Walkthrough: Outlining

Article
11/15/2016

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

You can implement language-based features such as outlining by defining the kinds of text regions you want to expand or collapse. You can define regions in the context of a language service, or you can define your own file name extension and content type and apply the region definition to only that type, or you can apply the region definitions to an existing content type (such as "text"). This walkthrough shows how to define and display outlining regions.

Prerequisites

Starting in Visual Studio 2015, you do not install the Visual Studio SDK from the download center. It is included as an optional feature in Visual Studio setup. You can also install the VS SDK later on. For more information, see Installing the Visual Studio SDK.

Creating a Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) Project

To create a MEF project

Create an VSIX project. Name the solution OutlineRegionTest.
Add an Editor Classifier item template to the project. For more information, see Creating an Extension with an Editor Item Template.
Delete the existing class files.

Implementing an Outlining Tagger

Outlining regions are marked by a kind of tag (OutliningRegionTag). This tag provides the standard outlining behavior. The outlined region can be expanded or collapsed. The outlined region is marked by a PLUS SIGN if it is collapsed or a MINUS SIGN if it is expanded, and the expanded region is demarcated by a vertical line.

The following steps show how to define a tagger that creates outlining regions for all the regions that are delimited by "[" and "]".

To implement an outlining tagger

Add a class file and name it OutliningTagger.

Import the following namespaces.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Outlining;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Tagging;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Utilities;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text;

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Text
Imports System.ComponentModel.Composition
Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Outlining
Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Tagging
Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Utilities
Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text

Create a class named OutliningTagger, and have it implement ITagger<T>:

internal sealed class OutliningTagger : ITagger<IOutliningRegionTag>

Friend NotInheritable Class OutliningTagger
    Implements ITagger(Of IOutliningRegionTag)

Add some fields to track the text buffer and snapshot and to accumulate the sets of lines that should be tagged as outlining regions. This code includes a list of Region objects (to be defined later) that represent the outlining regions.

string startHide = "[";     //the characters that start the outlining region
string endHide = "]";       //the characters that end the outlining region
string ellipsis = "...";    //the characters that are displayed when the region is collapsed
string hoverText = "hover text"; //the contents of the tooltip for the collapsed span
ITextBuffer buffer;
ITextSnapshot snapshot;
List<Region> regions;

'the characters that start the outlining region
Private startHide As String = "["
'the characters that end the outlining region
Private endHide As String = "]"
'the characters that are displayed when the region is collapsed
Private ellipsis As String = "..."
'the contents of the tooltip for the collapsed span
Private hoverText As String = "hover text"
Private buffer As ITextBuffer
Private snapshot As ITextSnapshot
Private regions As List(Of Region)

Add a tagger constructor that initializes the fields, parses the buffer, and adds an event handler to the Changed event.

public OutliningTagger(ITextBuffer buffer)
{
    this.buffer = buffer;
    this.snapshot = buffer.CurrentSnapshot;
    this.regions = new List<Region>();
    this.ReParse();
    this.buffer.Changed += BufferChanged;
}

Public Sub New(ByVal buffer As ITextBuffer)
    Me.buffer = buffer
    Me.snapshot = buffer.CurrentSnapshot
    Me.regions = New List(Of Region)()
    Me.ReParse()
    AddHandler Me.buffer.Changed, AddressOf BufferChanged
End Sub

Implement the GetTags method, which instantiates the tag spans. This example assumes that the spans in the NormalizedSpanCollection passed in to the method are contiguous, although this may not always be the case. This method instantiates a new tag span for each of the outlining regions.

public IEnumerable<ITagSpan<IOutliningRegionTag>> GetTags(NormalizedSnapshotSpanCollection spans)
{
    if (spans.Count == 0)
        yield break;
    List<Region> currentRegions = this.regions;
    ITextSnapshot currentSnapshot = this.snapshot;
    SnapshotSpan entire = new SnapshotSpan(spans[0].Start, spans[spans.Count - 1].End).TranslateTo(currentSnapshot, SpanTrackingMode.EdgeExclusive);
    int startLineNumber = entire.Start.GetContainingLine().LineNumber;
    int endLineNumber = entire.End.GetContainingLine().LineNumber;
    foreach (var region in currentRegions)
    {
        if (region.StartLine <= endLineNumber &&
            region.EndLine >= startLineNumber)
        {
            var startLine = currentSnapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.StartLine);
            var endLine = currentSnapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.EndLine);

