Thanks Mike, but I could use more data.  Where should I try this?

Any examples I could look at?

Thanks again,

Patrick

I managed to make the following C# code in the MDI parent work perfectly. This kind of thing should be in the Infragistics KBase using the keyword "Merge" under UltraWinToolbar. Actually, what would be 100% better is an "AfterMdiChildMerge" event on the toolbar. Overriding a protected Form method is no big deal but to me this shouldn't be done through polymophism so much as event handling.

        protected override void OnMdiChildActivate(EventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnMdiChildActivate(e);

            UltraToolbarsManager childToolbarsManager = this.UltraToolbarsManager.ActiveMdiChildManager;

            if (childToolbarsManager != null)
            {

                foreach (RibbonTab ribbonTab in childToolbarsManager.Ribbon.Tabs)
                {
                    if (ribbonTab.AttachedParentTab != null)
                    {
                        this.UltraToolbarsManager.Ribbon.SelectedTab = ribbonTab.AttachedParentTab;
                        break;
                    }
                }

            }

        }

I can see that this post is ancient history, I can only hope that someone will see.  Using code very similar to the above (exact code shown below) I am getting a NullReferenceException.  The exception arises when switching from an MDI child to another instance of the same form as an MDI child (IE, I have two 'Client' forms open that are showing different clients).  This works well if I switch from one open client to another MDI child that doesn't have a toolbar manager on it, and then switch to the other client.  But when switching from one client to another, the exception arises.

Protected Overrides Sub OnMdiChildActivate(e As EventArgs)
     MyBase.OnMdiChildActivate(e) 'Exception comes here 

     If Me.tbrMain.ActiveMdiChildManager IsNot Nothing Then
          Me.tbrMain.Ribbon.SelectedTab = Me.tbrMain.ActiveMdiChildManager.Ribbon.Tabs(0).AttachedParentTab
     End If
End Sub

Exception is NullReferenceException with the below stack trace.

at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinToolbars.UltraToolbarsManager.InternalSetActiveMdiChildManager(UltraToolbarsManager newActiveMdiChildManager, Boolean calledFromMdiChildActivate, Boolean remergeIfUnchanged)
at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinToolbars.UltraToolbarsManager.OnFormMdiChildActivated(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnMdiChildActivate(EventArgs e)
at ServTrue.frmMain.OnMdiChildActivate(EventArgs e) in D:\Development\Users\Matt\ServTrue\Trunk\ServTrue_Dev\Forms\General\frmMain.vb:line 2768
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.ActivateMdiChildInternal(Form form)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmMdiActivate(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Thanks in advance, let me know if I can provide more detailed information.

~Matt

Hello Matt,

Offhand I don't see anything within your code that would cause this exception to occur. It seems like the exception is happening once it goes into the base OnMdiChildActivate() call. Does the problem still occur if you comment out your override of the OnMdiChildActivate()?

I looked through our InternalSetActiveMdiChildManager() method, and nothing obvious jumps out to me in regards to a NullReferenceException being thrown. Additionally, I attempted to reproduce the problem, but was unsuccessful.  My guess is there is something specific to the setup of your application that triggers the issue. I've attached my sample to this post. When you have the opportunity, see if you can reproduce the exception with my sample. Please make any changes necessary to the sample to match your application that will help in the reproduction of the problem.

Hopefully we can find a resolution for you quickly.

Chris

Well Chris, I pulled down your sample and copied over my exact toolbar setups and was not able to reproduce.  I've clearly got something happening somewhere else in the code.  I'll keep poking at it.  Thanks for your help.

Thanks for everything Chris.  Your help is a testament to the level of customer care that we've come to expect from Infragistics.

~Matt

Hey Matt.

I am the primary engineer for our toolbars suite, so of course I'll look deeper into the issue with the SelectedTab being different than the tab provided within the EventArgs.

In regards to the FontSize question, normally, we restrict the font size for all tools to be the same within the same parent. However, for the Ribbon, a single font size is enforced across the entire Ribbon. All tool/RibbonGroup related FontSize properties will be ignored. You would have to change the Ribbon's GroupSettings.ToolAppearance.FontData.FontSize for it to take affect. However, this will affect all tools on the Ribbon. If you are looking to only change the FontSize for this one tool, you'll most likely have to switch from using a TextBoxTool to using a ControlContainerTool and assigning an UltraTextEditor as the Control.

I hope this helps.

Chris

Thanks Chris, you've been a tremendous help.  Not to be greedy with your time, but while I've got you, a couple of things:

1) By way of completeness, I wanted you to see that the toolbar's selected tab and the tab that is sent in AfterRibbonTabSelected are different any time the selected tab is changed in code.  This is evidenced in the attached sample project.  Might want to have an engineer look that over.

2) How ON EARTH do I get the font size to change on a TextBoxTool on the ribbon?  On the Search tab in the attached project, I've got a text box tool that I am dying to have Comic Sans at 24 points.  The InstanceProperties.EditAppearance seems to have allowed me to modify the font family, but not the size.  Help?

Glad to hear that you got it working. I'm guessing it is the recursion that causes the ribbon's SelectedTab to be changed again after it fires the AfterRibbonTabSelected for the e.Tab.

Let me know if you need and further assistance.

Chris

Hey Chris, I was able to get this sorted.  Definitely some oddness here because in the AfterRibbonTabSelected event, the ToolbarsManager.Ribbon.SelectedTab is NOT THE SAME as e.Tab.  Anyway, managed to get around this using the below code.

Private Sub tbrMain_AfterRibbonTabSelected(sender As Object, e As Infragistics.Win.UltraWinToolbars.RibbonTabEventArgs) Handles tbrMain.AfterRibbonTabSelected
     If Not (e.Tab.Key.ToUpper.Contains("HOME") And (Me.tbrMain.Ribbon.SelectedTab IsNot Nothing AndAlso Me.tbrMain.Ribbon.SelectedTab.Key.ToUpper.Contains("MDICHILD"))) Then
          Me.FiddleWithActiveWindowsBasedOnTabSelection(e.Tab)
     End If
End Sub