Creating Add-ins and Wizards

Visual Studio add-ins are deprecated in Visual Studio 2013. You should upgrade your add-ins to VSPackage extensions. For more information about upgrading, see FAQ: Converting Add-ins to VSPackage Extensions.

You can extend Visual Studio by automating its features or by adding your own features. The Visual Studio Automation model can be used to extend the integrated development environment (IDE).

Important

You cannot create arrays or wizards with a Visual Studio Express edition.

In This Section

• Extensibility Projects
  Choosing an Extensibility template for an add-in.

• Components of an Add-In Project
  Default methods contained in an add-in project.

• How to: Create an Add-In
  How to create add-ins.

• Add-In Registration
  Registering an add-in.

• Add-In Security
  How to limit access to a project .addin XML registration file.

• Displaying Add-Ins on Toolbars and Menus
  Exposing add-ins on menus and toolbars.

• Binding Add-In Commands to Keys
  Connecting add-ins to keyboard shortcuts.

• How to: Restore Add-In Commands to the Menu
  How to restore commands that disappear from a menu.

• How to: Control Add-Ins By Using the Add-In Manager
  Loading, unloading, and controlling add-ins in the IDE.

• How to: Deactivate and Remove an Add-In
  Unloading an add-in and removing it from the Tools menu or the toolbar.

• How to: Run Add-Ins on the Command Line
  Configuring an add-in to load using Devenv command line.

• Walkthrough: Debugging an Add-In Project
  Debugging add-ins.

• Walkthrough: Creating a Wizard
  Creating a wizard.

• Context Parameters for Launching Wizards
  Starting wizards programmatically.

• Configuring .Vsz Files to Start Wizards
  Wizard (.vsz) files.

• Adding Wizards to the Add Item and New Project Dialog Boxes by Using .Vsdir Files
  VSDir files, and how they affect the Add Item and New Project dialog boxes.

Related Sections

• Automation Object Model Chart
  Shows a diagram that has the core elements of the Visual Studio automation object model.

• Referencing Automation Assemblies and the DTE2 Object
  How to reference the EnvDTE namespace and obtain an instance of the DTE object.

• PAVE Visual Studio Commands and Switches
  Describes how to control many Visual Studio features by using a command line.

• Automation and Extensibility Reference
  Links to reference topics about automation and extensibility in Visual Studio, for both shared and language-specific components.

• Extending the Visual Studio Environment
  Links to topics that show how to automate and extend Visual Studio.