How can I add a custom entry to the context menu of a branch in the Source Control Explorer of TFS?
To add context menu options you need to create an entry in a Visual Studio Command Table file. The simplest way to do this is to create a new extensibility project (you need to install the Visual Studio SDK first) - this has an example of how to add a custom command to an existing menu.
For more about vsix and vsct extensibility check:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb164699.aspx
I also found this blog useful:
http://dotneteers.net/blogs/divedeeper/archive/2008/04/17/LearnVSXNowPart18A.aspx
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I am working with an old ATL/COM project in Visual Studio 2017.
In previous versions of Visual Studio you could select "Add Class" and then select the option "Add simple ATL object" to add a COM class to the project. This option appears to be completely missing in Visual Studio 2017.
Has the option been moved?
Have I missed an installation option?
Does Visual Studio fail to recognize my project as an ATL project? (It was created with a much older version.)
Or is this the end of the road for ATL?
I'm not sure whether this an answer, but it is too much for a comment and more than just an edit to the question.
I have tested on two systems, with
Visual Studio Community 2017, Version 15.1
Visual Studio Professional 2017, Version 15.3.2
and I believe that the functionality has changed between these two versions. I think it is unlikely to be a difference between the Community and Professional versions.
In both cases I created a new ATL project and tried three ways to add a class:
Add class... from the context menu in the Class View
Add class... from the context menu in the Solution Explorer
Add New Item... from the context menu in the Solution Explorer
With version 15.1, Add Class opens the following dialog, from which I can add an ATL Simple Object.
With version 15.3.2, Add Class opens the following dialog, without any option for an ATL Simple Object.
However, with version 15.3.2, Add New Item opens the following dialog, with a new option to create an ATL Simple Object, which was previously not available in this dialog.
So, it seems that the functionality has been moved. Curiously, it is no longer available in the Class View (which in my opinion is a mistake).
This problem is caused by changes in the project template and code wizard in version 15.3 of Visual Studio 2017.
The operation procedure has changed between version 15.2 or earlier and version 15.3 or later.
The blog article that explained this change is as follows.
Changes to Project Templates and Code Wizards in 15.3
Although it is described as an item in the release notes, there are few people who are watching, and details on how the actual is going on is unknown.
Visual Studio 2017 version 15.3 Release Notes
C++ Language Services
Project and Code Wizard
•We have rewritten several project and code wizards in the signature dialogue style.
•Add Class launches the Add Class wizard directly. All of the other items that were previously here are available under "Add > New Item".
•Win32 projects are under the Windows Desktop category in the New Project dialog.
•The Windows Console and Desktop Application templates now create the projects without displaying a wizard. There's a new Windows Desktop Wizard under the same category that displays the same options as before.
My experience with Visual Studio 2015 version 15.9.2 is that I had to uncheck Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) checks when I added an ATL Project, otherwise when I add the Simple ATL Object I get a messagebox with the error "did not find a .idl file in project name of my project".
I want add a command to the R-Click context menu in the Solution Explorer that would navigate the TFS Source Explorer window to the right location corresponding to the item in question.
However I can't see how to do it simply without writing a VS extension, which I want to avoid at all costs.
It's not that I don't want extensions. I just don't want to write a custom one. Previously I'd be able to use macros but those were removed in these versions of Visual Studio.
The VSCommands extension will give you the option to locate a file in TFS and in the Solution Explorer
The Locate in TFS extension adds a context menu entry Locate in TFS to Solution Explorer and Open Tabs.
In Visual Studio version 2002 and 2003 "Go To Definition" would find the selected type or member in the Object Browser. In 2005 onwards it opens a source window "generated from metadata" instead. How do I configure these newer versions to go to Object Browser? (In other words, I have the opposite problem to this one.)
Installing ReSharper makes this change, so I know it must be possible, but how do I do it without ReSharper?
As workaround you can create the following macro:
Sub GoToDefinitionUsingObjectBrowser()
DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.SelectCurrentWord")
DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.ObjectBrowser")
DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.ObjectBrowserSearch", DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.Text)
End Sub
Then go to Tools/Options/Keyboard and assign hot key for this macro.
Tested in Visual Studio 2010.
I believe what re-sharper is doing is doing some hooks on that click event with the Visual Studio SDK I do not think there is any simple menu or location that can change that setting.
Instructions (pulled from CODE Magazine) edited down a bit to the part that pertainst to making the right click menus.
Creating a VSPackage
...The VS SDK installs a few more project
templates in Visual Studio, one of
them being the Visual Studio
Integration Package (Figure 1),
located under Other Project Types >
Extensibility on the New Project
dialog box.
After this standard dialog box, the
Visual Studio Integration Package
Wizard guides you through creating the
new package project:
Select a programming language. The wizard currently supports Visual
C++ and Visual C#. You can create or
pick a key file to sign the new
package.
Supply basic VSPackage information. The wizard prompts you
for details such as the company name,
VSPackage name, version, icon,
detailed information, and minimum
Visual Studio edition (such as
Professional or Enterprise) that the
package is designed to at this step.
This information goes into the Visual
Studio splash screen and About dialog
box and is also used to request a PLK
for the package (covered later).
Select VSPackage options. A package may add three types of
functionality: Menu Command, Tool
Window, and Custom Editor.
A menu command is a command added either to the menu
at the top of Visual Studio or
to a context menu (right-click).
When the wizard finishes its job, the
VS SDK adds core elements to the
solution to support the new package.
