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Adding Commands and Gestures to Layer Diagrams

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You can define context menu commands and gesture handlers on layer diagrams in Visual Studio Ultimate. You can package these extensions into a Visual Studio Integration Extension (VSIX) that you can distribute to other Visual Studio users.

You can define several command and gesture handlers in the same Visual Studio project if you want. You can also combine several such projects into one VSIX. For example, you could define a single VSIX that includes layer commands, a domain-specific language, and commands for UML diagrams.

Note

You can also customize architecture validation, in which users’ source code is compared with layer diagrams. You should define architecture validation in a separate Visual Studio project. You can add it to the same VSIX as other extensions. For more information, see Adding Custom Architecture Validation to Layer Diagrams.

Requirements for Authoring Layer Extensions

You must have installed the following on the computer where you want to develop your layer extensions:

  • Visual Studio Ultimate

  • Visual Studio SDK

  • Visualization and Modeling SDK

Defining a Command or Gesture in a New VSIX

The quickest method of creating an extension is to use the project template. This places the code and the VSIX manifest into the same project.

To define an extension by using a project template

  1. Create a project in a new solution, by using the New Project command on the File menu.

  2. In the New Project dialog box, under Modeling Projects, select either Layer Designer Command Extension or Layer Designer Gesture Extension.

    The template creates a project that contains a small working example.

  3. To test the extension, press CTRL+F5 or F5.

    An experimental instance of Visual Studio starts. In this instance, create a layer diagram. Your command or gesture extension should work in this diagram.

  4. Close the experimental instance and modify the sample code. For more information, see Navigating and Updating Layer Models in Program Code.

  5. You can add more command or gesture handlers to the same project. For more information, see one of the following sections:

    Defining a Menu Command

    Defining a Gesture Handler

  6. To install the extension in the main instance of Visual Studio, or on another computer, find the .vsix file in bin\*. Copy it to the computer where you want to install it, and then double-click it. To uninstall it, use Extension Manager on the Tools menu.

Adding a Command or Gesture to a separate VSIX

If you want to create one VSIX that contains commands, layer validators, and other extensions, we recommend that you create one project to define the VSIX, and separate projects for the handlers. For information about other types of modeling extension, see Extending UML Models and Diagrams.

To add layer extensions to a separate VSIX

  1. Create a Class Library project in a new or existing Visual Studio Ultimate solution. In the New Project dialog box, click Visual C# and then click Class Library. This project will contain command or gesture handler classes.

    Note

    You can define more than one command or gesture handler class in one class library, but you should define layer validation classes in a separate class library.

  2. Identify or create a VSIX project in your solution. A VSIX project contains a file that is named source.extension.vsixmanifest. To add a VSIX project:

    1. In the New Project dialog box, expand Visual C#, then click Extensibility, and then click VSIX Project.

    2. In Solution Explorer, right-click the VSIX project and then click Set as Startup Project.

    3. Click Select Editions and make sure that Visual Studio Ultimate is checked.

  3. In source.extension.vsixmanifest, under Assets, add the command or gesture handler project as a MEF component.

    1. In the Assets.tab, choose New.

    2. At Type, select Microsoft.VisualStudio.MefComponent.

    3. At Source, select Project in current solution and select the name of your command or gesture handler project.

    4. Save the file.

  4. Return to the command or gesture handler project, and add the following project references.

Reference

What this allows you to do

Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\Architecture Tools\ExtensibilityRuntime\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ArchitectureTools.Extensibility.Layer.dll

Create and edit layers

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Uml.Interfaces

Create and edit layers

Microsoft.VisualStudio.ArchitectureTools.Extensibility

Modify shapes on diagrams

System.ComponentModel.Composition

Define components using Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Modeling.Sdk.12.0

Define modeling extensions

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Modeling.Sdk.Diagrams.12.0

Update shapes and diagrams

  1. Edit the class file in the C# class library project to contain the code for your extension. For more information, see one of the following sections:

    Defining a Menu Command

    Defining a Gesture Handler

    See also Navigating and Updating Layer Models in Program Code.

  2. To test the feature, press CTRL+F5 or F5. An experimental instance of Visual Studio opens. In this instance, create or open a layer diagram.

  3. To install the VSIX in the main instance of Visual Studio, or on another computer, find the .vsix file in the bin directory of the VSIX project. Copy it to the computer where you want to install the VSIX. Double-click the VSIX file in Windows Explorer (File Explorer in Windows 8).

    To uninstall it, use Extension Manager on the Tools menu.

Defining a Menu Command

You can add more menu command definitions to an existing gesture or command project. Each command is defined by a class that has the following characteristics:

  • The class is declared as follows:

    [LayerDesignerExtension]

    [Export(typeof(ICommandExtension))]

    public class MyLayerCommand : ICommandExtension { ... }

  • The namespace and the name of the class are unimportant.

