ok I figured it out

 

the code on the site Adam linked to originally works fine, but you have to be careful in which what order you issue commands to alter the cute editor programtically.

 

I created helper functions to step through management of the cute editor - the code snippets and images drop down only work when called last in the sequence.

 

I will publish my helper files and source code once it's smoothed out a bit - it is unfortunately vb only though - I would imagine the community at large might find some benefit.