C# VSTO Merge Doc Level Ribbon and App Level Ribbon

Question

I have created a document level customisation in Excel that contains a ribbon and I would like to create an application level customisation for Excel which involves a ribbon of the same name. My problem is how do I get the two ribbon to combine? Currently, they have the same custom ControlId.

Answer 1

The idQ property of controls exists to enable multiple add-ins to share containers, such as custom tabs and groups.

In the following VBA example, two Excel add-ins share the same "Contoso" group on the add-ins tab; each adds one button to it. The key is specifying the same unique namespace in the tag. Then, controls can reference this namespace by using idQ.

CustomUI for add-in 1

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui" 
xmlns:x="myNameSpace" >
  <ribbon>
    <tabs>
      <tab idMso="TabAddIns">
        <group idQ="x:Contoso" label="Contoso">
          <button id="C1" label="Contoso Button 1" size="large" 
            imageMso="FileSave" onAction="c_action1" />
        </group>
     </tab>
   </tabs>
 </ribbon>
</customUI>

CustomUI for add-in 2

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui" 
 xmlns:x="myNameSpace" >
   <ribbon>
     <tabs>
       <tab idMso="TabAddIns">
          <group idQ="x:Contoso" label="Contoso">
             <button id="C2" label="Contoso Button 2" size="large" 
               imageMso="FileSave" onAction="c_action2" />
          </group>
       </tab>
     </tabs>
   </ribbon>
 </customUI>

If you use a COM add-in to customize the Fluent UI, the namespace name must be the ProgID of the COM add-in, but the behavior is otherwise the same. When you use a shared add-in, the ProgID is AddInName.Connect. When you use Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition) to create the add-in, the ProgID is the name of the add-in.

You can read more about the Fluent UI (aka Ribbon UI) in the following series of articles in MSDN:

1. Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 1 of 3)
2. Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 2 of 3)
3. Customizing the 2007 Office Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Part 3 of 3)