Accessing Ribbon UI and Bar Elements
- 2 minutes to read
Design-time capabilities in the ExpressBars Suite simplify your interaction with different Ribbon UI and toolbar elements. You can directly select a specific element on a form or in the Customization Form, and examine or make changes to it by using the Object Inspector.
Here is a list of toolbar and Ribbon elements that have direct access capability:
You can select a single bar item or multiple bar items (for a multiple selection, hold down the Shift key while you are clicking desired items) either on a toolbar or Ribbon, or in the Customization Form.
Note that you can press the Esc key to move focus from the currently selected item control or toolbar to its parent component. For instance, press the Esc key to move focus to the parent toolbar/item control of a bar item that is currently selected.
You can also resize bar items directly in a form by dragging their sizing edges.
To access bar item link properties, select a bar item control, invoke the customizing popup menu, and click “Select Link”.
- Toolbars that are the part of the Ribbon UI
You can select a toolbar docked to the tab group by clicking the group’s title. Similar to multiple bar items selection, two or more toolbars can be selected simultaneously as well.
A toolbar docked into the Ribbon Quick Access Toolbar container is selected by clicking the Customize Button’s area.
To select a toolbar docked into the Ribbon Tab Area Toolbar or Ribbon Tab Area Search Toolbar container, click any of the toolbar’s bar item controls and press the Esc key.
Any currently visible tab can be selected on a form with a mouse click.
Each tab group is provided with a group selector – a rectangle with green diagonal stripes located in the group’s bottom-left corner. If a group is focused, stripes are colored in red.
Once selected, each element (or shared resources if multiple elements have been selected) is automatically synchronized with the Object Inspector.