Peter,

You should be able to use the Ribbon without having to port to a DLL

I am not sure about using the Ribbon without writing an XLAM/XML interface
for it (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb410116.aspx).

You NEED to know the difference, all explained in the book. You might
consider developing the dll as a normal dll with an xla/s wrapper as step
through and debugging is a bit easier.

That's probably a good place to start (for me anyway). I guess some
examples of when to use which one would help.

I think I know what you have but for your ComAddin menus best forget about
storing your commandbar details in cells and port all to the VB dll.

All the commandbar/menubar information is in code, not on the XLA worksheet.

Other user preferences can be stored either in the registry or an ini file.

I am trying to avoid both of these as some of the information stored is
encrypted/hashed login information which I would prefer to keep hidden.

Thanks again,
Roger