Easily Add a Ribbon into a WinForms Application (C#)

This is an old version of the currently published article.

Download System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon_10Jan2013_.zip

Download Contents: Precompile DLL, Source Code and Demo App
Supports Visual Studio 2008, 2010, 2012
Supports .NET Framework 2.0, 3.5 4.0, 4.5
Released on 10 Jan 2013

Content

Part 1: Background
Part 2: How to Use this Ribbon Control
Part 3: Cautious While Using with Visual Studio 2010
Part 4: Using this Ribbon with MDI Enabled WinForm (Update)
Part 5: Alternative Ribbon
Part 6: How to Make a New Theme, Skin for this Ribbon Programmatically
Article Change Log

Part 1: Background

The ribbon that is going to be used in this article is an open source project created by Jose Menendez Poo. However, the original author of the ribbon has stopped support of it. A group of fans of this ribbon re-host and continue to develop/enhance and support the ribbon.

The original ribbon creator has posted an article explaining what this ribbon is all about at here: [A Professional Ribbon You Will Use (Now with orb!)]. However, that article doesn't describe how to use it in your project. Therefore, this article will show how to use it.

Old Site: http://ribbon.codeplex.com (By original author, but has stopped support)

New Site: http://officeribbon.codeplex.com (Re-host by fans of the ribbon)

The latest released ribbon (10 Jan 2013) supports

Visual Studio 2008, 2010 and 2012.
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5

Part 2: How to Use this Ribbon Control

Reminder: Please note that this ribbon does not work on .Net 3.5 Client Profile and .NET 4.0 Client Profile. You have to switch the target framework to .NET 3.5 or .NET 4.0.

Download the latest build of System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon35.dll (released on 10 Jan 2013)
Create a blank WinForms project.

Add a Reference to System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon35.dll in your project.

Right click on Reference in Solution Explorer, choose Add.

Locate System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon35.dll.

Open the designer of Main Form. In this example, Form1.Designer.cs.

Add these three lines of code

private System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon ribbon1;
ribbon1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon();
this.Controls.Add(ribbon1);

into Form1.Designer.cs

private void InitializeComponent()
{
    ribbon1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon();
    this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
    this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
    this.Text = "Form1";
    this.Controls.Add(ribbon1);
}
private System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon ribbon1;

Save and Close Form1.Designer.cs.

Double click and open Form1.cs, and now the Ribbon control is added into the main form.

4. Click on the Ribbon and click Add Tab.

5. Click on the newly added RibbonTab, then click Add Panel.

6. Click on the newly added RibbonPanel, go to Properties. You will see a set of available controls that can be added to the RibbonPanel.

You might not able to see the extra command links of "Add Button", "Add ButtonList", "Add ItemGroup"... etc at the Properties Explorer.

Right click at the Properties Explorer and Tick/Check the [Commands].

7. Try to add some buttons into the RibbonPanel.

8. Click on the RibbonButton, go to Properties.

9. Let's try to change the image and the label text of the button.

10. This is how your ribbon looks like now.

11. Now, create the click event for the buttons. Click on RibbonButton, go to Properties, modify the Name of the button.

12. Open the code for Form1.cs.

This is what we have initially:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}

13. Add the Button's Clicked event for the RibbonButton.

public Form1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    cmdNew.Click += new EventHandler(cmdNew_Click);
    cmdSave.Click += new EventHandler(cmdSave_Click);
}

void cmdNew_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Button \"New\" Clicked.");
}

void cmdSave_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Button \"Save\" Clicked.");
}

14. Press F5 to run the application. Done.

15. You might want to inherit your Main Form into a RibbonForm to have extra features. Such as:

Note: Inherit the Main Form to RibbonForm will have some compatibility problems with some of the System.Windows.Forms controls. (especially MDI Client Control)

16. In the code for Form1.cs, change inheritance of Form this line:

public partial class Form1 : Form

to RibbonForm

public partial class Form1 : RibbonForm

Part 3: Caution While Using With Visual Studio 2010

... deleted ....

Part 4: Using this Ribbon with an MDI Enabled WinForm

The following guide will show how to apply this ribbon with an MDI (Multi Document Interface) enabled WinForm.

Start

Let's first create a Ribbon application with the edited System.Windows.Forms.Ribbon.dll like this. Don't inherit the MainForm (the form that contains the ribbon control) with RibbonForm. Inheritance of RibbonForm is not compatible with the MDI client control.

