Create VS2008 Plug In with VB.Net ?

Question

Anyone know of any examples on creating plug in's for VS2008 - preferably with VB.net?

Answer 1

• If you can wait for VS2010, it should be lot easier because of new extensibility framework they use (MEF). Basically the extensibility hooks are now managed and are very decoupled.

• Otherwise, I know this framework. I have never used it.

• Or you can use the "Visual Studio Add-in" project template included in VS2008 ( File > New Project > Other project types > Extensibility > Visual Studio Add-in). It is hard to learn and debug, but it works.

• Finally, if it is for internal use, you can just create simple VS macros that reference normal .Net assemblies. This is how I do internal extensibility projects because there is zero friction. You just create small macros that call your assemblies (to show a Windows Forms dialog for instance). Then you add that macro to VS toolbar or define a keyboard shortcut for it.

I hope this helps