RibbonX Wizard

RibbonX Wizard is a Windows desktop tool built for citizen developers who are using AI to create add-ins for Microsoft Word. Once the developer has built a tool in a macro-enabled template file (.dotm), the RibbonX Wizard helps set up their add-in with a custom ribbon button or ribbon tab for sharing.

The user provides their .dotm file with VBA macro(s) and the Wizard helps them set up a custom Ribbon button, add callbacks, meet standards, and bundle everything together without having to ever deal with or think about XML.

It is built based on the code for the Office RibbonX Editor (https://github.com/fernandreu/office-ribbonx-editor#).

Coding is performed by GitHub Copilot in VS Code, with human oversight, review, and design.

Project Goal

The project’s goal is to simplify Word RibbonX customization by providing a guided workflow that:

1. Collects ribbon button settings (target tab, group label, button label, tooltip, icon, macro name).
2. Generates valid customUI14.xml (RibbonX) markup.
3. Generates matching VBA callback code (onAction) for the button.
4. Injects the XML into a copied output Office file (.dotm) safely.
5. Provides step-by-step instructions for completing setup in Word/VBA.

In short: make Ribbon customization accessible to non-specialists while preserving control over macro behavior.

Design Overview

The solution uses a WPF + MVVM-style architecture with clear separation of concerns:

• UI layer (MainWindow.xaml)

  • Presents a 4-step wizard-like experience: Configuration, Generated XML, VBA Code, and Instructions.
  • Uses data binding and command binding to interact with the ViewModel.

• ViewModel layer (ViewModels/MainViewModel.cs)

  • Owns all UI state and validation logic.
  • Orchestrates generation and save actions through commands:
    • Browse source file
    • Generate customization artifacts
    • Save output .dotm
    • Copy VBA and instructions to clipboard

• Domain models (Models/)

  • RibbonConfig: captures user input and derives stable IDs/callback names.
  • GeneratedRibbon: transport object containing generated XML, VBA code, and user instructions.

• Generation service (Services/RibbonXmlGenerator.cs)

  • Converts RibbonConfig into:
    • customUI14.xml ribbon content
    • VBA callback code that calls the user macro
    • human-readable setup instructions
  • Handles XML escaping and tab display-name mapping.

• Document processing service (Services/DotmProcessor.cs)

  • Validates input and output paths.
  • Opens Office package files and inserts/replaces RibbonX parts.
  • Uses XmlPart.RibbonX14 for modern Office compatibility.

• OpenXML package abstraction (OfficeRibbonXEditor.Common/)

  • OfficeDocument and OfficePart encapsulate package operations:
    • create/read/update/remove custom UI parts
    • save modified Office files
    • inspect existing customization state

• Static reference data (Data/BuiltInTabs.cs)

  • Provides known Word tab idMso values exposed to the UI.

End-to-End Flow

1. User selects a source .dotm file and enters button metadata.
2. MainViewModel builds a RibbonConfig.
3. RibbonXmlGenerator returns generated XML + VBA + instructions.
4. User reviews outputs in the wizard tabs.
5. On save, DotmProcessor writes RibbonX into a new output file.
6. User pastes generated VBA callback into the template and reopens Word.

Technology Stack

• .NET 9 (net9.0-windows)
• WPF desktop UI
• C#
• CommunityToolkit.Mvvm dependency (project currently uses a lightweight internal command implementation in MainViewModel)

Notes and Constraints

• The target macro name must exist in the document’s VBA project.
• The app injects Ribbon XML; users still complete final VBA wiring inside Word’s VBA editor.