroup

Friend WithEvents Button1 As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonButton

Me.Tab1 = Me.Factory.CreateRibbonTab

Me.Group1 = Me.Factory.CreateRibbonGroup

Me.Button1 = Me.Factory.CreateRibbonButton

Me.Tab1.SuspendLayout()

Me.Group1.SuspendLayout()

'Tab1

Me.Tab1.ControlId.ControlIdType = Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonControlIdType.Office

Me.Tab1.Groups.Add(Me.Group1)

Me.Tab1.Label = "TabAddIns"

Me.Tab1.Name = "Tab1"

'Group1

Me.Group1.Items.Add(Me.Button1)

Me.Group1.Label = "Group1"

Me.Group1.Name = "Group1"

'Button1

Me.Button1.Label = "Insert DateTime"

Me.Button1.Name = "Button1"

'Ribbon1

Me.Name = "Ribbon1"

Me.RibbonType = "Microsoft.Word.Document"

Me.Tabs.Add(Me.Tab1)

Me.Tab1.ResumeLayout(False)

Me.Tab1.PerformLayout()

Me.Group1.ResumeLayout(False)

Me.Group1.PerformLayout()

Adding controls in Ribbon:
Follow these basic steps to design the Ribbon layout:

1. Add a tab to the Ribbon.

2. Add groups to the tab.

3. Add controls to the groups.
Controls can be dropped only on groups; you cannot drag a control directly to a tab or to the Ribbon. Groups can be dropped only on tabs; you cannot drag a group directly to a Ribbon.

Event handling:

Suppose you want to add a button on group for adding date time in the document on the click of button. You can drag drop button into the group from office ribbon Controls toolbox tab and you need to write code on its click event

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e AsMicrosoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonControlEventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim CurrentDate As String = DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString

Dim rng As Word.Range = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.Selection.Range

rng.Text = CurrentDate

End Sub

VSTO 2010 in VB.NET-Customizing Ribbon in Word Add-in

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