Third-party packages and Visual Studio Express editions

Question

It was impossible to use extensibility packages with VS Express editions in the past.
Strictly speaking, it was possible technically, but this was strongly prohibited by terms of use from Microsoft.
Recently I've tried VS SDK Beta 2 and found such dialog in Integration Package Project:



As you can see all possible editions of Visual Studio are enlisted including Express ones.

Does this mean that Express editions will be possible to extend with third-party packages?

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Oleksiy Gapotchenko

Answer 1

Targeting an Express SKU is limited to only project and item templates, and toolbox controls. You can not create a VS Package or a MEF Component (Editor Extension) and have it work in Express. The SDK shows Express as a targetable SKU for templates and toolbox controls. Nothing stops you from adding Express as a target in your VSIX but your product won't load or run. (Which would cause a bad experience for your customers)