Introducing Add-ins

Yesterday, when you created your first macro, you learned how to interact with the IDE using the objects in the EnvDTE namespace. All the code you wrote was in Visual Basic .NET, and the overall access you had to objects in the Visual Studio .NET IDE through the automation objects was limited. For example, using the macro recorder, you couldn't automate adding a task to the Task List. You could, however, add a task directory by accessing the TaskItems object. Using add-ins, you can write code in C# or Visual Basic .NET, and you have complete control over all objects in the Visual Studio .NET automation namespaces.

Add-ins are applications in their own right. The only difference between an add-in and a standalone application ...

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