            //the region starts at the beginning of the "[", and goes until the *end* of the line that contains the "]".
            yield return new TagSpan<IOutliningRegionTag>(
                new SnapshotSpan(startLine.Start + region.StartOffset,
                endLine.End),
                new OutliningRegionTag(false, false, ellipsis, hoverText));
        }
    }
}

Public Function GetTags(ByVal spans As NormalizedSnapshotSpanCollection) As IEnumerable(Of ITagSpan(Of IOutliningRegionTag)) Implements ITagger(Of Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Tagging.IOutliningRegionTag).GetTags
    If spans.Count = 0 Then
        Return Nothing
        Exit Function
    End If
    Dim currentRegions As List(Of Region) = Me.regions
    Dim currentSnapshot As ITextSnapshot = Me.snapshot
    Dim entire As SnapshotSpan = New SnapshotSpan(spans(0).Start, spans(spans.Count - 1).[End]).TranslateTo(currentSnapshot, SpanTrackingMode.EdgeExclusive)
    Dim startLineNumber As Integer = entire.Start.GetContainingLine().LineNumber
    Dim endLineNumber As Integer = entire.[End].GetContainingLine().LineNumber

    Dim list As List(Of ITagSpan(Of IOutliningRegionTag))
    list = New List(Of ITagSpan(Of IOutliningRegionTag))()

    For Each region In currentRegions
        If region.StartLine <= endLineNumber AndAlso region.EndLine >= startLineNumber Then
            Dim startLine = currentSnapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.StartLine)
            Dim endLine = currentSnapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.EndLine)

            'the region starts at the beginning of the "[", and goes until the *end* of the line that contains the "]".
            list.Add(New TagSpan(Of IOutliningRegionTag)(New SnapshotSpan(startLine.Start + region.StartOffset, endLine.End),
            New OutliningRegionTag(False, False, ellipsis, hoverText)))
        End If
    Next
    Return list
End Function

Declare a TagsChanged event handler.

public event EventHandler<SnapshotSpanEventArgs> TagsChanged;

Public Event TagsChanged As EventHandler(Of SnapshotSpanEventArgs) Implements ITagger(Of IOutliningRegionTag).TagsChanged

Add a BufferChanged event handler that responds to Changed events by parsing the text buffer.

void BufferChanged(object sender, TextContentChangedEventArgs e)
{
    // If this isn't the most up-to-date version of the buffer, then ignore it for now (we'll eventually get another change event).
    if (e.After != buffer.CurrentSnapshot)
        return;
    this.ReParse();
}

Private Sub BufferChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As TextContentChangedEventArgs)
    ' If this isn't the most up-to-date version of the buffer, then ignore it for now (we'll eventually get another change event).
    If e.After IsNot buffer.CurrentSnapshot Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    Me.ReParse()
End Sub

Add a method that parses the buffer. The example given here is for illustration only. It synchronously parses the buffer into nested outlining regions.

void ReParse()
{
    ITextSnapshot newSnapshot = buffer.CurrentSnapshot;
    List<Region> newRegions = new List<Region>();

    //keep the current (deepest) partial region, which will have
    // references to any parent partial regions.
    PartialRegion currentRegion = null;

    foreach (var line in newSnapshot.Lines)
    {
        int regionStart = -1;
        string text = line.GetText();

        //lines that contain a "[" denote the start of a new region.
        if ((regionStart = text.IndexOf(startHide, StringComparison.Ordinal)) != -1)
        {
            int currentLevel = (currentRegion != null) ? currentRegion.Level : 1;
            int newLevel;
            if (!TryGetLevel(text, regionStart, out newLevel))
                newLevel = currentLevel + 1;

