HOWTO: Get data sources, data providers and data connections from a Visual Studio 2005 add-in

Author:	Carlos J. Quintero (Microsoft MVP)	Applies to:	Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Date:	March 2007

Introduction

Visual Studio 2005 introduces the Data Designer Extensibility (DDEX) SDK, which provides design-time capabilities for .NET 2.0 Data Providers. This article explains how to get the .NET data sources and .NET DDEX data providers installed on your computer, and how to get the data connections defined in the Server Explorer of Visual Studio 2005.

More Information

To get the data-related information from a Visual Studio 2005 add-in you need to use several services provided by the DTE object from the DDEX SDK. You need the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Interop.dll assembly located in the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE. Also, see at the end of this article how to get a service from the Visual Studio IDE from an add-in.

The following procedure displays information about the data providers, data sources and data connections:

Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Interop

Public Sub GetDataInformation(ByVal objDTE As EnvDTE.DTE)

   Dim objIVsDataProviderManager As IVsDataProviderManager
   Dim objIVsDataProvider As IVsDataProvider
   Dim objIVsDataSourceManager As IVsDataSourceManager
   Dim objIVsDataSource As IVsDataSource
   Dim objIVsDataConnectionsService As IVsDataConnectionsService
   Dim objIVsDataConnectionManager As IVsDataConnectionManager
   Dim objIVsDataConnection As IVsDataConnection

   Dim sMsg As String
   Dim objProviderGuid As Guid
   Dim iConnectionIndex As Integer
   Dim sConnectionName As String
   Dim sConnectionString As String

   objIVsDataProviderManager = CType(GetService(objDTE, GetType(IVsDataProviderManager)), IVsDataProviderManager)
   objIVsDataSourceManager = CType(GetService(objDTE, GetType(IVsDataSourceManager)), IVsDataSourceManager)
   objIVsDataConnectionsService = CType(GetService(objDTE, GetType(IVsDataConnectionsService)), IVsDataConnectionsService)
   objIVsDataConnectionManager = CType(GetService(objDTE, GetType(IVsDataConnectionManager)), IVsDataConnectionManager)

   ' Data providers

   For Each objIVsDataProvider In objIVsDataProviderManager.GetDataProviders

      sMsg = "Data Provider: " & objIVsDataProvider.DisplayName & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= "Description: " & objIVsDataProvider.Description & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= "Guid: " & objIVsDataProvider.Guid.ToString & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf

      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(sMsg)

   Next

   ' Data sources

   For Each objIVsDataSource In objIVsDataSourceManager.GetDataSources()

      sMsg = "Data Source: " & objIVsDataSource.DisplayName & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= "Guid: " & objIVsDataSource.Guid.ToString & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= "Providers: " & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf

      For Each objProviderGuid In objIVsDataSource.GetProviders()
         objIVsDataProvider = objIVsDataProviderManager.GetDataProvider(objProviderGuid)
         sMsg &= objIVsDataProvider.DisplayName & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      Next

      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(sMsg)

   Next

   ' Data connections

   For iConnectionIndex = 0 To objIVsDataConnectionsService.Count - 1

      sConnectionName = objIVsDataConnectionsService.GetConnectionName(iConnectionIndex)
      objProviderGuid = objIVsDataConnectionsService.GetProvider(iConnectionIndex)

      sMsg = "Data Connection: " & sConnectionName & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf

      objIVsDataProvider = objIVsDataProviderManager.GetDataProvider(objProviderGuid)
      sMsg &= "Provider: " & objIVsDataProvider.DisplayName & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf
      sMsg &= Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf

      sConnectionString = objIVsDataConnectionsService.GetConnectionString(iConnectionIndex)
      objIVsDataConnection = objIVsDataConnectionManager.GetDataConnection(objProviderGuid, sConnectionString, True)

      sMsg &= "Connection String: " & objIVsDataConnection.DisplayConnectionString & Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars.CrLf

      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(sMsg)

   Next

End Sub

Public Function GetService(ByVal serviceProvider As Object, ByVal type As System.Type) As Object

   Return GetService(serviceProvider, type.GUID)

End Function

Public Function GetService(ByVal serviceProvider As Object, ByVal guid As System.Guid) As Object

   Dim objService As Object = Nothing
   Dim objIServiceProvider As Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IServiceProvider
   Dim objIntPtr As IntPtr
   Dim hr As Integer
   Dim objSIDGuid As Guid
   Dim objIIDGuid As Guid

   objSIDGuid = guid
   objIIDGuid = objSIDGuid

   objIServiceProvider = CType(serviceProvider, Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IServiceProvider)

   hr = objIServiceProvider.QueryService(objSIDGuid, objIIDGuid, objIntPtr)

   If hr <> 0 Then

      System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(hr)

   ElseIf Not objIntPtr.Equals(IntPtr.Zero) Then

      objService = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetObjectForIUnknown(objIntPtr)
      System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.Release(objIntPtr)

   End If

   Return objService

End Function

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