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Mac Forum / Applications / Word / July 2007customizing menu toolbar oddity
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  SignatureTeam EM to the rescue! mailto:carl@Team-EM.com http://www.team-em.com 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 On 7/26/07 4:58 PM, in article carl-3D9A84.16580926072007@comcast.dca.giganews.com, "Carl Witthoft" <carl@witthoft.com> wrote: > Sorry if this is an FAQ -- I couldn't figure out how to track this down. > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Carl > 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... Hi John - I wouldn't begin to challenge the technical accuracy of you comments but... On 7/26/07 7:42 PM, in article jemcgimpsey-63BFE2.17425626072007@msnews.microsoft.com, "JE McGimpsey" <jemcgimpsey@mvps.org> wrote: >> This could be construed as a bug because it >> shouldn't be allowed to give the impression that it succeeded in the first [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > 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. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > 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 > 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... <snip>> > 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. SignatureRegards |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac > 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 [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > 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 SignatureTeam EM to the rescue! mailto:carl@Team-EM.com http://www.team-em.com <snip> On 7/27/07 4:22 PM, in article carl-6C82EC.16222627072007@comcast.dca.giganews.com, "Carl Witthoft" <carl@witthoft.com> wrote: > the Windoze version of Office does > allow you to put commands in the menubar <snip> As you've most likely surmised that's a difference in how the Win & Mac OS handle their respective applications. Regards |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac |
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