CUSTOM TOOLBAR MANAGER--- REVISITED

Brenda Wesner

from Janis Rodriguez 2004

RUG May 9, 2015

Revisiting Jan’s Program

• Revisiting “Custom Toolbar Manager” program was originally presented by Janis Rodriguez in November 2004.

• Much of today’s presentation is from her program script and newsletter article in 2004 (both available on the RUG website) with additional text and TMG slide images by me.

• We’ll discover what may be different from TMGv5.15 to TMGv9.05.

Toolbars Already in TMG

• Before we create a new custom toolbar, let’s review toolbars that are already in TMG.

• Standard• Layout• Easy Search• Bookmark• Reporting• Tag Editing• Text Editing• Go to View>Toolbars to look at each

Create a Custom Toolbar?

• The Custom Toolbar Manager allows you to create your own toolbars with buttons for the things you do most frequently.

• You can have MANY different Custom Toolbars, but only one is available at a time.

Open Custom Toolbar Manager

• Select View > Toolbars > Customize

Or• Right-click on any toolbar and select

Customize

Open via View

Using Right-Click

Custom Toolbar Manager

Create a Custom Toolbar or Edit an Existing One

• If editing an existing custom toolbar, click the down arrow on the Name of toolbar field to select the custom toolbar you want to edit.

• Our purpose today is to Create a Custom Toolbar, so continue to next step.

Default “Custom” Toolbar

• Back in 2004: – “Click [Save As] to save the default “custom”

toolbar”– NOTE: You MUST have a “custom.tbr” file;

otherwise, other *.tbr files will not save. (It’s a program quirk discussed a lot on the TMG-List in October 2004.) Do NOT Delete it!

• With TMGv9.05, this action is not necessary, but….

After “Save As” and “OK” see box below

TMG v9 “custom.tbr already exists”so… no need to “save as” default toolbar in

order to have *.tbr, but you may want to try it just in case you have a different result.

Begin to Create New Toolbar

• Begin customizing the new toolbar with first step of moving buttons.

Create Your Custom Toolbar

Begin: Add Buttons

• In the Unused button window, highlight the button you want to add to the toolbar and click [<<Add]

• The buttons are listed in the same order as they appear on the menu bar. You can move these into the order you want.

Buttons Added

Button Displayed

• You control what is displayed on the Button itself.

• Radio Buttons: – For Text buttons, click on Text; – For Picture buttons, click on Picture

• Although text can be abbreviated, text takes up much more space than an icon!

• Picture Icon may be the way to go.

Button Type: Text

Button Type: Picture

Button Example

Picture Icons

• In the Custom Toolbar Manager, select Picture and click the Square Box. The Select Icon window will appear.

• Select the button icon you want.

• More on Picture Icons at end.

Picture Button Icons

Adjust Button Location

• Continue until you have added all the buttons you want. You can move the buttons around. In the Toolbar buttons window, highlight the button you want to move and click [Move Up] or [Move Down].

• There are other features that you may want, such as making the buttons wrap properly to fit your layout. More on this at the end.

ToolTips

• ToolTip is especially important with a picture button so that you will know what it does.

• On your Menu Bar, just place the cursor over the button and the ToolTip message appears.

• ToolTip message automatically appears with TMGv9.05.

• In 2004 (and current TMG Help), however, you entered your own ToolTip message.

Save Custom Toolbar

Save New Toolbar

• Click [Save As] to save the new custom toolbar.• Type Name of new Custom Toolbar and click [OK].• Click [OK] at bottom of window for the Custom

Toolbar Manager to close• If you were editing an existing toolbar, you’ll also be

asked if you want to replace the original, click [Yes]• IF the Custom toolbar is not already active, a window

will pop up: “The custom toolbar is not active. Would you like to activate it now?” [Yes]

Not Active. Want to Activate Now?

New Custom Toolbar Pops Up

• After the Custom Toolbar Manager closes, the new Custom toolbar appears in a little box up below the menu bar.

• Place the Toolbar where you want it in your layout by dragging it. It can go at the top or be docked on the left side. It can also be located wherever you have space or make space.

• If it doesn’t matter where it is docked, just double-click and it will self-dock.

