Deploying Your Add-In

Once the add-in module you have developed is completed, debugged, and ready to go, you probably will want to share it with your fellow developers. In this chapter, we will cover what needs to be done to install your add-in and to interact with it through the Add-in Manager.

Installing the add-in

To install your add-in, you’ll need to copy two files to one of the folders where Visual Studio looks for add-in modules. This is usually \Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Addins\ in Visual Studio 2010, or \Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Addins\ in Visual Studio 2012. You can also look in Visual Studio’s Options dialog, under the Environment node's Add-in/Macro Security page for the Add-in File Paths list.

17. Installing add-ins

Tip: You might need to select Show All Settings if the Add-in/Macros Security page does not appear.

If you copy the Assembly DLL file and the .AddIn XML files to this folder, Visual Studio will discover it and possibly load it the next time Visual Studio is started. (The .AddIn XML files have options to control when the add-in is loaded. See Chapter 6 for details.)

Add-in Manager

The Add-in Manager is a tool window under the Tools menu that lets you interact with all IDE-installed add-ins. You can change when the add-in is loaded, and you can disable the add-in as well. The descriptive text you’ve been entering in various add-in modules in this book will appear in the Add-in Manager tool window.

18. Add-in Manager

Whether the add-in module is enabled, whether it loads at start-up, and whether it can run from the command line is stored in the XML file. You can manipulate the XML file using the Add-in Manager window shown in the previous figure.

Tip: Clearing the add-in name does not immediately unload it from memory. You will most likely need to exit and restart Visual Studio to remove the DLL from memory.

If you install an add-in that does not behave and causes problems, you can start the IDE with the /SafeMode switch, which loads Visual Studio without any add-in modules at all.

Summary

Add-in module installation in Visual Studio versions 2008 and newer is very simple using the XML configuration option. You can make an install program or script if need be, but with an audience of primarily programmers, you can probably simply ask them to copy the two files to the appropriate folder.