Extend other parts of Visual Studio

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. 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.

Create a VSPackage

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

Extend the Toolbox

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

• Create a WPF Toolbox Control

• Create a Windows Forms Toolbox Control

Extend 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: Extend the status bar.

Create custom Start Pages

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

Write to the Activity log

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