CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlms-word
Mary
Mary

Reputation: 11

How can I add new button to existing custom tab in Word doc using XML in Custom UI editor?

I’ve been updating a Word report template we use at work and wanted to embed some macros into it. Having downloaded the Custom UI Editor for Word, I used the “Insert/Sample XML/Custom Tab” function to add a custom tab (imaginatively called “Macros”) with three new buttons on it; I then edited the XML to assign a different formatting macro to each button. This works just fine and I am very happy with it.

However I now want to add a fourth button (and corresponding macro) to my new tab. Having opened up the document again in the Custom UI Editor, I’m finding that when I try to add a fourth button to the existing new tab, I instead get another whole new tab (“Macros 2”, if you like) containing the original three new buttons, and the fourth one. So I have two new tabs with the same name, one with three buttons and one with four.

What have I done wrong? How can I improve my way of working / use different XML to avoid this problem?

XML code used for the original three buttons (all created at once)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2009/07/customui">
    <ribbon startFromScratch="false">
        <tabs>
            <tab id="customTab" label="Macros">
                <group id="customGroup" label="Formatting Macros">
                    <button id="customButton" label="Extract acronyms" imageMso="TextEffectShadowGallery" size="large" onAction="ExtractACRONYMSToNewDocument2" />
                    <button id="customButton2" label="Format sentence spacing" imageMso="TextEffectTracking" size="large" onAction="FormatSentenceSpacing" />
                    <button id="customButton3" label="Format current table" imageMso="TableSelectCell" size="large" onAction="FormatCurrentTableInHouseStyle" />
                </group>
            </tab>
        </tabs>
    </ribbon>
</customUI>

Code I’m using to try to add a fourth button to the ribbon (but it creates a whole new tab instead of just adding a button to the existing new ribbon)

<button id="customButton4" label="Format current table" imageMso="UseThisImage" size="large" onAction="FormatTableMacro" />

I’ve tried

  1. adding the new button XML to the bottom of the existing XML in the Custom UI window (which resulted in the new tab issue described above), and
  2. removing all existing XML from the window and typing in only the XML for the new button (didn’t work, still got a whole new tab!)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 742

Answers (1)

Cindy Meister
Cindy Meister

Reputation: 25693

XML has very strict rules about what can be where: Hierarchy is very important.

In the case of Ribbon XML everything must be nested within the <customUI> and <ribbon> tag pairs (and in that order). So if you try to put something else "outside" of those, the Custom UI Editor is trying to save you from the error you'd get if you'd use that XML and is making a new tab for you. (Cool, I didn't know it would do that!)

A button has a very low hierarchical status - so it must be nested (at the very least) within <tabs> and <tab>. Since you're grouping your buttons, it also must be inside the <group> pair of tags.

It's fine for you to edit the XML the Custom UI Editor shows you. Follow these steps to create your fourth button:

  1. Open the document in the Custom UI Editor.
  2. Click in the existing XML just before the closing </group> tag.
  3. Press ENTER to create a new line.
  4. Put your new line of XML in that new line.
  5. Save and test :-)

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions