VSX FAQ

Question

I am excited to announce the availability of the following FAQ paper which lists some of the questions frequently asked by the Visual Studio Extensibility forum members. This paper has covered many parts of VSX from Visual Studio SDK to DSL tools to Add-ins, macros, etc. Although it’s far from complete, but this is the first attempt our forum support team has been trying to make to help development community members find the answers to their questions much easier and fast, and it’s always the top priority for our team to make the MSDN forum a good place for developers to ask questions, talk about technologies etc. With time goes on, this thread will be enhanced with more FAQs and content, so we really welcome and appreciate any feedback or suggestion on how to improve it.

 

Contents

 

1. VSPackage

1.1    How do I specify the text on the statusbar of Visual Studio?

1.2    How do I get a current selected project item?

1.3    How do I get the DTE object in a VSPackage?

1.4    How do I auto-load my VSPackage?

1.5    How do I set the size of a Tool Window at runtime?

1.6    How do I replace the existing language service?

2. Add-in 

2.1    How do I parse errors to the ErrorList window from the Output window?

2.2    How do I subscribe to the command events in Visual Studio?

2.3    How do I get the AdditionalIncludeDirectories information in a VC++ project?

2.4    How do I specify the configuration in Configuration Manager?

2.5    How do I show the menu command of Add-In only in Debug mode?

More Add-In FAQs:

Articles about getting started and general information:

• HOWTO: Use correctly the OnConnection method of a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Design a Visual Studio add-in to install and run on Windows Vista
• HOWTO: Create an add-in that targets several Visual Studio versions with the same add-in DLL using C# or VB.NET
• HOWTO: Get a Visual Studio service from an add-in
• HOWTO: Reference a Visual Studio assembly in the GAC from an add-in
• HOWTO: Automating Visual Studio .NET from outside the IDE.
• HOWTO: Testing add-ins in localized versions of Visual Studio
• INFO: Assemblies used in Visual Studio Extensibility

Articles about commands, buttons and commandbars:

• HOWTO: Adding buttons, commandbars and toolbars to Visual Studio .NET from an add-in.
• HOWTO: Add a popup command bar to the context menu of a code window of Visual Studio .NET.
• HOWTO: Create a context menu using a Visual Studio commandbar popup from an add-in
• HOWTO: Create a CommandBarButton without a command from a Visual Studio .NET add-in
• HOWTO: Create a checked/unchecked command in a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Create command names without ".Connect" in Visual Studio add-ins
• HOWTO: Guessing the name of a command bar to add a custom menu entry in Visual Studio .NET add-ins.
• HOWTO: Locate commandbars in international versions of Visual Studio
• HOWTO: Get a CommandBar by Guid and Id rather than by name from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Locate the index of a CommandBarControl on a Commandbar to add a control or menu before or after it from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Controlling the state of command in a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Execute a command by Guid and Id from a Visual Studio add-in.
• HOWTO: Retrieve the Command that created a CommandBarControl from a Visual Studio add-in or macro

Articles about toolwindows:

• HOWTO: Create a dockable toolwindow from a Visual Studio .NET add-in.
• HOWTO: Understanding toolwindow states in Visual Studio
• HOWTO: Get the programmable inner object of a toolwindow
• HOWTO: Use the system font in dialogs and toolwindows of a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Detect when a Visual Studio toolwindow is shown or hidden
• HOWTO: Process the Esc or F1 keys in the toolwindow of a Visual Studio .NET add-in
• HOWTO: Add a filtered task with navigation to the Task List from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Add an error with navigation to the Error List from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Get an OutputWindowPane to output some string from a Visual Studio add-in or macro
• PRB: EnvDTE80.Windows2.CreateToolWindow2 doesn't return the created usercontrol in the last parameter

Articles about getting information:

• HOWTO: Getting properties from the DTE.Properties collection of Visual Studio .NET.
• HOWTO: Getting information specific to VB.NET and C# projects from an add-in or macro.
• HOWTO: Detect if Visual Studio .NET is installed in a Visual Studio Setup package for an add-in.
• HOWTO: Get the language of a project or file from a Visual Studio .NET macro or add-in.
• HOWTO: Navigate the files of a solution from a Visual Studio .NET macro or add-in.
• HOWTO: Know the actual type behind a System.__ComObject type returned by an .Object property.
• HOWTO: Guess the type of a Visual Studio project from an add-in or macro
• HOWTO: Get the project flavor (subtype) of a Visual Studio project from an add-in
• HOWTO: Guess the names of a Properties collection from a Visual Studio add-in or macro
• HOWTO: Get data sources, data providers and data connections from a Visual Studio 2005 add-in
• HOWTO: Guessing the IDE mode (design, debug or run-time) from a Visual Studio add-in or macro
• HOWTO: Get an EnvDTE.Project object from its project unique name
• HOWTO: Detect installed Visual Studio editions, packages or service packs
• HOWTO: Guess if a project configuration is Debug or Release from a Visual Studio add-in or macro
• HOWTO: Get the text editor font and colors information in a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Get the target .NET Framework of a Visual Studio 2008 project from a Visual Studio add-in or macro
• HOWTO: Getting information about Visual Studio windows from an add-in
• HOWTO: Get the output build folder from a Visual Studio add-in or macro
• INFO: List of known project type Guids
• INFO: Visual Studio version numbers
• HOWTO: Get loaded add-ins and installed products from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Get assemblies of the Add Reference dialog from a Visual Studio add-in