            //levels are the same and we have an existing region;
            //end the current region and start the next
            if (currentLevel == newLevel && currentRegion != null)
            {
                newRegions.Add(new Region()
                {
                    Level = currentRegion.Level,
                    StartLine = currentRegion.StartLine,
                    StartOffset = currentRegion.StartOffset,
                    EndLine = line.LineNumber
                });

                currentRegion = new PartialRegion()
                {
                    Level = newLevel,
                    StartLine = line.LineNumber,
                    StartOffset = regionStart,
                    PartialParent = currentRegion.PartialParent
                };
            }
            //this is a new (sub)region
            else
            {
                currentRegion = new PartialRegion()
                {
                    Level = newLevel,
                    StartLine = line.LineNumber,
                    StartOffset = regionStart,
                    PartialParent = currentRegion
                };
            }
        }
        //lines that contain "]" denote the end of a region
        else if ((regionStart = text.IndexOf(endHide, StringComparison.Ordinal)) != -1)
        {
            int currentLevel = (currentRegion != null) ? currentRegion.Level : 1;
            int closingLevel;
            if (!TryGetLevel(text, regionStart, out closingLevel))
                closingLevel = currentLevel;

            //the regions match
            if (currentRegion != null &&
                currentLevel == closingLevel)
            {
                newRegions.Add(new Region()
                {
                    Level = currentLevel,
                    StartLine = currentRegion.StartLine,
                    StartOffset = currentRegion.StartOffset,
                    EndLine = line.LineNumber
                });

                currentRegion = currentRegion.PartialParent;
            }
        }
    }

    //determine the changed span, and send a changed event with the new spans
    List<Span> oldSpans =
        new List<Span>(this.regions.Select(r => AsSnapshotSpan(r, this.snapshot)
            .TranslateTo(newSnapshot, SpanTrackingMode.EdgeExclusive)
            .Span));
    List<Span> newSpans =
            new List<Span>(newRegions.Select(r => AsSnapshotSpan(r, newSnapshot).Span));

    NormalizedSpanCollection oldSpanCollection = new NormalizedSpanCollection(oldSpans);
    NormalizedSpanCollection newSpanCollection = new NormalizedSpanCollection(newSpans);

    //the changed regions are regions that appear in one set or the other, but not both.
    NormalizedSpanCollection removed =
    NormalizedSpanCollection.Difference(oldSpanCollection, newSpanCollection);

    int changeStart = int.MaxValue;
    int changeEnd = -1;

    if (removed.Count > 0)
    {
        changeStart = removed[0].Start;
        changeEnd = removed[removed.Count - 1].End;
    }

    if (newSpans.Count > 0)
    {
        changeStart = Math.Min(changeStart, newSpans[0].Start);
        changeEnd = Math.Max(changeEnd, newSpans[newSpans.Count - 1].End);
    }

    this.snapshot = newSnapshot;
    this.regions = newRegions;

    if (changeStart <= changeEnd)
    {
        ITextSnapshot snap = this.snapshot;
        if (this.TagsChanged != null)
            this.TagsChanged(this, new SnapshotSpanEventArgs(
                new SnapshotSpan(this.snapshot, Span.FromBounds(changeStart, changeEnd))));
    }
}

Private Sub ReParse()
    Dim newSnapshot As ITextSnapshot = buffer.CurrentSnapshot
    Dim newRegions As New List(Of Region)()

    'keep the current (deepest) partial region, which will have
    ' references to any parent partial regions.
    Dim currentRegion As PartialRegion = Nothing

    For Each line In newSnapshot.Lines
        Dim regionStart As Integer = -1
        Dim text As String = line.GetText()

        'lines that contain a "[" denote the start of a new region.
        If text.IndexOf(startHide, StringComparison.Ordinal) <> -1 Then
            regionStart = text.IndexOf(startHide, StringComparison.Ordinal)
            Dim currentLevel As Integer = If((currentRegion IsNot Nothing), currentRegion.Level, 1)
            Dim newLevel As Integer
            If Not TryGetLevel(text, regionStart, newLevel) Then
                newLevel = currentLevel + 1
            End If

