Hack 92. Manage Add-ins
Visual Studio can do a lot on its own. You can
have it do so much more if you take advantage of add-ins.
Visual
Studio add-ins are an excellent way to expand on the functionality of
Visual Studio. Throughout this book, we have talked about a number of
different add-ins and how they can be used to make the most out of
Visual Studio. We have even talked about how to write add-ins [Hack #89] . This hack explains how to
best work with add-ins. They can sometimes be troublesome and hard to
manage.
13.2.1. Installing Add-ins
All
add-ins
should come with an installer; if they don't, then
they probably come with some sort of detailed instructions on where
you should put files and how you should modify the
registry
to get everything working.
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It is usually a good idea to close Visual Studio before running any
add-in installation programs. Most installation programs
won't stop you from installing with Visual Studio
open, but this can lead to strange behavior, especially if you are
uninstalling an old version of an add-in and installing a new
version.
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Each add-in has to be added to the registry for every version of
Visual Studio that it will run in. Because of this, you will
sometimes run across an add-in whose installer is configured to
install for one version of Visual Studio, but not the version you are
using. You can often duplicate the registry settings from one version
and then move them to the other version, but this
won't work all the time�in fact, it might not
work most of the time�but sometimes it is well worth a shot.
Here is the process for moving the registry settings from one version
to another:
Open regedit (Start Run
type regedit). Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<7.0>\AddIns\<YourAddin>. Right-click on the key and choose Export from the context menu that
appears. Save the .reg file to your computer. Open the .reg file in Notepad and replace all
instances of \7.0\ with
\7.1\. (This would move settings from
Visual Studio .NET 2002 to Visual Studio .NET 2003. Use the version
numbers that apply to your version of Visual Studio.) Save and close the .reg file. Double-click the .reg file and click OK when the
dialog asks if you want to add this information to your registry.
After following this procedure, the add-in may or may not work in the
new version of Visual Studio, but it is worth trying until the author
comes out with a new version tailored to your version of Visual
Studio.
13.2.2. Add-in Manager
The
Add-in Manager can be found in Tools
Add-in Manager and is shown in Figure 13-1.
The Add-in Manager configures the add-ins that are installed for your
version of Visual Studio. The leftmost column displays the name of
the add-in and a checkbox. If that checkbox is checked, it means that
the add-in is currently loaded. You can check this checkbox and then
click OK, and the add-in will be enabled for just this instance of
Visual Studio; when you restart Visual Studio, the add-in will not
automatically be loaded again. The checkbox in the Startup column
controls whether the add-in will be automatically loaded each and
every time Visual Studio is loaded. I find that, unless you use an
add-in constantly, it is best to leave it unavailable until you need
it. For add-ins you use constantly though, it is nice to have them
automatically available when you load the IDE. The last checkbox,
under the column Command Line, specifies whether this add-in should
be loaded when Visual Studio is accessed for command-line operations.
For instance, you can build a solution by calling the
devenv.exe command with the
/build switch, and this checkbox determines if the
add-in should be loaded when Visual Studio is started this way.
13.2.3. Repairing Add-ins
Sometimes add-ins just
don't work properly. You can try a couple things to
get an add-in to work properly. Sometimes simply disabling the add-in
and restarting Visual Studio will fix your problems. The next tactic
should be to run the repair function of the add-in installer (if one
exists; rerun the installer to see if it offers you this option),
which usually does a fair job of fixing any problems. If this does
not work, you can take a couple of other steps to try and get the
add-in working again.
Visual Studio includes a command-line switch called
/setup that will do a reset on Visual Studio,
restoring it to its initial state. Using this switch will erase some
of your customizations, but sometimes it is the only way to get an
add-in, or even Visual Studio itself, working properly again.
There is also a
/safemode command-line switch that will start
Visual Studio in safe mode. Visual Studio safe mode loads only the
default environment and services, which disables any VSIP add-ins
(not all add-ins) that might be causing a problem.
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