How to set text at the head of a RibbonApplication

Question

I'm trying to have text in the top level of a RibbonApplicationMenu (trying to the get the word "File" there similar to Word or Outlook). It seems the Microsoft.Windows.Controls.Ribbon.RibbonApplicationMenu http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.windows.controls.ribbon.ribbonapplicationmenu.aspx supports a SmallImageSource but no text property. Setting the Label property doesn't work for this problem.

xmlns:ribbon="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Windows.Controls.Ribbon;assembly=RibbonControlsLibrary"    
<ribbon:RibbonApplicationMenu Label="File"> <!--doesn't set the label -->

</ribbon:RibbonApplicationMenu>

The goal is to have the word "File" appear in the circled area below.

Answer 1

The simplest solution (to me) was to insert a DrawingImage with a GlyphRun inside. On a separate post is asked how to get the AdvanceWidths and GlyphIndicies for the GlyphRun. The result is below

<ribbon:RibbonApplicationMenu.SmallImageSource>
    <DrawingImage>
        <DrawingImage.Drawing>
            <GlyphRunDrawing ForegroundBrush="White">
                <GlyphRunDrawing.GlyphRun>
                    <GlyphRun
                            CaretStops="{x:Null}" 
                            ClusterMap="{x:Null}" 
                            IsSideways="False" 
                            GlyphOffsets="{x:Null}" 
                            GlyphIndices="41 76 79 72" 
                            FontRenderingEmSize="12" 
                            DeviceFontName="{x:Null}" 
                            AdvanceWidths="5.859375 2.90625 2.90625 6.275390625">
                        <GlyphRun.GlyphTypeface>
                            <GlyphTypeface FontUri="C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\SEGOEUI.TTF"/>
                        </GlyphRun.GlyphTypeface>
                    </GlyphRun>
                </GlyphRunDrawing.GlyphRun>
            </GlyphRunDrawing>
        </DrawingImage.Drawing>
    </DrawingImage>
</ribbon:RibbonApplicationMenu.SmallImageSource>

Resulting Ribbon:

Answer 2

Another way to do so is just using a grid and paint a TextBlock at the right place. Be sure to make the TextBlock NOT HitTestVisible.

<Grid>
    <DockPanel>
         <ribbon:Ribbon DockPanel.Dock="Top">
             <!-- your ribbon stuff -->
         </ribbon:Ribbon>
         <!-- your other stuff -->
    </DockPanel>
    <TextBlock Margin="3,26" Foreground="White"
               IsHitTestVisible="False"
               Text="{LocalizeExtension:LocText Key=FILE, Dict=Strings, Assembly=YourAssembly}"/>
</Grid>

Advantages:

• less xaml
• way easier to localize

Disadvantage: - looks less nice on Windows XP

Answer 3

Right. If you want no code-behind and no complex glyph computations, use the following XAML:

<RibbonApplicationMenu.SmallImageSource>
  <DrawingImage>
    <DrawingImage.Drawing>
      <GeometryDrawing>
        <GeometryDrawing.Geometry>
          <RectangleGeometry Rect="0,0,20,20"></RectangleGeometry>
        </GeometryDrawing.Geometry>
        <GeometryDrawing.Brush>
          <VisualBrush Stretch="Uniform">
            <VisualBrush.Visual>
                <TextBlock Text="File" FontSize="16" Foreground="White" />
            </VisualBrush.Visual>
          </VisualBrush>
        </GeometryDrawing.Brush>
      </GeometryDrawing>
    </DrawingImage.Drawing>
  </DrawingImage>
</RibbonApplicationMenu.SmallImageSource>

Advantages of this approach:

• XAML-only, no code-behind
• No glyph measurement
• Easy to change label

Answer 4

Tricky! You might have to replace the PART_ToggleButton of the template with your own version to be able to set the text.

Using the WPF Vizualizer shows that the template contains a StackPanel with an Image and a Path (DownArrow), but no TextBlock, so I doubt that there is a place in the current control to specify the label text.

Of course, you could also create an image that contains the desired text.

Answer 5

Remove the unwanted elements for the visual tree, and replace them with a TextBlock that takes the text from the Label property. You have to do this for both the button on the main visual tree and on the popup's visual tree. Finally, since text is more intricate than the typical image, it is helpful to back off on the aero highlighting effects.

To use the following code, assign a name to the application menu in the XAML and call ReplaceRibbonApplicationMenuButtonContent with it from the Loaded event handler of the window.

/// <summary>
/// Replaces the image and down arrow of a Ribbon Application Menu Button with the button's Label text.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="menu">The menu whose application button should show the label text.</param>
/// <remarks>
/// The method assumes the specific visual tree implementation of the October 2010 version of <see cref="RibbonApplicationMenu"/>.
/// Fortunately, since the application menu is high profile, breakage due to version changes should be obvious.
/// Hopefully, native support for text will be added before the implementation breaks.
/// </remarks>
void ReplaceRibbonApplicationMenuButtonContent(RibbonApplicationMenu menu)
{
    Grid outerGrid = (Grid)VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(menu, 0);
    RibbonToggleButton toggleButton = (RibbonToggleButton)outerGrid.Children[0];
    ReplaceRibbonToggleButtonContent(toggleButton, menu.Label);

    Popup popup = (Popup)outerGrid.Children[2];
    EventHandler popupOpenedHandler = null;
    popupOpenedHandler = new EventHandler(delegate
    {
        Decorator decorator = (Decorator)popup.Child;
        Grid popupGrid = (Grid)decorator.Child;
        Canvas canvas = (Canvas)popupGrid.Children[1];
        RibbonToggleButton popupToggleButton = (RibbonToggleButton)canvas.Children[0];
        ReplaceRibbonToggleButtonContent(popupToggleButton, menu.Label);
        popup.Opened -= popupOpenedHandler;
    });
    popup.Opened += popupOpenedHandler;
}

void ReplaceRibbonToggleButtonContent(RibbonToggleButton toggleButton, string text)
{
    // Subdues the aero highlighting to that the text has better contrast.
    Grid grid = (Grid)VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(toggleButton, 0);
    Border middleBorder = (Border)grid.Children[1];
    middleBorder.Opacity = .5;

    // Replaces the images with the label text.
    StackPanel stackPanel = (StackPanel)grid.Children[2];
    UIElementCollection children = stackPanel.Children;
    children.RemoveRange(0, children.Count);
    TextBlock textBlock = new TextBlock(new Run(text));
    textBlock.Foreground = Brushes.White;
    children.Add(textBlock);
}