  • The methods that implement ICommandExtension are as follows:

    • string Text {get;} - The label that appears in the menu.

    • void QueryStatus(IMenuCommand command) - called when the user right-clicks the diagram, and determines whether the command should be visible and enabled for the user's current selection.

    • void Execute(IMenuCommand command) - called when the user selects the command.

  • To determine the current selection, you can import IDiagramContext:

    [Import]

    public IDiagramContext DiagramContext { get; set; }

    ...

    DiagramContext.CurrentDiagram.SelectedShapes.Count()...

For more information, see Navigating and Updating Layer Models in Program Code.

To add a new command, create a new code file that contains the following sample. Then test and edit it.

using Microsoft.VisualStudio.ArchitectureTools.Extensibility.Layer;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.ArchitectureTools.Extensibility.Presentation;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Modeling.Diagrams.ExtensionEnablement;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Modeling.ExtensionEnablement;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
using System.Linq;

namespace MyLayerExtension // Change to your preference.
{
  // This is a feature for Layer diagrams:
  [LayerDesignerExtension]
  // This feature is a menu command:
  [Export(typeof(ICommandExtension))]
  // Change the class name to your preference:
  public class MyLayerCommand : ICommandExtension
  {
    [Import]
    public IDiagramContext DiagramContext { get; set; }

    [Import]
    public ILinkedUndoContext LinkedUndoContext { get; set; }

    // Menu command label:
    public string Text
    {
      get { return "Duplicate layers"; }
    }

    // Called when the user right-clicks the diagram.
    // Defines whether the command is visible and enabled.
    public void QueryStatus(IMenuCommand command)
    { 
      command.Visible = 
      command.Enabled = DiagramContext.CurrentDiagram
        .SelectedShapes.Count() > 0;
    }

    // Called when the user selects the command.
    public void Execute(IMenuCommand command)
    {
      // A selection of starting points:
      IDiagram diagram = this.DiagramContext.CurrentDiagram;
      ILayerModel lmodel = diagram.GetLayerModel();
      foreach (ILayer layer in lmodel.Layers)
      { // All layers in model.
      }
      // Updates should be performed in a transaction:
      using (ILinkedUndoTransaction t =
        LinkedUndoContext.BeginTransaction("copy selection"))
      {
        foreach (ILayer layer in 
          diagram.SelectedShapes
            .Select(shape=>shape.GetLayerElement())
            .Where(element => element is ILayer))
        {
          ILayer copy = lmodel.CreateLayer(layer.Name + "+");
          // Position the shapes:
          IShape originalShape = layer.GetShape();
          copy.GetShape().Move(
            originalShape.XPosition + originalShape.Width * 1.2,
            originalShape.YPosition);
        }
        t.Commit();
      }
    }
  }
}

Defining a Gesture Handler

A gesture handler responds when the user drags items onto the layer diagram, and when the user double-clicks anywhere in the diagram.

To your existing command or gesture handler VSIX project, you can add a code file that defines a gesture handler:

using Microsoft.VisualStudio.ArchitectureTools.Extensibility.Layer;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.ArchitectureTools.Extensibility.Presentation;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Modeling.Diagrams.ExtensionEnablement;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Modeling.ExtensionEnablement;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
using System.Linq;
namespace MyLayerExtensions // change to your preference
{
  [LayerDesignerExtension]
  [Export(typeof(IGestureExtension))]
  public class MyLayerGestureHandler : IGestureExtension
  {
  }
}

Notice the following points about gesture handlers:

  • The members of IGestureExtension are as follows:

    OnDoubleClick - called when the user double-clicks anywhere on the diagram.

    CanDragDrop - called repeatedly as the user moves the mouse while dragging an item onto the diagram. It must work quickly.

    OnDragDrop - called when the user drops an item onto the diagram.

  • The first argument to each method is an IShape, from which you can get the layer element. For example:

            public void OnDragDrop(IShape target, IDataObject data)
        {
            ILayerElement element = target.GetLayerElement();
            if (element is ILayer)
            {
                // ...
            }
        }

  • Handlers for some types of dragged item are already defined. For example, the user can drag items from Solution Explorer onto a layer diagram. You cannot define a drag handler for these types of item. In these cases, your DragDrop methods will not be invoked.

For more information about how to decode other items when they are dragged onto the diagram, see How to: Define a Gesture Handler on a Modeling Diagram.

See Also

Concepts

Navigating and Updating Layer Models in Program Code

Adding Custom Architecture Validation to Layer Diagrams

How to: Define and Install a Modeling Extension