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Chapter 4, Customizing Visual Studio
#28 Package Your Toolbox Settings
HACK
Using the toolbox as a method to store code snippets is an effective way to
reduce coding time and increase your own consistency.
Hacking the Hack
Now that you have customized the toolbox, it is important to be able to
move those settings between systems. To move toolbox settings from one
machine to another, you need to copy a single file from your profile on the
current machine to your profile on the target machine. The file is called
toolbox.tbd and is located in the following directory:
\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\
Microsoft\VisualStudio\<7.1>\
This file can be copied to the target system, and all of your toolbox settings
will be moved to the new system when you restart Visual Studio. Keep in
mind that for custom controls, any assemblies that the toolbox references
would need to be copied as well.
HACK
#28
Package Your Toolbox Settings Hack #28
If you want to be able to deploy the same toolbox settings on a bunch of
different machines, you can write a program to add custom controls or code
snippets to the toolbox.
One of the big challenges of team development is creating consistent code
across all developers. One way to encourage consistent code is to provide
each developer with the same set of controls and code snippets. This way,
each individual developer has all the same tools