Create the Click event for the ribbon buttons.

public partial class MainForm : Form
{
    public MainForm()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        cmdCloseForm.Click += new EventHandler(cmdCloseForm_Click);
        cmdForm1.Click += new EventHandler(cmdForm1_Click);
        cmdForm2.Click += new EventHandler(cmdForm2_Click);
        cmdWelcome.Click += new EventHandler(cmdWelcome_Click);
    }

    void cmdWelcome_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    void cmdForm2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    void cmdForm1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    void cmdCloseForm_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
            
    }
}

Next, set the MainForm's properties of IsMdiContainer to True.

Create a few forms that needs to be opened in MainForm's MDI. You can name them anything, of course, but we take these as examples:

Form1.cs
Form2.cs
WelcomeForm.cs

and the codes we use to open the forms in MDI might look like this:

void cmdForm1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Form1 f1 = new Form1();
    f1.MdiParent = this;
    f1.ControlBox = false;
    f1.MaximizeBox = false;
    f1.MinimizeBox = false;
    f1.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
    f1.Show();
}

These forms run normally, but you will notice there is an annoying Control Box appearing at the top of the Ribbon Bar control.

To get rid of the Control Box, we need to rearrange these codes in the correct sequence.

f1.ControlBox = false;
f1.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None
f1.MaximizeBox = false;
f1.MinimizeBox = false;
f1.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;

First, we create another form named MdiChildForm.cs. Open the designer for MdiChildForm.

Add the below code to MdiChildForm.Designer.cs at the right sequence:

this.WindowState = System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState.Normal;
this.ControlBox = false;
this.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None;
this.MaximizeBox = false;
this.MinimizeBox = false;

In the Load event of MdiChildForm, add this:

public partial class MdiChildForm : Form
{
    public MdiChildForm()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.MdiChildForm_Load);
    }

    private void MdiChildForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.ControlBox = false;
        this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
        this.BringToFront();
    }
}

Save and close MdiChildForm.cs and MdiChildForm.Designer.cs.
Modify all forms (forms that will be loading in MainForm.cs's MDI) to inherit MdiChildForm.

Form1.cs

Change this:

public partial class Form1 : Form

to this:

public partial class Form1 : MdiChildForm

Form2.cs

Change this:

public partial class Form2: Form

to this:

public partial class Form2: MdiChildForm

WelcomForm.cs

Change this:

public partial class WelcomForm: Form

to this:

public partial class WelcomForm: MdiChildForm

Open forms and load it into the MDI client of MainForm.

public partial class MainForm : Form
{
    MdiClient mdi = null;
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        foreach (Control c in this.Controls)
        {
            if (c is MdiClient)
            {
                mdi = (MdiClient)c;
                break;
            }
        }

        cmdCloseForm.Click += new EventHandler(cmdCloseForm_Click);
        cmdForm1.Click += new EventHandler(cmdForm1_Click);
        cmdForm2.Click += new EventHandler(cmdForm2_Click);
        cmdWelcome.Click += new EventHandler(cmdWelcome_Click);
    }

    private void LoadForm(object form)
    {
        foreach (Form f in mdi.MdiChildren)
        {
            f.Close();
        }
        if (form == null)
            return;
        ((Form)form).MdiParent = this;
        ((Form)form).Show();
    }

    void cmdWelcome_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        LoadForm(new WelcomForm());
    }

    void cmdForm2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        LoadForm(new Form2());
    }

    void cmdForm1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        LoadForm(new Form1());
    }

    void cmdCloseForm_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        LoadForm(null);
    }
}

Done.

Part 5: Alternative Ribbon

You may also want to have a look at:

Windows Ribbon for WinForms

Part 6: How to Make a New Theme, Skin for this Ribbon Programmatically

Default Theme

Example color theme of RibbonProfesionalRendererColorTableBlack.cs (ready made by ribbon author).

Another custom theme

To make your own color theme, create another class and inherit RibbonProfesionalRendererColorTable.
Change all the color objects into your desired colors.
Example: (the first five colors have been filled for your reference).

