Extending Other Parts of Visual Studio

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

There are many more parts of the Visual Studio UI that you can extend. Here we show you just a few.

Creating a VSPackage

The basic building blocks of Visual Studio Extensibility are VSPackages. Learn how to add a VSPackage: Creating an Extension with a VSPackage

Extending the Toolbox

Learn how to add new controls and other items to the Toolbox and how to use Toolbox functionality:

• Creating a WPF Toolbox Control

• Creating a Windows Forms Toolbox Control

Extending the Status Bar

Learn how to read and write to the status bar and the progress bar, and how to provide animations and other UI: Extending the Status Bar.

Creating Custom Start Pages

Learn how to make your own start page, either from scratch or from a downloadable start page sample: Creating a Custom Start Page.

Write to the Activity Log

Learn how to write to the Activity Log: How to: Use the Activity Log.