MenuRibbon.WPF

A WPF control library providing a single control that can act as a Menu bar, a Ribbon bar, or even both at the same time. In fact it is the only control library available mixing both Ribbon and Menu together, as it is against Microsoft UX guidelines so far.

• Source on GitHub: http://github.com/superlloyd/MenuRibbon
• Install From NuGet: Install-Package MenuRibbon.WPF

All the MenuRibbon.WPF classes can be referenced in XAML by the following namespace declaration: http://schemas.menuribbon.net/xaml

Gotchas

Menu and Ribbon have incompatible focus handling / behavior. Hence if one click on the MenuItem that focuses the MenuRibbon bar, not so if one click on a RibbonItem. Also ItemsButton don't capture focus on click (unless they have a popup) so that they can be used anywhere without stealing focus from main content.

Dependencies

• MahApps.Metro
• Rx-Linq

This control has been tested and developed to provide the distraction free look of Word 2013. MahApps.Metro provided this look for WPF applications.

Rx-Linq is used to handle mouse events internally. The class WPFx has multiple extension methods returning Observable for various mouse events, such MouseDown, MouseClick, MouseDrag, etc...

Main Classes

• MenuRibbon Top level container for either RibbonItem or MenuItem.
• RibbonItem An HeaderedContentControl subclass which Content can be any Control, but preferably a RibbonBar.
  • RibbonBar An ItemsControl for RibbonGroup, and the main Content for RibbonItem.
  • RibbonGroup An HeaderedItemsControl for any control, preferable ItemsButton though.
• MenuItem An HeaderedItemsControl that show its children in a popup.
• ItemsButton Another top level container for MenuItem, can be used anywhere.

Menu Classes

BasePopupItem (the base class of both ItemsButton and MenuItem) is an HeaderedItemsControl which can have any Control for its Item. Use MenuItem to give it a Menu appearance. Its properties are:

• IsCheckable, IsChecked, Icon
• ICommandSource: Command, CommandParameter, CommandTarget
• ClickEvent, Click handler, override OnClick()
• IsPressed, IsHovering, IsHighlighted

MenuItem is a BasePopupItem that should be part of an Item hierarchy under an IPopupRoot such as ItemsButton or MenuRibbon, otherwise they won't show their popup. Its properties are:

• InputGestureText

ItemsButton can be used anywhere a Button is. Its properties are:

• ControlSizeDefinition, LargeIcon, SmallIcon
• IsSplitButton, if true the button can both have an action and children Items.
• IsHoveringSplitter

Ribbon Classes

RibbonItem is a HeaderedContentControl and must be an Item of a MenuRibbon, it can have any content, preferably a RibbonBar. Its properties are:

• IsPinned
• IsOpen
• IsPressed, IsHovering, IsHighlighted

RibbonBar is an ItemsControl which items must be RibbonGroup. Its properties are:

• GroupSizeReductionOrder which specify the order in which to reduce RibbonGroup when resizing.

RibbonGroup is an HeaderedItemsControl which could have any Item, but to implement MS-Ribbon Layout and Resizing Items must implement IRibbonGroupControl such as ItemsButton. Its properties are:

• GroupSizeDefinitions

KeyTipService

KeyTipService handle KeyTip which enable keyboard access to any UI element. Particularly useful as ItemsButton don't capture focus. It has the following attached properties:

• KeyTip
• IsKeyTipScope
• KeyTipStyle

Bonus Classes

• UIHelper: static extension class with lost of extension method for UIElement or DependencyObject.
• CommandTool: static extension method to properly call either RoutedCommand or normal ICommand.
• WeakDictionary, WeakHastable: IDictionary with weak keys (i.e. WeakReference).
• WeakSet, WeakList: ICollections with weak items.
• ImageExtension: markup extension to convert Uri to an Image.
• BoolToValueConverter: IValueConverter from boolean to given values.

Examples

Let's show some small but common use case to get the code started with MenuRibbon.WPF.

Setup a simple MenuRibbon

Below is the source code for a very minimalistic ribbon. Note that the window is of type MetroWindow.

<metro:MetroWindow 
	x:Class="TestApp.Window1"
	xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
	xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
	xmlns:metro="http://metro.mahapps.com/winfx/xaml/controls"
	xmlns:mr="http://schemas.menuribbon.net/xaml"
	Title="Simple MenuRibbon" Height="350" Width="400">
	<Grid>
		<Grid.RowDefinitions>
			<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
			<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
		</Grid.RowDefinitions>
		<mr:MenuRibbon>
			<mr:MenuItem Header="Menu">
				<mr:MenuItem Header="child" InputGestureText="F2" >
					<mr:MenuItem Header="subchild"/>
				</mr:MenuItem>
				<mr:MenuItem Header="child">
					<mr:MenuItem.Icon>
						<Image Width="16" Source="connected_48.png"/>
					</mr:MenuItem.Icon>
				</mr:MenuItem>
			</mr:MenuItem>
			<mr:RibbonItem Header="Ribbon">
				<mr:RibbonBar>
					<mr:RibbonGroup Header="Group 1">
					</mr:RibbonGroup>
					<mr:RibbonGroup Header="Group 2">
					</mr:RibbonGroup>
				</mr:RibbonBar>
			</mr:RibbonItem>
		</mr:MenuRibbon>
	</Grid>
</metro:MetroWindow>

