Add-Ins

Abstract

Now we will continue our examination of how to customize the Visual Studio .NET environment by looking at add-ins. Visual Studio add-ins are similar to Visual Studio macros, which will be covered in detail in the next chapter, but they differ from them in several ways:

• Macros are primarily intended for automating repetitive tasks that can be accomplished by a series of commands. Add-ins, on the other hand, can be used for a wide variety of general purposes, including tasks that cannot be accomplished by any sequence of existing Visual Studio .NET commands, for example, calling the COM library of a non-Microsoft source code configuration tool to check in your project, or carrying out some other task specific to your development environment.

• Add-ins can be seamlessly integrated into Visual Studio .NET menus so that they look like built-in commands.

• Macros have a simple structure and can be stored in a text file; add-ins are compiled binaries that can be written in any Visual Studio .NET language.

• As compiled binaries, add-ins can be distributed as a commercial product without their source code being revealed.