How to develop Add-In/Extensions for Visual Studio 2010 [Source / Reference]

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How to develop Add-In/Extensions for Visual Studio 2010 [Source / Reference]

I'm thinking of developing a tool that runs under Visual Studio 2010 and am struggling to find sample applications, source codes, and especially handouts that help in this journey.

I wonder if anyone would have any recommendation of material, or website. Thanks

+1 A:

Yes, please look into VSPackages, by far the easiest and best way to extend upon VisualStudio 2010.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/bb286983(VS.100).aspx

It's actually incredibly easy: Just open the New Project dialogue in Visual Studio and select Visual C#->Extensibility-> Visual Studio Package.

Then look into APIs like the DTE (Design Time Extensibility).

Have fun :)

Edit: Further learning can be found in Open Source projects which I mentioned in the comments: AllMargins: An extension that replaces the scroll bar. http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/OverviewMargin/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=3957 And MetalScroll which does the same and is for VS2008 as an Add-In: http://code.google.com/p/metalscroll/

The concepts of using the DTE are the same everywhere.

Blub 2010-07-23 14:33:43

I managed to create the skeleton, I had done this before, but I'm not sure how to handle the methods and implement the features in Visual Studio. Thanks by comment. @Blub

Ph.E 2010-07-23 14:38:00

It takes a lot to create a replacement for a solution explorer as you suggested above in a comment. But I encourage you to read into the docs, there is really no true and tried approach here. The only extensions that do something deep like this, are from Microsoft. You can look for them in the http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/

Blub 2010-07-23 14:44:42

Yes, I have thought about that too. But after all, is something else for fun and then, perhaps, help in my company. I was looking at the code, and I really liked a ProPowerTools, but his code is not available from Microsoft =/.Thanks @Blub

Ph.E 2010-07-23 14:49:34

Yeah, the [solution navigator](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2010/07/20/solution-navigator-blog-post.aspx) is an example of a solution explorer replacement, and that was hugely difficult to get *almost* right. Creating a tool window won't be that bad, but trying to replace a standard tool window would be really tough.

Noah Richards 2010-07-23 14:51:01

And you could tell me where I can find an example of this type of screen? Perhaps some component and has the free source code. Thanks. @Noah Richards

Ph.E 2010-07-23 16:35:47

Alright there are two projects that I know of which are open source:AllMargins: An extension that replaces the scroll bar.http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/OverviewMargin/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=3957And MetalScroll which does the same and is for VS2008 as an Add-In:http://code.google.com/p/metalscroll/

Blub 2010-07-24 07:27:44

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How to develop Add-In/Extensions for Visual Studio 2010 [Source / Reference]

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