Subject: Customizing the ribbon

For versions of CADdirect that include a ribbon, several areas contain commands:

•   Application button — Located in the upper left corner and contains file-related commands, such as New, Open, Import, Export, and more.

•   Quick Access toolbar — Located to the right of the Application button and con­tains common commands.

•   Ribbon — Located below the Application button and runs horizontally at the top of the drawing window. The main ribbon consist of tabs that contain related com­mands grouped together, for example, on the tabs named Home, Edit, Draw, etc. Each tab has panels that contain sub-categories of commands within a tab, for example Draw, Modify, and Layers on the Home tab.

•   Contextual ribbon states — Located temporarily when working with certain enti­ties: multiline text, raster images, and external references.

All of these areas can be customized with the exception of contextual ribbon states, which are built-in to CADdirect.

Ribbon settings are saved automatically in a .cui file. The CUI format is the newest user interface format and also supports all legacy user interface elements such as menus, toolbars, tablet, etc. The CUI format is the only menu format the supports the ribbon interface, so if you are creating a menu file that will support the ribbon, use the CUI format.     

Tell me about...

Creating and customizing ribbon tabs and child panels

Creating and customizing quick access toolbars

Creating and customizing application buttons

Setting custom images for commands on the ribbon

Setting properties of ribbon items

Renaming ribbon items

Copying and pasting ribbon items

Deleting ribbon items