Wouldn't it be cool if we could search the content and see the results directly in Visual Studio, without needing to open an external browser? This is exactly what we are going to do with our new extension.Īuthor and version are pre-populated.
Switching to a browser opens up Pandora’s box, that is, while navigating to the search engine, if we come across some interesting news or advertisement, we can digress from our search and may end up spending more time than expected on the Internet. This is generally fine, but we need to perform a context switch from Visual Studio to a browser. We see the results and read the most relevant links from the search results and then resume our work. So, in our quest for knowledge, we generally copy the entire text/code snippet, open the browser of our choice, navigate to our preferred search engine (like Bing), and then search the copied content there.
Many times, while writing new code or reviewing/fixing an existing code, we come across comments or keywords or types or APIs that we are not sure about and want to explore them further on the Internet. Visual Studio Extension to Perform Search The first extension that we will develop in this chapter will perform a code/text search. With this extension pack installed, we are ready to start coding our extension. The extension pack will start installation once the Visual Studio closes. Once the extension pack shows up, click on the download. vsct files in managed code to make the information easy to consume from the rest of the extension. VSIX Synchronizer - Provides the ability to generate code-behind files for. vsct files used by Visual Studio extension authors. VSCT IntelliSense - Gives IntelliSense for. Settings Store Explorer - A tool window for viewing and editing the contents of the VS Settings Store. Pkgdef Language - Basic language support for. Known Monikers Explorer - A tool window for Visual Studio extension authors to explore the KnownMonikers image collection. Insert GUID - Makes it super easy to insert a new GUID into any editor and input field. Can do both lossy and lossless optimization. Image Optimizer - Uses industry standard tools to optimize any JPEG, PNG, and Gifs - including animated Gifs. imagemanifest files for a Visual Studio extension. Image Manifest Tools - Makes it easier to create and maintain. As of writing this chapter, this extension pack contains the following extensions:Ĭlean MEF Component Cache - Clears the Visual Studio Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) component cache to fix issues with cache corruption.Ĭommand Explorer - Provides a tool window to explore all commands, groups, and menus to help extension authors place commands/buttons in the desired location.Įxtensibility Logs - Quickest and easiest way to view extensibility logs. This extension pack contains a collection of extensions that eases a lot of seemingly difficult tasks otherwise. Thankfully, Mads Kristensen thought about these problems and developed an extension pack named Extensibility Essentials 2019, which can be used by Visual Studio extension writers to make their extension development experience better, easier, and faster.
However, we do not know how to visualize and use them in our extensions. Visual Studio ships with thousands of images that can be consumed by extension writers. Likewise, while we develop an extension, we may need to use a command that already exists in Visual Studio, but we do not know the exact command.
We found that by default, Visual Studio 2019 doesn't have IntelliSense support for editing the vsct file, which poses some challenges in editing it quickly and correctly. Recall that in the last chapter, we discovered that adding a custom command to Visual Studio requires modifications in the vsct file.