            'levels are the same and we have an existing region;
            'end the current region and start the next
            If currentLevel = newLevel AndAlso currentRegion IsNot Nothing Then
                Dim newRegion = New Region()
                newRegion.Level = currentRegion.Level
                newRegion.StartLine = currentRegion.StartLine
                newRegion.StartOffset = currentRegion.StartOffset
                newRegion.EndLine = line.LineNumber
                newRegions.Add(newRegion)

                currentRegion = New PartialRegion()
                currentRegion.Level = newLevel
                currentRegion.StartLine = line.LineNumber
                currentRegion.StartOffset = regionStart
                currentRegion.PartialParent = currentRegion.PartialParent

            Else
                'this is a new (sub)region
                currentRegion = New PartialRegion()
                currentRegion.Level = newLevel
                currentRegion.StartLine = line.LineNumber
                currentRegion.StartOffset = regionStart
                currentRegion.PartialParent = currentRegion
            End If
            'lines that contain "]" denote the end of a region
        ElseIf (text.IndexOf(endHide, StringComparison.Ordinal)) <> -1 Then
            regionStart = text.IndexOf(endHide, StringComparison.Ordinal)
            Dim currentLevel As Integer = If((currentRegion IsNot Nothing), currentRegion.Level, 1)
            Dim closingLevel As Integer
            If Not TryGetLevel(text, regionStart, closingLevel) Then
                closingLevel = currentLevel
            End If

            'the regions match
            If currentRegion IsNot Nothing AndAlso currentLevel = closingLevel Then
                Dim newRegion As Region
                newRegion = New Region()
                newRegion.Level = currentLevel
                newRegion.StartLine = currentRegion.StartLine
                newRegion.StartOffset = currentRegion.StartOffset
                newRegion.EndLine = line.LineNumber
                newRegions.Add(newRegion)

                currentRegion = currentRegion.PartialParent
            End If
        End If
    Next
    'determine the changed span, and send a changed event with the new spans
    Dim oldSpans As New List(Of Span)(Me.regions.[Select](Function(r) AsSnapshotSpan(r, Me.snapshot).TranslateTo(newSnapshot, SpanTrackingMode.EdgeExclusive).Span))
    Dim newSpans As New List(Of Span)(newRegions.[Select](Function(r) AsSnapshotSpan(r, newSnapshot).Span))

    Dim oldSpanCollection As New NormalizedSpanCollection(oldSpans)
    Dim newSpanCollection As New NormalizedSpanCollection(newSpans)

    'the changed regions are regions that appear in one set or the other, but not both.
    Dim removed As NormalizedSpanCollection = NormalizedSpanCollection.Difference(oldSpanCollection, newSpanCollection)

    Dim changeStart As Integer = Integer.MaxValue
    Dim changeEnd As Integer = -1

    If removed.Count > 0 Then
        changeStart = removed(0).Start
        changeEnd = removed(removed.Count - 1).[End]
    End If

    If newSpans.Count > 0 Then
        changeStart = Math.Min(changeStart, newSpans(0).Start)
        changeEnd = Math.Max(changeEnd, newSpans(newSpans.Count - 1).[End])
    End If

    Me.snapshot = newSnapshot
    Me.regions = newRegions

    If changeStart <= changeEnd Then
        Dim snap As ITextSnapshot = Me.snapshot
        RaiseEvent TagsChanged(Me, New SnapshotSpanEventArgs(New SnapshotSpan(Me.snapshot, Span.FromBounds(changeStart, changeEnd))))
    End If
End Sub

The following helper method gets an integer that represents the level of the outlining, such that 1 is the leftmost brace pair.

static bool TryGetLevel(string text, int startIndex, out int level)
{
    level = -1;
    if (text.Length > startIndex + 3)
    {
        if (int.TryParse(text.Substring(startIndex + 1), out level))
            return true;
    }

    return false;
}

Private Shared Function TryGetLevel(ByVal text As String, ByVal startIndex As Integer, ByRef level As Integer) As Boolean
    level = -1
    If text.Length > startIndex + 3 Then
        If Integer.TryParse(text.Substring(startIndex + 1), level) Then
            Return True
        End If
    End If

    Return False
End Function

The following helper method translates a Region (defined later in this topic) into a SnapshotSpan.

