RadApplicationMenu vs RadCommandBar vs RadMenu vs RadRibbonBar

[Richard]

Are there any guidelines on when to use RadApplicationMenu/ RadCommandBar/ RadMenu/ RadRibbonBar?

I want a tool bar interface at the top of my form (without any drop down menus). All items will have an image and some text. And I also want accelerator key support (put an "&" in item text to underline an alphabet and create a short cut key).

With so many choices, I am not sure which of these is the best control to use.

Most of the above is achievable using RadCommandBar, but it does not have accelerator key support.

Regards.

[Ivan Petrov]

Hello Richard,

Thank you for writing.

Based on the fact that you do not want any drop down menus, RadMenu should not be taken into consideration. And since using an application menu alone is essentially one big drop down menu, it does not fit in your requirements either. So what is left is RadRibbonBar and RadCommandBar. What you choose depends on the application you develop and/or your customer(s) requirements. If you want to have a customizable bar which can be tailored by the user to fit his needs and leave as much work space below it free as possible, you should choose the RadCommandBar. If you want to have all the functionality your app provides always visible you should choose the RadRibbonBar. In addition, if you have a lot of functionality, you may not be able to show it at the same time in a command bar as it may need 6-7 lines of tools and this will take a lot of space. You can check the Microsoft guidelines on Windows Application UI Development and Microsoft Surface User Experience Guidelines.

As to the shortcuts, we have a shortcuts system which will allow you to set shortcuts for the items of the RadCommandBar. You can find more on the RadShortcuts in our product documentation.

I hope this will help. If you have further questions, I would be glad to help.

All the best,
Ivan Petrov
the Telerik team

[Richard]

Thanks, I have gone with RadCommandBar.

If you have a Command bar button that needs accelerator key support, do the following:

Use "&" in Text of the CommandBarButton, set the UseMnemonic property to true.
Also set the ShowKeyboardCues property to true. Note that this property is not available in the designer properties.
Add RadShortcut.

This is shown below:
 

CommandBarButtonRefresh.Text = "&Refresh"
CommandBarButtonRefresh.UseMnemonic = True
CommandBarButtonRefresh.ShowKeyboardCues = True
CommandBarButtonRefresh.Shortcuts.Add(New RadShortcut(Keys.Alt, Keys.R))

[Ivan Petrov]

Hello Richard,

Thank you for writing back and for summarizing the information.

The approach you have described in your post is how this scenario should be achieved. 

If you encounter any difficulties, I would be glad to help.

Regards,
Ivan Petrov
the Telerik team