Custom Right Click Short Cut Menu

Question

Hi Just a quick one. Wanting to desperately add additional right-click short cuts to those existing in MS Word 2010 using VB.NET.  I found a similar method that works with bookmarks (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/47cs5caa.aspx).  I thought that I could add bookmark sections where required and it works, but unfortunately removes all the default short cuts (ie. cut, paste, etc).  The shorts will be mainly style/layout changers for text formatting (ie. change style to Normal, Font Increase etc).  Many thanks in advance

Answer 1

Here's and article on Creating Popup Menus in All Versions of Excel and below is VBA example code for Word.  Based on the articel, I wrote the Word VBA that will create either a custom pop-up menu or contextual menus. 

The sub "AddToTextMenu" will place a custom control on the contextual menu that appears when you right click in a document.

I hope this helps

Option Explicit
Public Const Mname As String = "MyPopUpMenu"
Sub DeletePopUpMenu()
    ' Delete the popup menu if it already exists.
    On Error Resume Next
    Application.CommandBars(Mname).Delete
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub
Sub CreateDisplayPopUpMenu()
    ' Delete any existing popup menu.
    Call DeletePopUpMenu
    ' Create the popup menu.
    Call Custom_PopUpMenu_1
    ' Display the popup menu.
    On Error Resume Next
    Application.CommandBars(Mname).ShowPopup
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub
Sub Custom_PopUpMenu_1()
    Dim MenuItem As CommandBarPopup
    ' Add the popup menu.
    With Application.CommandBars.Add(Name:=Mname, Position:=msoBarPopup, _
         MenuBar:=False, Temporary:=True)
        ' First, add two buttons to the menu.
        With .Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton)
            .Caption = "Button 1"
            .FaceId = 71
            .OnAction = "TestMacro"
        End With
        With .Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton)
            .Caption = "Button 2"
            .FaceId = 72
            .OnAction = "TestMacro"
        End With
        ' Next, add a menu that contains two buttons.
        Set MenuItem = .Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlPopup)
        With MenuItem
            .Caption = "My Special Menu"
            With .Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton)
                .Caption = "Button 1 in menu"
                .FaceId = 71
                .OnAction = "TestMacro"
            End With
            With .Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton)
                .Caption = "Button 2 in menu"
                .FaceId = 72
                .OnAction = "TestMacro"
            End With
        End With
        ' Finally, add a single button.
        With .Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton)
            .Caption = "Button 3"
            .FaceId = 73
            .OnAction = "TestMacro"
        End With
    End With
End Sub
Sub TestMacro()
    MsgBox "Hi there! Greetings from Omaha, Nebraska.  What's a boy from Florida doing out here?"
End Sub
Sub AddToTextMenu()
    Dim ContextMenu As CommandBar
    ' First, delete the control to avoid duplicates.
    Call DeleteFromTextMenu
    ' Set Context Menu variable to point to the Text menu.
    Set ContextMenu = Application.CommandBars("Text")
    ' Add one custom button to the Text menu.
    With ContextMenu.Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton, Before:=1)
        .OnAction = "CreateDisplayPopUpMenu"
        .FaceId = 59
        .Caption = "My Popup menu"
        .Tag = "My_Text_Control_Tag"
    End With
End Sub
Sub DeleteFromTextMenu()
    Dim ContextMenu As CommandBar
    Dim ctrl As CommandBarControl
    ' Set ContextMenu variable to point to the Textmenu.
    Set ContextMenu = Application.CommandBars("Text")
    ' Delete custom controls with the tag: My_Text_Control_Tag.
    For Each ctrl In ContextMenu.Controls
        If ctrl.Tag = "My_Text_Control_Tag" Then
            ctrl.Delete
        End If
    Next ctrl
End Sub

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Kind Regards, Rich ... http://greatcirclelearning.com

Answer 2

Thanks for the help Rich, all the code worked fine but the custom shortcut isn't available from the right-click... It will display the custom shortcut menu fine if I run the macros via a keyboard shortcut.  Any advice??  Also on a similar theme, am I stuck with the .FaceId icons or can I load small 16x16 BMP with .Picture??  Thanks again.

Answer 3

Hi,

Actually, I think you missed the last part of the sample.

The "CreateDisplayPopUpMenu" procedure works for adding and showing a new shortcut menu

The "AddToCellMenu procedure" works for adding a command button for context menu which shows by right clicking, the OnAction event for the new created command button is "CreateDisplayPopUpMenu"

And at last, call the "AddToCellMenu" procedure in Workbook_Active event so that every time the workbook actives, Office application would add a command button for context menu, and click on the button, you would see  the shortcut menu.

On the other hand, you have an another option: working with Ribbon XML, see:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee691832.aspx

I hope this helps.

---

Calvin Gao[MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 4

Hi Danger,

Hopefully Calvin's response has answered both of your questions.  Using the Ribbon XML method will allow you to customize the icons.

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Kind Regards, Rich ... http://greatcirclelearning.com

Answer 5

Many thanks for you both, I'm building this template in VSTO and I've already added a Ribbon thru Ribbon (VD) so I was hoping to find a .Net work around for the icon aspect seeing that VSTO won't let me create Ribon2 using Ribbon (XML).  I ended up using the ClickEventArgs as the action...

Private Sub showPopupMenu(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.ClickEventArgs) _
Handles MyBase.BeforeRightClick 

With e.Selection
     COMMANDbar.ShowPopup()
End With

End Sub

... which seems to be working fine thus far.  I will do a test build and throw it to the monkeys tomorrow morning and find out where it breaks.  Thanks again to you both.

Once I have things working fine, I will post the code for any interested parties.

Answer 6

Hi Danger,

What did you mean of "VSTO won't let me create Ribbon2 using Ribbon(XML)"?

If you don't know how to assign your own image to a certain as its icon, you can refer to this document for how to use getImage callback:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202(v=office.12).aspx (Loading Images category)

I look forward to hearing of you.

---

Calvin Gao[MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 7

Sorry Calvin, it was late at night when I wrote that reply. I'm using VS Pro 2010 not VSTO to create this template and I've already created several customisations; a Ribbon, Form and an ActionPane all in VB.Net. 

I thought that VS would let be create another Ribbon (Ribbon2) using the "Ribbon (XML)" template but I get the following error...  "Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component"  This fault could also be my software, as I was getting this wierd instance where the Close command would finish a test build of an application but still be looping through the debug mode.

I'm really trying to keep as much of this template code in VB.Net rather than XML, at least until I improve my knowledge base further.  Once I'm more confident then I'll branch out again into another language.