customizing menu toolbar oddity

[Carl Witthoft]

Sorry if this is an FAQ -- I couldn't figure out how to track this down.

Anyway: Office2004 on Intel, latest update in place.

I opened the Customize/Toolbars dialog windows, and discovered I could
drag a Command (not a Menu) to the Menu Toolbar. However, despite the
fact that the Command icon is visible while the Customize windows are
open, the commands don't show up in the actual menubar. I'm not too
surprised, as I'd expect OS X itself doesn't support anything other
than a menu in the menubar. But I figured I'd ask if anyone else has
tried this.

It's the sort of bug (allowing me to drag a Command there in the first
place) that is hardly worth fixing, other than to be "clean and neat."

Any info/advice greatfully accepted.

Carl

 

[CyberTaz]

If you're adding a *Command* directly onto the Menu Toolbar, itself, you're
basically right - it appears to get inserted as a Menu item but doesn't
appear in the actual Menu Bar. This could be construed as a bug because it
shouldn't be allowed to give the impression that it succeeded in the first
place However, *commands*, understandably, shouldn't be placed _on_ the
Menu Bar, they're intended to be contained within a specific Menu - which
works like a charm.

What you might want to consider doing is creating a *Toolbar* which displays
the commands you wish. You can make the choice as to whether it displays as
a text item, an icon, or both. Downside is that displaying command names on
the toolbar takes up an inordinate amount of space.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

This could be construed as a bug because it
shouldn't be allowed to give the impression that it succeeded in the first
place However, *commands*, understandably, shouldn't be placed _on_ the
Menu Bar, they're intended to be contained within a specific Menu - which
works like a charm.

It's not a bug at all.

The commmand Control object IS really added to the CommandBar object. It
succeeds.

However, the control isn't drawn unless it's a popup. Dunno whether
that's Office's fault or MacOS's.

For instance, add a control (command) to the rightmost end of the menu
bar (say, the All Caps control). The normal Menu Bar is CommandBar 1.

Select some text

Now, switch to the VBE's Immediate Window (OPT-F11, CMD-G).

Type

CommandBars(1).Controls(Commandbars(1).Controls.Count).Execute

The selected text is now all caps...

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi John -

I wouldn't begin to challenge the technical accuracy of you comments but...

It's not a bug at all.

That depends I guess on your definition of "bug"

The commmand Control object IS really added to the CommandBar object. It
succeeds.

Yes - this is the point - It visually appears on the Menu Toolbar which
gives the impression that it will *appear* on the Menu Bar, but it doesn't.

However, the control isn't drawn unless it's a popup. Dunno whether
that's Office's fault or MacOS's.

No doubt true, but if the user can't see it how are they supposed to know
it's there? Can you convert a Command to a popup? Is doing so even suggested
in any of the Help available to the typical user re Customize
Menus/Toolbars? If it could be made into a popup and became visible would
would it still continue to execute when clicked, or would it simply drop a
blank menu pad or what?

For instance, add a control (command) to the rightmost end of the menu
bar (say, the All Caps control). The normal Menu Bar is CommandBar 1.

Select some text

Now, switch to the VBE's Immediate Window (OPT-F11, CMD-G).

Type

CommandBars(1).Controls(Commandbars(1).Controls.Count).Execute

And the average user [*any* user who isn't a VBA coder] instinctively would
know to do this because...‽

The selected text is now all caps...

Well, it does If you press return after typing the code...

See what I mean? And if you have to go into the VBA editor, type code and
know what needs be referred to in order to execute commands on the Menu
which you can't see it kinda defeats the "convenience" purpose of having it
there in the first place, doesn't it?

I stand by my original reply - if an executable isn't going to appear & be
usable on the Menu Bar when added to the Menu Toolbar you shouldn't be able
to put it there in the first place: Ergo = Bug

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I wouldn't begin to challenge the technical accuracy of you comments but...

Oh, begin, begin...<g>

OK - First, I acknowledge everything you said and agree with most of it.
What you and probably 99.999% of users experience as a bug, I see as a
feature.

My perspective is significantly skewed by the fact that I don't use the
built-in Menu bar. At all. I create my own in my startup add-in, and
have several document templates that substitute another menu bar for my
custom one. I would never even think of allowing my users to have access
to all the built-in menu commands while they're using my application.

So to me, The Menu Bar commandbar is just another commandbar that you
can add to, subtract from, fold, spindle, and mutilate. It can be a
convenient place to park controls that can then be executed.

Usually I set the Enabled property of the built-in Menu Bar to False, so
that, should the user even TRY to customize it, much less make it
visible, it doesn't even show up in the list of toolbars in the
Customize dialog, nor does it appear on the screen.

But, that said, I freely acknowledge that I'm very, very, unusual in the
way I use Office apps.

And you can imagine why I dread Office2008...

 

[CyberTaz]

And you can imagine why I dread Office2008...

<snip>

If it turns out to be anything like 2007 [re customization] I would guess
that for you, metaphorically speaking, a more pleasurable experience would
be castration - without anesthesia ;-) It appears that at a deeper level,
however, the ogre's complexion *can* in fact be remanifested through
add-ins, so perhaps you'll only be presented with a new set of challenges
rather than being irrevocably neutered.

 

[Carl Witthoft]

I stand by my original reply - if an executable isn't going to appear & be
usable on the Menu Bar when added to the Menu Toolbar you shouldn't be able
to put it there in the first place: Ergo = Bug

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Agreed. I only tried this because the Windoze version of Office does
allow you to put commands in the menubar (Word, Excel, and PPT do this).
It looks funny, but I figured there's a lot of wasted real estate in the
menubar, plus I use vertical toolbars so as to maximize the screen space
for my document. Some things, like Font, Style don't "fit" well in a
vertical toolbar.


Anyway, that's why I got into this silly mess on my Mac

Carl