Visual Studio Hacks

Manage Add-ins #92

Chapter 13, Enhancing Visual Studio

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HACK

and a checkbox. If that checkbox is checked, it means that the add-in is cur-

rently 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 check-

box 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.

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