- #WHERE ARE VISUAL STUDIO EXTENSIONS HOW TO#
- #WHERE ARE VISUAL STUDIO EXTENSIONS UPGRADE#
- #WHERE ARE VISUAL STUDIO EXTENSIONS CODE#
You will have to learn it from inside-out before creating your first serious VSPackage. The Visual Studio Command Table ( ^) is the new way of declaring items and there hierarchy (see in next section). Yes, in VSPackage you define commands in an XML file.
#WHERE ARE VISUAL STUDIO EXTENSIONS CODE#
That value will be saved into the project file and will persisted.Ĭopy Code DynamicVisibility Item Color ItemColorPackage Select color for Item cs file in your project - form a drop-down list. The sample I will use is truly useless, as it does nothing, but enables to choose some properties for any. The code is written in Visual Studio 2013 - but it backward compatible down to 2010 (the code! not the project). In the body of the article I will show some code (a lot?), but these pieces of code not compile into a full, working solution, for that see the attached source code. In the following lines I will show a parallel sample of an Add-in and a VSPackage, both doing the same thing to explain how you may get your knowledge to the next level. Since 2010 this idea was not used in other fields as still today Visual Studio is 99% COM.Įven MEF extensions are grow in numbers its usage is limited by the type of the extension, so as today most of the extensions still using the VSPackage methodology. The second - huge - advantage (after not using COM) is the most simple deployment - only copy the resulting dll to the specific folder, and done. This became the very first part of the IDE not build on COM ideas, and immediately put in use the MEF abilities. With Visual Studio 2010 out the whole editor was rewritten using WPF. NET framework, that originally developed independently, than merged into version 4.0. It means that from the IDE's side your package is not different from the ones made by Microsoft. In fact a large part of the IDE's functionality come from integrated packages made by the Visual Studio Developer Team. Add new toolbox, editor, menu and toolbar. With this approach you can do anything (almost). However at the bottom line Add-ins are good to add and handle commands fired from the IDE, nothing more. Add-inĪdd-ins are much more powerful, as the exposed COM interface enable the you to access Visual Studio's object model on different layers - for different purposes.
![where are visual studio extensions where are visual studio extensions](https://www.incredibuild.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/visual_studio_extensions_800x533.jpg)
The truth is that I know no-one using it. This state - from Microsoft - is clear, I add only that the macro engine is the some you found in the Office product line, and didn't changed since Visual Studio 6. Macro A macro is a series of commands and instructions that you group together as a single command to accomplish a task automatically.
![where are visual studio extensions where are visual studio extensions](https://aspblogs.blob.core.windows.net/media/scottgu/Media/image_5D18DFE6.png)
Just to see where we are, a short summary of the ways one can extend Visual Studio IDE.
#WHERE ARE VISUAL STUDIO EXTENSIONS HOW TO#
So here is my version of how to move from Add-in to VSPackage. The last part - not quoted - of the paragraph offers a link to a sample on how to make the move, but IMHO it worthless. This sentence is now on every help page in MSDN, that talks about Add-ins.
#WHERE ARE VISUAL STUDIO EXTENSIONS UPGRADE#
You should upgrade your add-ins to VSPackage extensions. Visual Studio add-ins are deprecated in Visual Studio 2013.
![where are visual studio extensions where are visual studio extensions](https://www.metacase.com/images/visual_studio_extension_using_watch_example_full.png)
With Visual Studio 2013 out - for ages - Microsoft decided to mark Add-ins as deprecated.