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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