For instance, if you selected Tool
Window as part of the functionality
for the package, the project contains
a user control where you should place
the visual controls for the window.
The project also contains files for
.NET code to handle the functionality
that you will add to the package.
A CtcComponents folder contains
pseudo-C++ files (ctc files) where you
define things like menu, groups,
buttons, etc. Fortunately, Microsoft
is phasing out CTC files and replacing
them with a friendlier, XML-based VSCT
file format (which will ship in the
SDK for Visual Studio 2008).
The wizard creates a few other files
with .NET code required for the
plumbing of the package within Visual
Studio. Some of these files contain
classes that map the C++ constants to
.NET constants and other files contain
configuration information for the
package when it’s installed.
I know it has been a long time, but it appears, at least in newer versions of Visual Studio for the VB (Basic) language, to be an setting in the options.
Text Editor > Basic > Advanced
Under "Go to Definition".
I don't know why they don't have that for other languages...
Place the mouse cursor on the object you want to access on the object browser. Then, use the keyboard shortcut ctrl + alt + j, which will take you directly to the Object Browser window.
If I add [DesignerAttribute("somenamespace.mycomponentdesigner, mydesignerlibrary.dll")] to the top of a class and then install that class into the tool palette, how do I then get the mydesignerlibrary.dll installed into VS so that VS can find the designer?
This page describes the process you'd need to follow, but effectively you'd need to:
Copy the designer assembly into a folder and configure Visual Studio to search that path by creating a registry entry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\<version>\AssemblyFoldersEx, where <version> is the lowest framework version your designer assembly is compatible with.
Note that your control projects target the earliest version of the Framework that your control will support. This is referred to as the minimum Framework version. A restart of Visual Studio is needed before the new search path can take effect.
Copy the runtime assembly into another folder; add your custom controls to Toolbox. This can be done either manually through “Choose Items…” dialog or programmatically with a Toolbox installation package.
You can do it using Toolbox in the Visual Studio.
In the toolbox window, click right button on the mouse and choose menu 'Choose Items', then you use 'Browse' button for adding your dll component, then you can see it in the toolbox window in the Advanced Section(in the bottom).
I want to clear the list of projects on the start page...how do I do this? I know I can track it down in the registry, but is there an approved route to go?
There is an MSDN article here which suggests that you just move the projects to a new directory.
However, as you mentioned, the list of projects is kept in the registry under this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ProjectMRUList
and the list of recent files is kept in this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\FILEMRUList
Note For Visual Studio 2015:
The location has changed. You can check out this answer for details.
Some people have automated clearing this registry key with their own tools:
Visual Studio Most Recent Files Utility
Add-in for cleaning Visual Studio 2008 MRU Projects list
PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008
Features
Clear Recent File List
Clear Recent Project List
Clear All Panes
Copy Path
Email CodeSnippet
Insert Guid Attribute
Show All Files
Undo Close
Collapse Projects
Copy Class
Paste Class
Copy References
Paste References
Copy As Project Reference
Edit Project File
Open Containing Folder
Open Command Prompt
Unload Projects
Reload Projects
Remove and Sort Usings
Extract Constant
Transform Templates
Close All
If you try opening up a project that can no longer be found, Visual Studio will prompt you for permission to remove it from the MRU list. So if you temporarily rename an appropriate top level folder to fake the projects' disappearance, you can get rid of the projects one by one.
In Visual Studio 2015 all the history lists (including search history, file MRU and project MRU) are now located at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\MRUItems
You will see a different GUID folder for each list, and a sub-folder called Items in each of them. Find the Items folder that contains the relevant list, and just delete its parent GUID folder.
Visual Studio will re-create the GUID folder together with a new Items child folder, next time it wants to add something to the list again.
I found the MRU editor from Code Project a great tool for that. No problems with it, and it works on 2003, 2005, and 2008.
Note: This answer is specific to Visual Studio 2010.
If you don't want to manually edit the registry, you can use PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010.
PowerCommands 10.0 is a set of useful extensions for the Visual Studio
2010 adding additional functionality to various areas of the IDE.
The specific command for clearing the registry from the extension is:
Clear Recent Project List This command clears the Visual Studio recent project list. The Clear Recent Project List command brings up a
Clear File dialog which allows any or all recent projects to be
selected.
The PowerCommands can be installed with the Visual Studio extension manager: Tools > Extension Manager > Online Gallery: search for PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010.
Try Recently Used Files: a free addin for Visual Studio that manages MRU files on a per-project basis:
Supported for VS 2010, 2012, 2013.
For Visual Studio 2012, 2013:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a61cbd1d-b5a2-490b-a6bb-f0ea3ecf214a
For Visual Studio 2010:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/45283881-5a62-4dc1-8ffb-4cbc02709947
For Visual Studio 2013:
Open the Run dialog (Press Win + R)
type: regedit
navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > VisualStudio
click 12.0 then the files will show up on the right side.
Look for the "LastLoadedSolution", right click then click Modify
change the value to 0.
This worked for me.
I'm not sure if this solution has been posted somewhere here, but if you have VS 2013 Update 5 you can open start page, and right click project below "Recent" list, and choose "Remove from list". I don't know how about other VS versions, maybe this feature is available.
I had this issue as applied to VS 2017 where you do not have any MRU items in the registry as in the previous versions. The solution was, on the other hand, simple: go to "Tools->Extensions and Updates" and install "Power Commands for Visual Studio". After they have been installed, your File menu will look as shown below.
Just click the menu item to clear the project MRU.