Articles about custom pictures: 

• HOWTO: Create a command with a custom picture using a managed satellite DLL for a XML-based Visual Studio add-in.
• HOWTO: Create a command with a custom picture without using a managed satellite DLL for a XML-based Visual Studio add-in.
• HOWTO: Create a command with a custom picture using an ImageList for a XML-based Visual Studio add-in.
• HOWTO: Creating custom pictures for Visual Studio .NET add-ins commands, buttons and toolwindows.
• HOWTO: Get Microsoft Office bitmaps for Visual Studio add-ins

Articles about the code model:

• HOWTO: Navigate the code elements of a file from a Visual Studio .NET macro or add-in.
• HOWTO: Get the code element at the cursor from a Visual Studio .NET macro or add-in.

Articles about Windows Forms:

• HOWTO: Manipulating controls of Windows forms from Visual Studio .NET add-ins.
• HOWTO: Add a control to a Windows form from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Manipulate a code or form designer file from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Add an event handler from a Visual Studio add-in
  
• HOWTO: Get the bitmap of a component type from Visual Studio add-in

Articles about Web Forms:

• HOWTO: Getting IDesignerHost and IHTMLDocument of WebForms from a Visual Studio .NET add-in.

Articles about getting events:

• HOWTO: Capturing commands events from Visual Studio .NET add-ins.
• HOWTO: Getting Project and ProjectItem events from a Visual Studio .NET add-in.
• HOWTO: Initializing new events in Visual Studio macros
• PRB: Visual Studio .NET events being disconnected from add-in.
• PRB: CodeModelEvents not firing events in a Visual Studio add-in

Articles about installing and uninstalling:

• HOWTO: Create a setup for a Visual Studio add-in for all users (requiring admin rights) using Inno Setup
• HOWTO: Create a setup for a Visual Studio add-in for all users (requiring admin rights) using Windows Installer XML (WiX)
• HOWTO: Create a setup for a Visual Studio add-in for the current user (not requiring admin rights) using Inno Setup
• HOWTO: Create a setup for a Visual Studio add-in for the current user (not requiring admin rights) using Windows Installer XML (WiX)
• HOWTO: Removing commands and UI elements during Visual Studio .NET add-in uninstallation.
• HOWTO: Reset a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Get rid of a Visual Studio add-in
• INFO: Default .AddIn file locations for Visual Studio add-ins
• HOWTO: Detect Visual Studio requirements for MSI-based extensions setups

Articles about troubleshooting, bugs and issues:

• HOWTO: Troubleshooting Visual Studio and Office add-ins
• HOWTO: Using the Process Monitor (ProcMon) tool to diagnose Visual Studio add-ins problems
• HOWTO: Handle exceptions in a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Debug add-ins for the macros IDE
• HOWTO: Debug Visual Studio assemblies with .NET Reflector.
• PRB: "Could not copy temporary files to the output directory" error building Visual Studio .NET add-in.
• BUG: Standard user unable to load/unload COM-based add-ins registered for all users with the VS 2008 Add-in Manager on Windows Vista
• BUG: Startup checkbox in Add-in Manager of VS 2005 does not persist changes

Articles about Visual Studio themes:

• HOWTO: Get the current theme and detect changing it from a Visual Studio 2012 add-in
• HOWTO: Theme scrollbars of controls on a Windows Forms modal window from Visual Studio 2012 add-in.
• HOWTO: Get the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsUIShell5 interface to theme a Visual Studio 2012 add-in.
• HOWTO: Get an inverted bitmap to use with the Dark theme of Visual Studio 2012 from an add-in.

Other articles:

• HOWTO: Performing some action before or after a build from a Visual Studio macro or add-in
• HOWTO: Canceling a build from a Visual Studio .NET add-in.
• HOWTO: Get the selected text from a Visual Studio .NET macro or add-in.
• HOWTO: Add a custom assembly to the Add References dialog of Visual Studio macros editor
• HOWTO: Using the Choose Data Source dialog of Visual Studio 2005 from your own code
• HOWTO: Interact with a source code control (SCC) provider from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Use the IVsMonitorSelection interface from a Visual Studio add-in
• HOWTO: Open the Web Browser and navigate to a page from a Visual Studio add-in or macro.
• HOWTO: Understanding Visual Studio behavior when an add-in tries to edit a read-only file
• HOWTO: Create a solution from a Visual Studio add-in

 

3. Item Template 

3.1    How do I set the Build Action for an item created by a Visual Studio item template?

4. Isolated Shell

4.1    How do I reuse the existing designer?

5. Others

5.1  How do I diagnose the package load failures?