Custom Toolbar Ready to Dock

Custom Toolbar Docked

Toolbar Name?

• The name of the new toolbar does not display.• In 2004, it was noted that if the toolbar is

undocked, the name of the top of the Toolbar would not display but say “Custom.”

• That implies that name does appear if docked.• It appears that toolbar name never displays,

docked or undocked, but appears as “Customize…”

Step 10 How to Open Your Custom Toolbar

• Differences in what has been written (2004 program and current TMG Help –which may not have been updated with TMG9) and what has occurred in my testing.

• From my testing:• View>Toolbars> Customize which leads to Custom Toolbar Manager. • Click down-arrow at Custom to select the toolbar you want.• Click OK at bottom. Click “Yes” at “Do You Want to Activate?” question. IF

the question appears.• The little custom box appears below menu bar. Inside Custom box is

“Customize… [with its button icons]. Note: No matter what the name of the toolbar is, it appears as “Customize…”

• You can leave the box where it is or dock it. The buttons work wherever it is.

How to Open Your Custom Toolbar ..continued

• With the previously written instructions: • View>Toolbars>Custom.

• What they don’t say: • Custom leads to the little toolbar box below menu bar containing

the word “Customize…” • Click on “Customize…” to get to Custom Toolbar Manager

window. (It would have been one less step if “Customized” had been selected after View>Toolbars>).

• Follow all the steps found under From my testing on previous slide.

Save New Layout

• IF you want the custom toolbar to be there when you open TMG, in the location you placed it, you must save a new Layout!

Open Layout Manager

• Open Layout Manager: View > Layouts > Manage Layouts.

• On Layout Manager, type Layout name … and then [Save]. Click [Overwrite] if saving a changed layout.

• TIP: Jan keeps the layout toolbar open when creating or tweaking custom toolbars. It makes it easy to save the layout when she finishes fiddling with it.

View>Layouts>Manage Layouts

Save Layout Name

Toolbar Custom Layout

Save New Layout –It’s Easier

• Because of the number of steps to retrieve custom toolbar, it is easier to save steps by docking toolbar and saving new layout.

Standard Layout

• Note: You CANNOT overwrite the “Standard” layout. You MUST give new layout a different name or it will NOT save!

Another way to name a toolbar

• If there is any worry that you may accidentally overwrite the default custom toolbar, you may [Save As] the displayed default “Custom” over which you will name your toolbar before populating it.

• “Custom” appears, [Save As], blank out the word “Custom” and then, in cleared field, type the new toolbar name. Click OK

• “Customize….” appears to indicate that you may proceed to add buttons.

Clearing “Custom” for New Toolbar

Create a NEW Custom Toolbar:Type Name of New Toolbar & OK

To Delete a Custom Toolbar

• Select View > Toolbars > Customize or Right-click on any toolbar and select Customize.

• Click the down arrow on the Name of toolbar field to select the custom toolbar you want to delete.

• Click [Delete].• NOTE: Do NOT delete the “Custom”

toolbar!

Note about one of Jan’s Toolbars

• Jan’s main custom toolbar holds fifty (50) buttons in a 2-inch square space overlapping the Flag window (this was in 2004).

More of Jan’s 2004 program

• See RUG website under “RUG Meeting Presentations” section for more of Jan’s 2004 program about buttons:

• In addition to the buttons provided by TMG in the Select Icon window, you can also use bitmap files (.BMP and .JPG) that you have created or found elsewhere, like the internet; size; colors

• At the end of Buttons list are several items under Special Functions, such as Run a report of a specific name, Execute a Windows program, Access a web page, Add a tag of a specific type, or Edit a specific timeline, etc.

More from Jan… continued

• Image editor, graphics.• Google Advanced Image Search http://

www.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en

• Make the buttons wrap properly to fit your layout.

• Place new Buttons in The Master Genealogist Buttons folder for backup if that is checked for TMG backup.

• And so much more.

Search RUG Website

• The program today was based on one presented over ten years ago. Most of that information is still current.

• Go to the RUG website to find newsletters and RUG meeting presentations that we have presented in the past and that continue to hold informative material.