How to: Expose an Add-In on the Tools Menu (Visual C#)

Visual Studio add-ins are deprecated in Visual Studio 2013. You should upgrade your add-ins to VSPackage extensions. For more information about upgrading, see FAQ: Converting Add-ins to VSPackage Extensions.

When you create an add-in by using the Add-In Wizard and select the option to display it as a command, the command is on the Tools menu by default. If you skip this option when you create the add-in, however, you can simply run the Add-In Wizard again, check that option, and then copy your existing code to the new add-in.

If doing this is not possible, though, the following procedure produces the same result.

To add a menu command to an existing add-in

1. Add these using statements to the file containing the Connect class.

   using Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommandBars;
   using System.Resources;
   using System.Reflection;
   using System.Globalization;
   using System.Windows.Forms;
   

2. Change the Connect class declaration to implement IDTCommandTarget.

3. Replace or change the OnConnection() procedure code to the following:

   public void OnConnection(object application, ext_ConnectMode connectMode, object addInInst, ref Array custom)
   {
       _applicationObject = (DTE2)application;
       _addInInstance = (AddIn)addInInst;
       if(connectMode == ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup)
       {
           object []contextGUIDS = new object[] { };
           Commands2 commands = (Commands2)_applicationObject.Commands;
           string toolsMenuName;
   
           try
           {
               ResourceManager resourceManager = new     
                 ResourceManager("MyAddin1.CommandBar",  
                 Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
               CultureInfo cultureInfo = new 
                 System.Globalization.CultureInfo
                 (_applicationObject.LocaleID);
               string resourceName = String.Concat(cultureInfo.
                 TwoLetterISOLanguageName, "Tools");
               toolsMenuName = resourceManager.GetString(resourceName);
           }
           catch
           {
               toolsMenuName = "Tools";
           }
   
           CommandBar menuBarCommandBar = 
             ((CommandBars)_applicationObject.CommandBars)
             ["MenuBar"];
   
             CommandBarControl toolsControl = 
               menuBarCommandBar.Controls[toolsMenuName];
             CommandBarPopup toolsPopup = 
               (CommandBarPopup)toolsControl;
   
             try
             {
                 Command command = commands.AddNamedCommand2
                   (_addInInstance, "MyAddin1", "MyAddin1", "Executes  
                   the command for MyAddin1", true, 59, ref 
                   contextGUIDS, (int)vsCommandStatus.
                   vsCommandStatusSupported+(int)vsCommandStatus.
                   vsCommandStatusEnabled, (int)vsCommandStyle.
                   vsCommandStylePictAndText, vsCommandControlType.
                   vsCommandControlTypeButton);
   
                 if((command != null) && (toolsPopup != null))
                 {
                        command.AddControl(toolsPopup.CommandBar, 1);
                 }
           }
           catch(System.ArgumentException)
           {
           }
       }
   }
   

4. Add the following two required procedures, QueryStatus and Exec:

   public void QueryStatus(string commandName, 
     vsCommandStatusTextWanted neededText, ref vsCommandStatus status, 
     ref object commandText)
   {
       if(neededText == 
         vsCommandStatusTextWanted.vsCommandStatusTextWantedNone)
       {
           if(commandName == "MyAddin1.Connect.MyAddin1")
           {
               status = (vsCommandStatus)vsCommandStatus.
                 vsCommandStatusSupported|vsCommandStatus.
                 vsCommandStatusEnabled;
               return;
           }
       }
   }
   
   public void Exec(string commandName, vsCommandExecOption 
     executeOption, ref object varIn, ref object varOut, ref bool 
     handled)
   {
       handled = false;
       if(executeOption ==  
         vsCommandExecOption.vsCommandExecOptionDoDefault)
       {
           if(commandName == "MyAddin1.Connect.MyAddin1")
           {
               handled = true;
                   System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.
                     Show("add-in running.");
               return;
           }
       }
   }
   

   Each time you implement IDTCommandTarget, you must add these two procedures. A quick way to do it is to select IDTCommandTarget in the Class Name drop-down box at the top-left corner of the editor. Select each procedure in turn from the Method Name drop-down box in the top-right corner. This creates the necessary empty procedures with the correct parameters to which you can then add code.

   The Exec procedure is called when a user clicks your menu command, so insert code there that you want to execute at that time.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Expose an Add-In on the Tools Menu (Visual Basic)

How to: Control Add-Ins By Using the Add-In Manager

How to: Create an Add-In

Concepts

Automation Object Model Chart