This will produce that window:

If the Ribbon is expanded and the menu open you will get that:

Using custom control inside a Menu

Those MenuItem can display any content as is (unlike SDK MenuItem), so let's add a Word like header in the menu! First let's define an header style:

<Style x:Key="HeaderStyle"  TargetType="TextBlock">
	<Setter Property="Background" Value="#E8E8E8"/>
	<Setter Property="Padding" Value="6,3"/>
	<Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold"/>
	<Setter Property="Foreground" Value="#6D6D6D"/>
</Style>

Then add a TextBlock with that style to the menu

<mr:MenuItem Header="Menu">
	<mr:MenuItem Header="child" InputGestureText="F2" ><!-- children --></mr:MenuItem>
	<TextBlock Style="{StaticResource HeaderStyle}">My Header</TextBlock>
	<mr:MenuItem Header="child"><!-- children --></mr:MenuItem>
</mr:MenuItem>

And voila, a nice header!

Using data binding with a MenuItem

As it is a somewhat non standart ItemsControl (it has multiple container item type) the ItemTemplate property doesn't use HierarchicalItemsTemplate, instead just use a normal DataTemplate of a MenuItem. Here is how one MenuItem with databing is set in the sample:

<mr:MenuItem Header="DataContextList" ItemsSource="{Binding RandomList, ElementName=root}">
	<mr:MenuItem.ItemTemplate>
		<DataTemplate>
			<mr:MenuItem Header="{Binding Header}"
							InputGestureText="{Binding Shortcut}"
							ItemsSource="{Binding Children}">
			</mr:MenuItem>
		</DataTemplate>
	</mr:MenuItem.ItemTemplate>
</mr:MenuItem>

Resizing Ribbon Bar

A RibbonItem could have any kind of content. However if the content is a RibbonBar which contains multiple RibbonGroup which contains mulitple ItemsButton it will resize like the Microsoft Ribbon.

MS-Ribbon Layout and Resizing

• A RibbonBar could have a GroupSizeReductionOrder which specifies the name of the RibbonGroup in the order they must be reduced.
• A RibbonGroup has a GroupSizeDefinitions property which hold a collection of RibbonGroupSizeDefinition, one for each (progressively smaller) size.
• A RibbonGroupSizeDefinition either contains a list of RibbonControlSizeDefinition (one for each of its RibbonGroup's control at this size level), or the property IsCollapsed is true.
• A RibbonControlSizeDefinition has various properties that alter the look and size of a single ItemsButton. It can be set explicitely or by the RibbonGroup when resized.

Here is a simple RibbonBar setup.

<mr:RibbonItem Header="Ribbon">
	<mr:RibbonBar GroupSizeReductionOrder="gr2,gr1">
		<mr:RibbonGroup x:Name="gr1" Header="Group 1">
			<mr:RibbonGroup.GroupSizeDefinitions>
				<!-- largest size all button big -->
				<mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Large" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Large" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Large" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Large" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
				</mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition>
				<!-- 3 right most buttons are collapsed into small buttons -->
				<mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Large" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Small" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Small" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Small" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
				</mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition>
				<!-- remove text on small buttons -->
				<mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Large" IsHeaderVisible="True"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Small" IsHeaderVisible="False"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Small" IsHeaderVisible="False"/>
					<mr:RibbonControlSizeDefinition IconSize="Small" IsHeaderVisible="False"/>
				</mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition>
				<!-- collapse the all group to 1 popup -->
				<mr:RibbonGroupSizeDefinition IsCollapsed="True"/>
			</mr:RibbonGroup.GroupSizeDefinitions>
			<mr:ItemsButton Header="Button 1" 
								LargeIcon="{mr:Image connected_48.png, Width=32, Height=32}"
								SmallIcon="{mr:Image connected_48.png}"
								/>
				<!-- 3 more similar buttons -->
		</mr:RibbonGroup>
		<mr:RibbonGroup x:Name="gr2" Header="Group 2">
			<!-- same setup as Group 1 -->
		</mr:RibbonGroup>
	</mr:RibbonBar>
</mr:RibbonItem>

And voila, this is a properly resizing ribbon:

All the way down to collapsed group:

TODO

• AutomationPeer.
• Galleries.
• ComboBoxes.
• Animations / VisualStates.

Contributions

If you've improved MenuRibbon.WPF and think that other people would enjoy it, submit a pull request at: http://github.com/superlloyd/MenuRibbon