Setting Excel toolbar or menu icon in C# WITHOUT using builtin icons

[Aaron Queenan]

How can I set the icon of a toolbar option or menu icon without using the
builtin icons and without using the clipboard?

Thanks,
Aaron Queenan.

 

[Bernie Deitrick]

Aaron,

You can't.

You have to use the clipboard to some extent to set the control's
face, either by copying a picture and pasting it, or by copying
another face using .CopyFace and .PasteFace.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

 

[Aaron Queenan]

Thanks, Bernie. I'd suspected as much.

The problem with using the clipboard is that it is common for a user to copy
text to the clipboard, start Excel, then paste it. If I use the clipboard
to create the toolbar icon, the user's text will be removed from the
clipboard. I don't want to create a permanent toolbar, because then if the
user logs into a computer without the add-in installed using a roaming
profile, the toolbar will display but won't work.

Do you know if there is a file where the built-in button faces are stored?
I've searched the hard disk for the icons, but can't find anything that
looks like the built-in button faces. I'm thinking that perhaps I can add
the icon to that file and then use the next sequence number for the .IdFace.

Thanks,
Aaron.

 

[Bernie Deitrick]

Aaron,

The first sub below will make 4 big toolbars that show the ID numbers
when you hover your pointer over them. The second removes them. There
are other utilities out there but I never recorded where they are, or
saved those messages.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

Sub ShowFaceIDs()
Dim NewToolbar As CommandBar
Dim NewButton As CommandBarButton
Dim i As Integer, IDStart As Integer, IDStop As Integer

' Delete existing FaceIds toolbar if it exists
CleanUp

' Add an empty toolbar
Set NewToolbar = Application.CommandBars.Add _
(Name:="FaceIds1", temporary:=True)
NewToolbar.Visible = True

' Change the following values to see different FaceIDs
IDStart = 1
IDStop = 250

For i = IDStart To IDStop
Set NewButton = NewToolbar.Controls.Add _
(Type:=msoControlButton, ID:=2950)
NewButton.FaceId = i
NewButton.Caption = "FaceID = " & i
Next i
NewToolbar.Width = 600

' Add an empty toolbar
Set NewToolbar = Application.CommandBars.Add _
(Name:="FaceIds2", temporary:=True)
NewToolbar.Visible = True

' Change the following values to see different FaceIDs
IDStart = 251
IDStop = 500

For i = IDStart To IDStop
Set NewButton = NewToolbar.Controls.Add _
(Type:=msoControlButton, ID:=2950)
NewButton.FaceId = i
NewButton.Caption = "FaceID = " & i
Next i
NewToolbar.Width = 600

' Add an empty toolbar
Set NewToolbar = Application.CommandBars.Add _
(Name:="FaceIds3", temporary:=True)
NewToolbar.Visible = True

' Change the following values to see different FaceIDs
IDStart = 501
IDStop = 750

For i = IDStart To IDStop
Set NewButton = NewToolbar.Controls.Add _
(Type:=msoControlButton, ID:=2950)
NewButton.FaceId = i
NewButton.Caption = "FaceID = " & i
Next i
NewToolbar.Width = 600

' Add an empty toolbar
Set NewToolbar = Application.CommandBars.Add _
(Name:="FaceIds4", temporary:=True)
NewToolbar.Visible = True

' Change the following values to see different FaceIDs
IDStart = 751
IDStop = 1000

For i = IDStart To IDStop
Set NewButton = NewToolbar.Controls.Add _
(Type:=msoControlButton, ID:=2950)
NewButton.FaceId = i
NewButton.Caption = "FaceID = " & i
Next i
NewToolbar.Width = 600
End Sub

Sub CleanUp()
On Error Resume Next
Application.CommandBars("FaceIds").Delete
Application.CommandBars("FaceIds1").Delete
Application.CommandBars("FaceIds2").Delete
Application.CommandBars("FaceIds3").Delete
Application.CommandBars("FaceIds4").Delete

End Sub