Use custom plug-ins in Visual Studio. NET to maximize your productivity (1)

This article assumes that you are familiar with C #, Visual Basic. NET, and CLR.
Difficulty level 1 2 3
Summary
For developers, no matter how powerful the integrated development environment (IDE) needs to have a custom plug-in function. For this reason, Visual Studio. net ide provides a scalable, easy-to-add, and unlimited number of custom plug-ins. This custom plug-in can be written in Visual Basic, C, C #, or other. NET languages. This article explains how to add a custom plug-in Visual Studio. NET. This example shows how to use a custom plug-in to edit a custom text. Two functions are implemented. One is to insert the current date in the text, another more complex feature is to reformat a piece of text. Finally, you will learn how to add a page in the Options dialog box.
If you start using Microsoft Visual Studio. NET, you should know that it is full of new features and technologies. Although you may think that the integrated development environment (IDE) is a simple text editor for coding, it is already very powerful. It provides a framework that supports the insertion of development tools and is single and seamless. Of course, IDE cannot satisfy all people. You or the features I want may not be here. Fortunately, IDE already provides extensible functionality that allows you to scale anything you need.
Start
Plug-ins and macros are two ways to extend the IDE. Macros can be recorded and executed immediately. Therefore, this is a powerful method to explore object models. Macros are distributed in the form of A. vsmacros file. You can double-click the File to load it to the macro editor. After a macro is loaded and available, it can be easily modified by the user.
On the other hand, the plug-in is compiled and cannot be modified after distribution. This protects your intellectual property. With the plug-in, you can create a tool window. These operations are the same for Visual Studio. NET as local operations. The plug-in can dynamically change the menu, toolbar event status, and add information in the help dialog box. The plug-in is deployed through Microsoft's installation file (. MSI). It can be easily installed and uninstalled through the add/delete program dialog box on the control panel.
The steps for creating a plug-in have been hidden in Visual Studio. NET's online help, and are also hidden in Visual Studio. NET Automation Examples Web site. I don't want to introduce every specific process here, but I can review the process of creating a plug-in.