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Create Windows Live Writer plugin using Visual Basic.NET

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Windows Live Writer is cool! I use it to create my blog posts and of late, I wanted to make my blog a little more colorful. I was looking for the plugin which could do what I want (just too many things in life!) but couldn't find it. That's why, I decided to write a plugin for myself. I guess that's one of the real big benefits if you come from a developer background :o)

The first step is usually the toughest one and mine was no exception. The SDK for Windows Live Writer uses C# and I code much faster in VB.NET, so I thought that I should first create a sample in VB.NET and then write the plugins that I want. Hence this post!

So let's start from the beginning...

1. Create a new Project in VB.NET (of type Class Library) and give a name to this Library.
2. Delete the class called Class1.vb and create a new Class called MySample.vb
3. Create a folder called "Images" and you need to create a PNG file which is 20 x 18 pixels. 
    For this demo you can use this PNG > 

 

4. Right click MyImage.png and Click Properties. In the Build Action, select Embedded Resource
5. Add the following references to this project...

System.Drawing
System.Windows.Forms
WindowsLive.Writer.Api

6. Open MySample.vb and paste the following...

Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports WindowsLive.Writer.Api
<WriterPluginAttribute("700371b3-9023-41f4-bf32-d3f25dfa2abb", _
   "Insert image in WLW", _
   Description:="Insert image in WLW", _
   ImagePath:="MyImage.png", _
   HasEditableOptions:=False, _
   PublisherUrl:="https://blogs.msdn.com/rahulso"), _
   InsertableContentSourceAttribute("image in WLW")> _
   Public Class MySample
      Inherits ContentSource
      Public Overrides Function CreateContent( _
            ByVal dialogOwner As IWin32Window, _
            ByRef newContent As String) As DialogResult
            Try
                  newContent = "Woo hoo... <br><image src='https://www.mountaineermusing.com/uploaded_images/woohoo-772131.gif'>"
                  Return DialogResult.OK
            Catch ex As Exception
                  'Do some error handling here!
            End Try
      End Function
   End Class

7. Build the Project and copy the dll to your Windows Live Writer plugin location. By default it is... C:\Program Files\Windows Live Writer\Plugins
8. Close your Windows Live Writer and re-open it so that the Plugin is loaded. It should look like...

9. If you click on Insert image in WLW you should see the following...

Woo hoo...

 

Write some cool Plug-Ins for you and enjoy!

Cheers,
Rahul

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2007
    You've been kicked (a good thing) - Trackback from DotNetKicks.com

  • Anonymous
    November 23, 2008
    Yes sir could you tell me how I could read the title and text in the blog they are currently writing to a string? Thank You so Much! Email me at kellyjmartens@gmail.com if you would. It is kind of urgent. I am sorry to bother you with this.

  • Anonymous
    December 15, 2008
    In fact, this is a question I had a while ago as well. I hear that the new WLW SDK gives you the options to do that. Read the documentation for the new SDK and may be you will find the answer. Thanks, Rahul