Question

I can easly add a MRF list to A TRibbon recent items list but how do you add
the same list to a ribbon item set as a dropdownbutton? The dropdown
item is ActionBars[2].Items[1].

var
ARecentFilesList: TStringList;
ACI: TActionClientItem;
if FileExists( ARecentFilesFilename ) then
begin
  ARecentFilesList.LoadFromFile( ARecentFilesFilename );
  for i := 0 to ARecentFilesList.Count - 1 do
  begin
    // add filename to Ribbon Recent Items
    Ribbon1.AddRecentItem( ARecentFilesList.Strings[ i ] );
    //add the file name to dropdown button collection
    //add MostRecentFiles to ActionBars[2].Items[1]
    //ACI := TActionClientItem.Create( );
    //ACI.Caption := ARecentFilesList.Strings[ i ];
  end;
end;

Thanks,

Bill

Answer 1

As with much of the actionbar controls, it is not as intuitive as you’d like. The basic structure on the ribbon is like this:

• Each ribbon has tabs.
• Each tab has groups.
• Each group has a series of controls.
• Each control has a TActionClient associated with it.
• Each TActionClient can have other TActionClient objects associated with it, either as ContextItems or Items. And the more you repeat this level, the deeper the nested menus.

So your strategy then, is to get your hands on the TActionClient that represents the button you’d like to add your items to. On my simple test app, I grabbed the first control on the first group – your logic may need to be more advanced.

var
  ActionClient: TActionClient;
  ChildItem: TActionClientItem;
begin
// Does the same as Ribbon1.AddRecentItem('C:\MyFile.txt');

  ActionClient := RibbonGroup1.ActionControls[0].ActionClient;

  ChildItem := ActionClient.Items.Add;
  ChildItem.Action := ActionThanOpensAFile;
  ChildItem.Caption := 'C:\MyFile.txt';
end;

Note that I assign the caption of my menu item after I assigned the action – this is because the action replaces the caption (and other properties too) of the client it is associated with.