Adding a submenu to the Tools menu for (C#) add-ins

Question

The code generated by the  wizard for (C#) Add-ins places a command on the Tools menu in Visual Studio for the add-in.

 

I would like instead, to have a submenu, exposing the functionality of my add-in and not just one command.

 

Tools

  My Menu

    My Submenu item1

    My Submenu item2

    My Submenu item3

 

etc.

 

I've looked through the MSDN but can't seem to find a references on how to achieve this!

Answer 1

I'm not sure about how to do this from the wizard generated code because I never use the wizard but here is some code that will add submenus to a menu in the main tool menu.  You should be able to get it going from there.  The code created a "New Addin" menu under the Tool menu.  Then adds an "About" menu under the "New Addin" menu.

 

CommandBar menuBarCommandBar = ((CommandBars) _applicationObject.CommandBars)["MenuBar"];

//Find the Tools command bar on the MenuBar command bar:

CommandBarControl toolsControl = menuBarCommandBar.Controls["Tools"];

CommandBarPopup toolsPopup = (CommandBarPopup) toolsControl;

 

try {

try {

addInCommandBar = ((CommandBars) _applicationObject.CommandBars)["New Addin"];

}

catch {

//throws and exception the first time the addin is run because the commandbar doesn't exist

}

if (addInCommandBar == null) {

addInCommandBar =

(CommandBar)

commands.AddCommandBar("New Addin", vsCommandBarType.vsCommandBarTypeMenu,

toolsPopup.CommandBar, 1);

}

}

catch {

}

 

try {

try {

aboutCommand = ((Commands2) _applicationObject.DTE.Commands).Item(

"AddInAboutButton", -1);

}

catch {

}

if (aboutCommand == null) {

//Add a command to the Commands collection:

aboutCommand =

commands.AddNamedCommand2(_addInInstance, "AddInAboutButton", "About",

"About Box for the AddIn", false, 0,

ref contextGUIDS,

(int) vsCommandStatus.vsCommandStatusSupported +

(int) vsCommandStatus.vsCommandStatusEnabled,

(int) vsCommandStyle.vsCommandStyleText,

vsCommandControlType.vsCommandControlTypeButton);

//Add a control for the command to the tools menu:

if ((aboutCommand != null) && (refAssistCommandBar != null)) {

aboutCommand.AddControl(addInCommandBar, 1);

}

}

}

catch {

}

Answer 2

Hi Taime,

 

I recently built a new add-in that does this by creating a CommandBarPopup control. The code below creates CommandBarButton objects and doesn't use named commands, as I like to only have the menus shows when I actually have the addin loaded (keeps the environment a little less cluttered).

 

Code Snippet

public class Connect : IDTExtensibility2

{

   private DTE2 _applicationObject;

   private AddIn _addInInstance;

   private CommandBarPopup _cmdBarPopup;

   private CommandBarButton _btnFreebie;

   private CommandBarButton _btnLicensed;

 

   public Connect() {}

 

   public void OnConnection(object application, ext_ConnectMode connectMode,

      object addInInst, ref Array custom)

   {

      _applicationObject = (DTE2)application;

      _addInInstance = (AddIn)addInInst;

 

      // Add temporary commandbar and buttons

      try

      {

         CommandBar menuBar = ((CommandBars)_applicationObject.CommandBars)["MenuBar"];

         CommandBarPopup toolsPopup = (CommandBarPopup)menuBar.Controls["Tools"];

 

         // Add a popup control to group our buttons under

         _cmdBarPopup = (CommandBarPopup)toolsPopup.Controls.Add(MsoControlType.msoControlPopup, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, 1, true);

         _cmdBarPopup.Caption = "Licensed Add-In";

         _btnFreebie = (CommandBarButton)_cmdBarPopup.Controls.Add(MsoControlType.msoControlButton, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, true);

         _btnFreebie.Style = MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonIconAndCaption;

         _btnFreebie.Caption = "Freebie";

         _btnFreebie.TooltipText = "This command doesn't require a license";

         _btnFreebie.Picture = ImageConverter.ImageToIPicture(Resources.Resource.BarCode);

         _btnFreebie.Click += new _CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler(_btnFreebie_Click);

         _btnLicensed = (CommandBarButton)_cmdBarPopup.Controls.Add(MsoControlType.msoControlButton, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, true);

         _btnLicensed.Caption = "Licensed";

         _btnLicensed.TooltipText = "This command requires a license";

         _btnLicensed.FaceId = 1845;

         _btnLicensed.Click += new _CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler(_btnLicensed_Click);

      }

      catch

      {

      }

   }

.........

 

 

 

The ImageConverter class lets me put a custom icon image into the button, and looks like the following. Note, you'll need to add a reference to stdole.dll.

 

Code Snippet

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Drawing;

namespace LicensedAddIn

{

   class ImageConverter : AxHost

   {

      public ImageConverter() : base("59EE46BA-677D-4d20-BF10-8D8067CB8B33")

      {

      }

 

      public static stdole.StdPicture ImageToIPicture(Image image)

      {

         return (stdole.StdPicture)AxHost.GetIPictureDispFromPicture(image);

      }

   }

}

 

 

 

Hopefully that'll get you started,

Answer 3

Thanks Ed! Thats exactly what I was looking for!