Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Unleashed

Chapter 13. Introducing the Automation Object Model

IN THIS CHAPTER

• An Overview of the Automation Object Model 508

• Solution and Project Objects 512

• Windows 520

• Command Bars 538

• Documents 542

• Command Objects 556

• Debugger Objects 559

• Automation Events 560

Visual Studio is built to be “extensible.” It ships with its own API to enable you, the developer, to control many of the pieces of the IDE.

The API is called the Visual Studio automation object model, and understanding its capabilities is the key to unlocking your ability to program and control the IDE itself by writing code in the form of macros and add-ins (discussed in Chapter 14, “Writing Macros,” and Chapter 15, “Writing Add-ins and Wizards”).

In this chapter, we discuss ...