In this example, we'll name the new theme MyCoolThemeSkin.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;

namespace System.Windows.Forms
{
    public class MyCoolThemeSkin
        : RibbonProfesionalRendererColorTable
    {
        public MyCoolThemeSkin()
        {
            #region Fields

            OrbDropDownDarkBorder = Color.Yellow;
            OrbDropDownLightBorder = Color.FromKnownColor(KnownColor.WindowFrame);
            OrbDropDownBack = Color.FromName("Red");
            OrbDropDownNorthA = FromHex("#C2FF3D");
            OrbDropDownNorthB = Color.FromArgb(201, 100, 150);
            OrbDropDownNorthC = 
            OrbDropDownNorthD = 
            OrbDropDownSouthC = 
            OrbDropDownSouthD = 
            OrbDropDownContentbg = 
            OrbDropDownContentbglight = 
            OrbDropDownSeparatorlight = 
            OrbDropDownSeparatordark = 

            Caption1 = 
            Caption2 = 
            Caption3 = 
            Caption4 = 
            Caption5 = 
            Caption6 = 
            Caption7 = 

            QuickAccessBorderDark = 
            QuickAccessBorderLight = 
            QuickAccessUpper = 
            QuickAccessLower = 

            OrbOptionBorder = 
            OrbOptionBackground = 
            OrbOptionShine = 

            Arrow = 
            ArrowLight = 
            ArrowDisabled = 
            Text = 

            RibbonBackground = 
            TabBorder = 
            TabNorth = 
            TabSouth = 
            TabGlow = 
            TabText = 
            TabActiveText = 
            TabContentNorth = 
            TabContentSouth = 
            TabSelectedGlow = 
            PanelDarkBorder = 
            PanelLightBorder = 
            PanelTextBackground = 
            PanelTextBackgroundSelected = 
            PanelText = 
            PanelBackgroundSelected = 
            PanelOverflowBackground = 
            PanelOverflowBackgroundPressed = 
            PanelOverflowBackgroundSelectedNorth = 
            PanelOverflowBackgroundSelectedSouth = 

            ButtonBgOut = 
            ButtonBgCenter = 
            ButtonBorderOut = 
            ButtonBorderIn = 
            ButtonGlossyNorth = 
            ButtonGlossySouth = 

            ButtonDisabledBgOut = 
            ButtonDisabledBgCenter = 
            ButtonDisabledBorderOut = 
            ButtonDisabledBorderIn = 
            ButtonDisabledGlossyNorth = 
            ButtonDisabledGlossySouth = 

            ButtonSelectedBgOut = 
            ButtonSelectedBgCenter = 
            ButtonSelectedBorderOut = 
            ButtonSelectedBorderIn = 
            ButtonSelectedGlossyNorth = 
            ButtonSelectedGlossySouth = 

            ButtonPressedBgOut = 
            ButtonPressedBgCenter = 
            ButtonPressedBorderOut = 
            ButtonPressedBorderIn = 
            ButtonPressedGlossyNorth = 
            ButtonPressedGlossySouth = 

            ButtonCheckedBgOut = 
            ButtonCheckedBgCenter = 
            ButtonCheckedBorderOut = 
            ButtonCheckedBorderIn = 
            ButtonCheckedGlossyNorth = 
            ButtonCheckedGlossySouth = 

            ItemGroupOuterBorder = 
            ItemGroupInnerBorder = 
            ItemGroupSeparatorLight = 
            ItemGroupSeparatorDark = 
            ItemGroupBgNorth = 
            ItemGroupBgSouth = 
            ItemGroupBgGlossy = 

            ButtonListBorder = 
            ButtonListBg = 
            ButtonListBgSelected = 

            DropDownBg = 
            DropDownImageBg = 
            DropDownImageSeparator = 
            DropDownBorder = 
            DropDownGripNorth = 
            DropDownGripSouth = 
            DropDownGripBorder = 
            DropDownGripDark = 
            DropDownGripLight = 

            SeparatorLight = 
            SeparatorDark = 
            SeparatorBg = 
            SeparatorLine = 

            TextBoxUnselectedBg = 
            TextBoxBorder = 

            #endregion
        }     

        public Color FromHex(string hex)
        {
            if (hex.StartsWith("#"))
                hex = hex.Substring(1);

            if (hex.Length != 6) throw new Exception("Color not valid");

            return Color.FromArgb(
                int.Parse(hex.Substring(0, 2), system.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber),
                int.Parse(hex.Substring(2, 2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber),
                int.Parse(hex.Substring(4, 2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber));
        }   
    }
}

Then, in the Load event of MainForm.cs, add this line:

namespace RibbonDemo
{
    public partial class MainForm : RibbonForm
    {
        public MainForm()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            ChangeTheme();
        }

        private void ChangeTheme()
        {
            (ribbon1.Renderer as RibbonProfessionalRenderer).ColorTable = 
                new MyCoolThemeSkin();
            ribbon1.Refresh();   
        }
    }
}