In-Depth
Books: Write Customized .NET Add-Ins
Writing Add-Ins for Visual Studio .NET helps you write an add-in customized to your needs. Les Smith walks you through the wizard and shows you how to develop your UI, trap IDE events, manipulate controls, and migrate your VB6 add-ins to the new platform.
Almost every Visual Studio programmer has wanted to write an add-in customized to his or her needs. Les Smith's book, Writing Add-Ins for Visual Studio .NET, shows you how. Smith discusses both Visual Basic .NET and C# add-ins, though the examples are in VB.NET.
The book starts off with an introduction to add-ins and why they're useful. Chapter 2 focuses on using the Add-In Wizard; Smith walks you through each section of the wizard and does a good job of explaining what each section is responsible for. Smith also shows you how to tweak your add-ins, even when you're using the wizard.
I ran into trouble when I attempted to build my own add-in, but Chapter 3 on debugging was a great help. The remaining chapters show you how to develop your user interface, trap IDE events, and manipulate controls. The later chapters do a nice job of bringing earlier topics together. Finally, if you've written add-ins in VB6, the last chapter will help you migrate them to the new platform.
Writing Add-Ins for Visual Studio .NET is an excellent resource for almost all the types of add-ins you've ever wanted to write. The examples are in VB.NET, but you can easily make the jump to C# or C++.
Writing Add-Ins for Visual Studio .NET
by Les Smith
Apress
ISBN: 1590590260
Price: $49.95
Quick Facts: Shows you how to write Visual Studio .NET add-ins; examples written in VB.NET.
Pros: Great resource if you think add-ins will increase productivity in your apps.
Cons: None.