Can I create an extension for Visual Studio that runs in the background as soon as the user opens the Visual Studio IDE? For example, I am building an extension that gets the current active file address in Visual Studio (with C#), but I would like this extension to always run in the background without having to be activated by the user clicking a button or pressing some key combination.
Is this possible, and if so, what is the best way of doing it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Regards, Erfan
Since you tagged your question with visual-studio-2010 I assume you are working on an "Add-in" rather than a "VSPackage Extensions".
In this case, you can use the OnConnection event handler.
If you are working on a VSPackage Extensions, you can use the attribute ProvideAutoLoad.
Just search for these, you will find sufficient information. Both ways are also described shortly here under "How can I run my add-in code in a VSPackage?"
For Extension add following attribute to Package class, this will load the extension when a solution is not open in visual studio. I have tested this with VS 2015 and 2017.
[ProvideAutoLoad(UIContextGuids80.NoSolution)]
For VS 2010 and higher the recommended extensibility approach is a package (VS 2015 won't allow add-ins).
To get the package loaded when Visual Studio is loaded see HOWTO: Autoload a Visual Studio package.
Once loaded, your package may be interested in two different kind of selection change events:
To get notified when the selection in the Solution Explorer changes, get the IVsMonitorSelection interface and call the AdviseSelectionEvents/UnadviseSelectionEvents and provide a class that implements the IVsSelectionEvents interface.
To get notified when the active window changes (which can be a document window or a toolwindow), implement the IVsWindowFrameNotify interface.
Related
Let a "Breakpoints" window (by default opened by Debug>Windows>Breakpoints [ctrl+B, D]) serve as an example. Basically I select few breakpoints in it and I would like to know in my add-in which elements in this window are selected. I am aware that I can get collection of breakpoints in project but I would like to know what elements are selected in "Breakpoints" window.
"Is it possible to get selected items in window or even access its content at all?"
Also I am not sure whenever or not should I post a separate question for this but is there actually a way to capture user activity in IDE like for example capturing an event when user sets (adds) a breakpoint?
Originally I also asked if is it possible to achieve certain things in Visual Studio Express Edition. But this part is irrevelant.
Conclusion:
(after reading jessehouwing's answer)
I guess it is not possible using an Add-ins. Use VSPackages isntead. Also Add-ins are deprecated as of Visual Studio 2013 version.
As mentioned in my comments, what you're trying to accomplish is explicitly prohibited in the Visual Studio Express edition and is a violation of it's license. To extend the product, you need to have at least Visual Studio Professional Edition. many of the extensibility points will actively refuse any communication with 3rd party add-ins.
Almost all the things you're asking are possible using Visual Studio Extensibility once you've installed the professional edition. Products like OzCode show that almost everything is possible. Remember that most features inside visual studio are themselves extensions of the product.
Your question, indeed a whole list of questions, is indeed not the way to ask something on StackOverflow. I can give you some pointers to the documentation, which you've probably already found, and maybe to some open source products that themselves extend parts of Visual Studio that can serve as examples, but from there you'll have to piece something together until you're able to ask more specific questions.
Events you can subscribe to, the breakpoints are a CommandEvents I suspect.
Manipulating windows inside Visual Studio
Projects that extend the debugger that might serve as an example:
PyTools (debugger for Python inside Visual Studio)
Node.js tools for Visual studio (extending the Immediate Window)
But there is no easy answer to your question that fits inside this window. I'd suggest you use a tool like Reflector to look at how Microsoft accomplishes certain things (most of Visual Studio Extensibility is written in .NET anyways) and to look at open source projects that extend visual studio behavior. There are quite a few out there on Codeplex.
I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to accomplish and how it's different from the Breakpoints features inside Visual Studio Professional and up.
I suggest you ask your question in the Visual Studio Extensibility forums over on MSDN, which is in a collaborative forum format, instead of a Q&A format, allowing people to answer your question bit by bit.
In VS2013 i see that it has a change log for method automatically populated from TFS and shortcut using Alt+1,2,3,...
is there a way to get this change log shown in VS2010 as well? do i need to enable any options or install and plugins etc..?
thanks
No. What you're looking at is a new feature in VS2013 Ultimate called Code Lens.
I've created a visual studio extension with some nice refactoring features via a Code Refactoring (CodeRefactoringProvider) roslyn project, but there isn't really anything to it in terms of adding tooltips or menu items or doing something on startup.
If I wanted to do something like add a settings menu or tell the user that they're on a trial version, how/when could I even do it? Even though I'm working in a vsix, events don't seem to be exposed anywhere.
Do CodeRefactoringProviders run in a bit of a sandbox? Because I like the way it consumes my class, shows the user a preview and it fits into the editor amazingly, but of course I'd like more control because after all, the root of what you create is a VSIX which can do almost anything in the visual studio environment.
I'm sure I could limit the # of refactorings and show a popup.. but I'm fairly certain people would send death threats.
You can add other elements in just the same way you would in any other vsix in a Roslyn vsix. There are various ways to do this, such as creating a Visual Studio Package, using an ITextViewCreationListener, etc.
One sample that I created showed how to integrate a Tools Options page with a Roslyn code issue at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsdesktop/Roslyn-Code-Issue-with-84d792dd.
I was wondering if any one knows of any plugins that can be used in Visual Studio 2010 to set a startup page for a project.
What I want to do is display some important notes regarding the project when its open each time.
Thanks
May be you need a look at this Adrian Collier - MSFT's article:
Creating a Custom Start Page
Is it possible to enable users to drag and drop a Table from the Visual Studio Server Explorer onto my own DSL Diagram?
I can drop custom Domain Classes I have created but want to make use of the build in funcationality.
I am working in Visual Studio 2010.
I suppose you could override the CreateDiagramView method in your DocView class, and call CreateDiagramView to get to the diagram. From there, you could listen to the DragDrop event. If you can understand what was dropped on you, you could do something with it.
Note: I haven't tested any of this - just happened to have a DSL open and played a bit.
You can find a working example here
http://altinoren.com/activewriter/