static SnapshotSpan AsSnapshotSpan(Region region, ITextSnapshot snapshot)
{
    var startLine = snapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.StartLine);
    var endLine = (region.StartLine == region.EndLine) ? startLine
         : snapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.EndLine);
    return new SnapshotSpan(startLine.Start + region.StartOffset, endLine.End);
}

Private Shared Function AsSnapshotSpan(ByVal region As Region, ByVal snapshot As ITextSnapshot) As SnapshotSpan
    Dim startLine = snapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.StartLine)
    Dim endLine = If((region.StartLine = region.EndLine), startLine, snapshot.GetLineFromLineNumber(region.EndLine))
    Return New SnapshotSpan(startLine.Start + region.StartOffset, endLine.[End])
End Function

The following code is for illustration only. It defines a PartialRegion class that contains the line number and offset of the start of an outlining region, and also a reference to the parent region (if any). This enables the parser to set up nested outlining regions. A derived Region class contains a reference to the line number of the end of an outlining region.

class PartialRegion
{
    public int StartLine { get; set; }
    public int StartOffset { get; set; }
    public int Level { get; set; }
    public PartialRegion PartialParent { get; set; }
}

class Region : PartialRegion
{
    public int EndLine { get; set; }
}

Private Class PartialRegion
    Private _StartLine As Integer
    Public Property StartLine() As Integer
        Get
            Return _StartLine
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _StartLine = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private _StartOffset As Integer
    Public Property StartOffset() As Integer
        Get
            Return _StartOffset
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _StartOffset = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private _Level As Integer
    Public Property Level() As Integer
        Get
            Return _Level
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _Level = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private _PartialParent As PartialRegion
    Public Property PartialParent() As PartialRegion
        Get
            Return _PartialParent
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As PartialRegion)
            _PartialParent = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Private Class Region
    Inherits PartialRegion
    Private _EndLine As Integer
    Public Property EndLine() As Integer
        Get
            Return _EndLine
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _EndLine = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Implementing a Tagger Provider

You must export a tagger provider for your tagger. The tagger provider creates an OutliningTagger for a buffer of the "text" content type, or else returns an OutliningTagger if the buffer already has one.

To implement a tagger provider

Create a class named OutliningTaggerProvider that implements ITaggerProvider, and export it with the ContentType and TagType attributes.

[Export(typeof(ITaggerProvider))]
[TagType(typeof(IOutliningRegionTag))]
[ContentType("text")]
internal sealed class OutliningTaggerProvider : ITaggerProvider

<Export(GetType(ITaggerProvider))> _
<TagType(GetType(IOutliningRegionTag))> _
<ContentType("text")> _
Friend NotInheritable Class OutliningTaggerProvider
    Implements ITaggerProvider

Implement the CreateTagger method by adding an OutliningTagger to the properties of the buffer.

public ITagger<T> CreateTagger<T>(ITextBuffer buffer) where T : ITag
{
    //create a single tagger for each buffer.
    Func<ITagger<T>> sc = delegate() { return new OutliningTagger(buffer) as ITagger<T>; };
    return buffer.Properties.GetOrCreateSingletonProperty<ITagger<T>>(sc);
}

Public Function CreateTagger(Of T As ITag)(ByVal buffer As ITextBuffer) As ITagger(Of T) Implements ITaggerProvider.CreateTagger
    'create a single tagger for each buffer.
    Dim sc As Func(Of ITagger(Of T)) = Function() TryCast(New OutliningTagger(buffer), ITagger(Of T))
    Return buffer.Properties.GetOrCreateSingletonProperty(Of ITagger(Of T))(sc)
End Function

Building and Testing the Code

To test this code, build the OutlineRegionTest solution and run it in the experimental instance.

To build and test the OutlineRegionTest solution

Build the solution.
When you run this project in the debugger, a second instance of Visual Studio is instantiated.
Create a text file. Type some text that includes both the opening brace and the closing brace.
```
[  
   Hello  
]  
```
There should be an outlining region that includes both braces. You should be able to click the MINUS SIGN to the left of the open brace to collapse the outlining region. When the region is collapsed, the ellipsis symbol (...) should appear to the left of the collapsed region, and a popup containing the text hover text should appear when you move the pointer over the ellipsis.

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