I figure I'd share the same thing I just posted over at another forums.

It happened that we had a conversation about 2007 and how some of people were unhappy/annoyed with the ribbons. I had few issues with ribbons and have had stated if given the choice, I'd prefer menus and truly believe that ribbon wasn't really a solution to the problem the Office was facing with the cluttered menus; just a different implementation of same problem. At that point then, I realized that I wasn't really helping if I was just complaining so I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and alter ribbons for my own development use. I don't know if it's perfect yet but I'm pretty happy with the first version.

Here's a screenshot:
(IMG:http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e270/GDINobody/DeveloperRibbon.png)
This ribbon is guaranteed to fit a 1024 x 768 screen.


The XML is attached. Maybe it'll be of benefit to others.

For me, this fixes three significant annoyances:

1) clicking wrong button because there's too many similar buttons (e.g. choosing Query Wizard when I meant Query Design.)
2) having to change the tab to get the desired button every time whenever I work with multiple open objects. (edit a query, go to other objects to check the syntax, return to the query and I can't click 'Run' because the ribbon changed focus to 'Home' tab)
3) Clearing up the space taken up by stuff I never use (e.g. Home tab has lot of formatting... but the contextual tabs has them, too and there's also property sheet to edit so why have it at all?)
4) Reducing the numbers of clicks need to reach some items.

The version basically collapses all four original tabs, Home/Create/External Data/Database Tools, into a single tab, Develop. The contextual tabs has been unaltered. Most of buttons have a menu to show more options that I may occasionally use, and continue to allow customization of QAT.

The attached XML file also enumerates all built-in tabs, both contextual or not as my earlier idea was a bit more ambitious and wanting to edit them all but after having second thoughts, decided to leave the contextual tabs well alone enough. Of course you still should be able to edit the contextual tab by adding in your own group to it or suppress it entirely and provide your own contextual tabs.

Hopefully this will be useful to others and maybe other can even improve on my first attempt. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


Note:

The simplest way to add XML in is to use USysRibbons table. There are indeed other methods but USysRibbons method does not require any VBA or manual setup beyond specifying the ribbon name. Visit this link for more details in loading the XML.

Note 2:

Do not try to open the XML file in Internet Explorer, which is what Windows will default to. The problem is that while it will read XML fine, it puts in hyphens that are actually used like a treeview control. Unforunately, if one were to copy and paste from Internet Explorer, the copying will pick up the hyphens and thus break XML. It is usually better to open it using a text editor such as NotePad for example.


Thanks to Tom Wickerath for feedback.

Edited by BananaRepublic 2010-03-13 23:13:45
Edited by BananaRepublic 2010-03-16 09:41:13

Thanks, BR. You never cease to amaze me. (IMG:http://www.utteraccess.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif)

You're welcome. I hope you find it useful and/or share any feedbacks. (IMG:http://www.utteraccess.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Looks like a good idea BR. Thanks for posting it. I think it might be a useful addition to the code archive.

One thought came to mind in response to your comment vis a vis ribbons being 'just a different implementation of the same problem.' Personally, I like the Ribbon UI but I think your comment is even more apt when you look at the Office 2010 UI. Replacing the Office button with the File/Backstage tab makes things look a bit more like pre-2007 in my opinion.

In any case, thanks for posting this. One small change I have to suggest at the moment is to make 'Relationship' in the then Table and Relationship group, plural - Tables and Relationships

Glenn

Thanks, Glenn.

I fixed the plurality, but unfortunately was too late to edit my OP. Here's the edited XML nonetheless.

FWIW- I actually think Backstage is a good idea, moving occasionally used controls into their own space, but yes, having the "File" back speaks volume to how it was just a different take on the same problem. My other assertion has been that "Let's put in ribbons in SSMS and Visual Studio and see what they have to say about it." arguing that if it was really that great idea, the SQL'ers and developers would have no problems with ribbons in their tools. Right? (I'm predicting gnashing of teeth here.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) )

But with Office, I'm fairly sure ribbons is here to stay, like it or not, so thus lemonade. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


Edit: Attachment link removed. Refer to the original post for the latest XML.

Hi, this looks most interesting, but how do you load it in?
I see the zip file conatins and xml file - now what do i do with it?
Thanks

Here's a link. See if this get you started.

Thank you - that worked just fine. It is a really good ribbon and cuts down the mouse clicks by about 50% I reckon!

One final question - how do you remove it, or stop it loading if you want to go back to "vanilla" Access? (This is an academic question)

Cheers
Jim

Sorry One more question.
Now that I have this ribbon loaded, I have lost functionality for, example, Rich Text
Can I load this ribbon in Addition, rather than in place of?
Or do I have to now build another ribbon to also add?
Jim

As the name implies, it's intended for development, or maybe it'd be more accurate to say for my use and not for production use. Therefore, when you distribute the application, you either disable it (e.g. blank out the ribbon to load at startup) or load the ribbon created for this application.

You can modify the XML to add whatever you want. Go back to that link for many examples to add/remove/edit XML to your desire.

Thought I'd post this to the thread, since someone might find this useful along with the Developer's Ribbon...

For those of you who wipe the menus off in order to clear the QAT (or set a custom QAT) using startFromScratch="true", there is a need to allow the Developer's ribbon to toggle between visible / not visible. To do this, I found a site that gave an example in Excel (Hide or Display Ribbon Tab/Group/Control with getVisible)

The major items to remember are :
- Include RibbonOnLoad for the onload property in the customUI declaration in the xml -----> <customUI onLoad="RibbonOnLoad" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui">
- For the custom tab "DevelopTab", make sure to add getvisible and tag properties -----> <tab id="DevelopTab" label="Develop" getVisible="GetVisible" tag="DevRibbon">
- The additional code to be added to a module:


- In order to make developer ribbon visible -----> Call RefreshRibbon(Tag:="DevRibbon")
- In order to make developer ribbon not visible -----> Call RefreshRibbon(Tag:="")


...I think that's it....

Pardon my ignorance while trying to wrap my head around A2K10 - do the codes in this thread NOT apply to Access 2010? Or has my main cog slipped a gear or two? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/iconfused.gif)

Oh, I see now, there's a bit of follow thru . . . . After including the AutoExec macro to auto-execute the xml load, this needs to be conducted in the "Current Database/Ribbon and Toolbar Options . . . .

"Office Button" / Button "Access-Options" / "Current Database" / "Ribbon and Toolbar Options" / "Ribbon Name:" Select the ribbon that should be loaded when you open the database.

works now . . . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif)