| Author: |
Carlos J. Quintero (Microsoft MVP) |
Applies to: |
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 |
| Date: |
February 2006 |
|
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 |
| Updated: |
March 2013 |
|
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 |
| |
|
|
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 |
| |
|
|
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 |
| |
|
|
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 |
Introduction
This article explains how to reset the commands and user interface of a
Visual Studio .NET add-in.
More Information
An add-in typically can create a command:
- Using the ext_cm_UISetup
flag in the connectMode parameter of the OnConnection method, and this happens
only once in the whole lifetime of the add-in (more on this later).
- When loaded: the add-in can check if the command exists in the DTE.Commands
collection, and create it if it doesn't exist. In this scenario the add-in
doesn't use the ext_cm_UISetup flag of the OnConnection method.
For more information, see: HOWTO: Adding
buttons, commandbars and toolbars to Visual Studio .NET from an add-in
An add-in that uses ext_cm_UISetup flag to create the commands uses a CommandPreload = 1 registry entry value (for add-ins using Registry registration)
or XML entry (for Visual Studio 2005 or higher add-ins using XML registration). The
add-in wizard creates this value when you check the checkbox "Yes, create a
"Tools" menu item. By default this will cause the Add-in to load when the button
is clicked unless the Add-in is set to load on startup of the host application."
in one of the steps of the wizard.
The CommandPreload = 1 value
indicates Visual Studio that the add-in needs to use the
ext_cm_UISetup flag to create its commands. That command creation should happen only
once, and therefore Visual Studio .NET needs to know whether the flag has been
used or not. For this purpose, it can use different locations
to store if that flag has been already used:
- For COM add-ins:
- Registered only for the current user (HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\Addins\<MyAddin>, CommandPreload
value.
where <version> can be:
- 7.0 for Visual Studio .NET 2002
- 7.1 for Visual Studio .NET 2003
- 8.0 for Visual Studio 2005
- 9.0 for Visual Studio 2008
- 10.0 for Visual Studio 2010
- 11.0 for Visual Studio 2012
The value can be:
- 1: indicates that the ext_cm_UISetup flag will be used for that add-in the next time that Visual Studio .NET
is launched.
- 2: indicates that the flag was already used.
- Registered for all users (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry hive):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\PreloadAddinState, <MyAddIn>
value
where <version> can be:
- 7.0 for Visual Studio .NET 2002
- 7.1 for Visual Studio .NET 2003
- 8.0 for Visual Studio 2005
- 9.0 for Visual Studio 2008
- 10.0 for Visual Studio 2010
- 11.0 for Visual Studio 2012
The value can be:
- 1: indicates that the ext_cm_UISetup flag will be used for that add-in the next time that Visual Studio .NET
is launched.
- 2: indicates that the flag was already used.
Notice that for COM add-ins registered for all users while the CommandPreload registry entry is stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
registry hive, since the state must be stored per user, the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry hive can not be used and the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive is used
instead.
- For XML add-ins (Visual Studio 2005 or higher):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\PreloadAddinStateManaged, <MyAddIn>
value
where <version> can be:
- 8.0 for Visual Studio 2005
- 9.0 for Visual Studio 2008
- 10.0 for Visual Studio 2010
- 11.0 for Visual Studio 2012
The value can be:
- 1: indicates that the ext_cm_UISetup flag will be used for that add-in the next time that Visual Studio .NET
is launched.
- 2: indicates that the flag was already used.
So, you can force a new ext_cm_UISetup phase just by changing the above value
from 2 to 1. That will not delete the commands of the add-in, though.
If you want to completely reset the add-in, deleting its commands and user interface, you can use the following procedure:
- Close all IDE instances.
- Open a Visual Studio .NET Command Prompt ("Run...", "Programs", "Visual
Studio .NET", "Visual Studio .NET Tools", "Visual Studio .NET Command
Prompt")
- Type the following command:
- For Visual Studio .NET 2002/2003:
devenv.exe /reset
That will delete all the commands of all the add-ins and their permanent
commandbars, buttons, etc., resetting also their PreloadAddinState value. So,
the next time that the IDE starts, they will receive the ext_cm_UISetup flag.
Notice that using the /reset flag causes also some undesirable effects in the
IDE since some user customizations are lost too, specially in Visual Studio .NET
2002.
- For Visual Studio 2005 or higher:
devenv.exe /resetaddin Namespace.Class
where Namespace.Class is the fully qualified name of the main class of the
add-in (the Connect class).
This is a less drastic method to reset an add-in than using devenv.exe /reset.
If you create a Visual Studio 2005 (or higher) add-in and you go
to its properties pages, Debug section, you will notice that there is a command
line argument of the form /resetaddin MyAddin.Connect. That gives the add-in
the chance of regenerating its commands each time you debug it. You can use this
approach to remove the commands of the add-in when it is uninstalled: if you
delete the registry entries and/or XML file and then you execute the above
statement, the commands of the add-in will be deleted, and since the add-in is
uninstalled there will not be a new ext_cm_UISetup phase for it. See HOWTO: Removing commands and UI elements during Visual Studio .NET add-in uninstallation
Note: devenv.exe /resetaddin doesn't remove permanent commandbars created
by the add-in, only its commands and the buttons created from its commands.
To reset all add-ins you can use:
devenv.exe /resetaddin *
Related articles
Go back to the 'Resources for Visual Studio .NET extensibility' section for more articles like this
|
