Customizing the Ribbon

Applies to Reflection Desktop, Reflection 2014, and Reflection 2011

This video shows how to customize the Reflection Ribbon by adding a button that runs a macro to the Ribbon.

Audio Transcript:


0:05 - 0:19
From the Appearance tab, you can open the UI designer to add buttons and other controls to the Reflection ribbon. Then set up these controls to perform actions, like running a macro, starting a program, or opening a web site.

0:19 - 0:38
The UI designer has three main sections. The top section shows existing tax buttons and controls.
The insert controls pain on the left is used to add controls to the ribbon.
The settings pain on the right is used to assign actions to those controls.

0:38 - 0:48
To demonstrate how this works, we will add a new button to the ribbon that runs a macro. This customized ribbon can then be deployed to users along with other settings and session files.

0:49 - 1:06
First we need to select where to place the button. From the session tab, we will select the macro group and then we'll add the button. Now we need to select an action for that button. From the settings pane, we open the Select Actions window.

1:06 - 1:13
First, choose the action category which in this case is macro. Then select a specific action. 

1:13 - 1:16
We're mapping to a workspace macro.

1:16 - 1:27
Finally we choose our macro. SendEmail is a macro we've already developed and have saved to our workspace.

1:28 - 1:39
Now back in the settings tab, we will select Change settings so we can change its appearance. Then we'll add an interface label.

1:40 - 2:15
We'll also add a tool tip which will appear when the mouse hovers over the button. Next, we'll add an icon. Now that we've added a button and set it to run the macro, we can close the UI designer.

2:15 - 2:24
Back in the ribbon, when we open the session tab where we've added a button, we see that the new button is on the interface in the Macros group.

2:24 - 2:30
The button we added is associated with the session document and will appear whenever we use that file.

2:30 - 2:51
when we look at the ribbon settings for the session, we see that the UI designer has automatically created a ribbon.xuml file in the Common Apps data folder. To deploy a ribbon that includes a custom button like our macro button, you'll need to deploy the customized ribbon file in addition to the session document.

Product Support

Customizing the Ribbon