Great news, the latest version of Actipro Ribbon for WPF now has full mini-toolbar functionality. With this addition, Actipro Ribbon now implements 100% of all required and optional Microsoft Ribbon UI specifications. We're very proud because we are the first company to achieve 100% implementation of the specs in a WPF ribbon.
Mini-Toolbar
The mini-toolbar is a great new concept introduced in Office 2007. Any controls, including galleries, can be used on the mini-toolbar.
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A mini-toolbar showing the use of a color picker gallery child control
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Mini-toolbars are typically used in two scenarios: following a mouse selection in a document and for display along with a context menu to provide additional options.
Showing a Mini-ToolBar After a Mouse Selection
When a selection is made in a document, a mini-toolbar can be made to semi-transparently appear above the mouse. As the end user moves the mouse closer to the mini-toolbar, it becomes more opaque. Moving the mouse farther away makes the mini-toolbar more transparent until a point where the mini-toolbar disappears completely. After a certain threshold distance is passed, the mini-toolbar is closed completely and does not reappear until another selection is made.
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A mini-toolbar displayed after a selection showing how it changes from semi-transparent to opaque when the mouse moves over it
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Configuring a Mini-ToolBar for Pairing With a Context Menu
A mini-toolbar can optionally be paired and displayed with any ContextMenu. Normally the mini-toolbar appears above the context menu. If a menu item on the context menu is chosen, both the context menu and mini-toolbar close. Alternatively, if the end user clicks a control on the mini-toolbar, the mini-toolbar remains open but the context menu closes. After this point the mini-toolbar behaves as if it was opened standalone.
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A mini-toolbar displayed with a context menu
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Welcome to the Actipro Blog, the place where we will be posting insider information on anything related to Actipro Software products including upcoming products, features, tips and tricks, etc. We also will be posting general WPF and Windows Forms news that is useful for the masses.
Stay tuned for some big updates coming soon!