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Is there any ribbon-like tool for 32-bit Delphi? I use D2007.

Rob Kennedy
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DRokie
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  • What's the difference between a ribbon and a toolbar? – Sam Sep 30 '11 at 01:56
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    @Sam: The difference between Word or Excel 2000 and Word or Excel 2010. The entire user interface changed - there is absolutely no similarity. Check the sites I posted in my answer to see what the ribbon looks like. It has no menu, tabs that represent various functionality that change in context, comboboxes/listboxes/groups/buttons/trees, drop down previews. – Ken White Sep 30 '11 at 02:56
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    possible duplicate of [Creating Ribbon Styled Applications](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6327845/creating-ribbon-styled-applications) – Arnaud Bouchez Sep 30 '11 at 05:14
  • @Ken, Oh yeah, I remember switching to OpenOffice around that time! – Sam Sep 30 '11 at 05:48
  • can it be used in Win32 ? When you used it those it need extra DLLs to deploy ? – DRokie Sep 30 '11 at 08:55

2 Answers2

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TMS Software has one in their component pack.

DevelopersExpress has one also in their ExpressBars package.

I haven't used either of them, but I've used other components from both vendors, and they're pretty good. There are probably others as well.

Ken White
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    Note that with either of these, as well as the one that comes with later versions of Delphi, you need to follow the MS Office toolbar licensing agreement. It's not a big deal, but it is something that must be addressed. – Chris Thornton Sep 30 '11 at 02:23
  • Of course. You need to follow the licensing agreement with any ribbon component, regardless of where you get it. I'd presume that the provider of that component set would notify people of that fact, however, since they're providing the code that implements it. Should I refer people to any possible copyright/trademark/patent that might apply to every answer? "You're writing a Windows app. Note that Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation." "You should check somesite.com/alink - that site is copyright 2011 by somecorp." ;) (Please note the "smiley" at the end.) – Ken White Sep 30 '11 at 02:28
  • I pointed it out because the licensing is non-typical. i.e. if you buy anything else from TMS or DevExpress, you can go ahead and use it. But if you use their office-style ribbon controls, or even the one that comes with Delphi now, you've got to have a separate license agreement with Microsoft. – Chris Thornton Sep 30 '11 at 15:19
  • More suggested reading: http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2008/07/20/the-evil-of-the-office-ui-ribbon-license.aspx – Chris Thornton Sep 30 '11 at 15:20
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Yet another option is to use Microsoft's Windows Ribbon Framework.

This is the most onerous option for the programmer, but yields the best results for the user. On the other hand, this component is not available for XP so that often presents an insurmountable hurdle.

Kudos to Ulrich for pointing out Erik van Bilsen's Delphi wrapper.

David Heffernan
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