1. Visual Studio Best Extensions
2. Visual Studio For Mac Download
3. Visual Studio 2017 For Mac
4. Visual Studio For Mac Os

Currently you would need to create an extension for Visual Studio for Mac to add a new project template. Then there are two options for how to create the project template. You can use the old templating engine which is documented on the MonoDevelop website. Or you can use the new.NET Core templating engine to create a NuGet package. Visual Micro is a p lugin for Microsoft Visual Studio (with C++ installed). Visual Micro helps you create Arduino compatible cross-platform programs for hundreds of different Arduino compatible micro-controllers.

Visual Studio for Mac consists of a set of modules called Extension Packages. You can use Extension Packages to introduce new functionality to Visual Studio for Mac, such as support for an additional language or a new Project template.

Extension packages build from the extension points of other extension packages. Extension points are placeholders for areas that can be expanded upon, such as a menu or the list of IDE Commands. An extension package can build from an extension point by registering a node of structured data called an extension, such as a new menu item or a new Command. Each extension point accepts certain types of extensions, such as a Command, Pad, or FileTemplate. A module that contains extension points is called an add-in host, as it can be extended by other extension packages.

To customize Visual Studio for Mac, you can create an extension package that builds from extension points contained in add-in hosts within pre-existing libraries in Visual Studio for Mac, as illustrated by the following diagram:

In order for an extension package to build from Visual Studio for Mac, it must have extensions that build from pre-existing extension points within the Visual Studio for Mac IDE. When an extension package relies on an extension point defined in an add-in host, it is said to have a dependency on that extension package.

The benefit of this modular design is that Visual Studio for Mac is extensible -- there are many extension points that can be built upon with custom extension packages. Examples of current extension packages include support for C# and F#, debugger tools, and Project templates.

Note

If you have an Add-in Maker project that was created before Add-in Maker 1.2, you need to migrate your project as outlined in the steps here.

This section looks at the different files generated by the Add-in Maker and the data a command extension requires.

Attribute files

Extension packages store metadata about their name, version, dependencies, and other information in C# attributes. The Add-in Maker creates two files, AddinInfo.cs and AssemblyInfo.cs to store and organize this information. Extension packages must have a unique ID and namespace specified in their Addin attribute:

Extension packages must also declare dependencies on the extension packages that own the extension points they plug into, which are automatically referenced at build time.

Furthermore, additional references can be added via the Add-in reference node in the solution pad for the project, as depicted by the following image:

They also have their corresponding assembly:AddinDependency attributes added at build time. Once the metadata and dependency declarations are in place, you can focus on the essential building blocks of the extension package.

Extensions and extension points

An extension point is a placeholder that defines a data structure (a type), while an extension defines data that conforms to a structure specified by a specific extension point. Extension points specify what type of extension they can accept in their declaration. Extensions are declared using type names or extension paths. See the Extension Point reference for a more in-depth explanation on how to create the extension point that you need.

The extension/extension point architecture keeps the development of Visual Studio for Mac fast and modular.

Command Extensions

Command Extensions are extensions that point to methods that are called every time it is executed.

Command Extensions are defined by adding entries to the /MonoDevelop/Ide/Commands extension point. We defined our extension in Manifest.addin.xml with the following code:

The extension node contains a path attribute that specifies the extension point that it is plugging into, in this case /MonoDevelop/Ide/Commands/Edit. Additionally, it acts as a parent node to the Command. The Command node has the following attributes:

• id - Specifies the identifier for this Command. Command Identifiers must be declared as enumeration members, and are used to connect Commands to CommandItems.
• _label - The text to be shown in menus.
• _description - The text to be shown as a tooltip for toolbar buttons.
• defaultHandler - Specifies the CommandHandler class that powers the Command

A CommandItem extension that plugs into the /MonoDevelop/Ide/MainMenu/Edit extension point is demonstrated in the following code snippet:

A CommandItem places a Command specified in its id attribute into a menu. This CommandItem is extending the /MonoDevelop/Ide/MainMenu/Edit extension point, which makes the Command's label appear in the Edit Menu. Note that the ID in the CommandItem corresponds to the ID of the Command node, InsertDate. If you remove the CommandItem, the Insert Date option would disappear from the Edit Menu.

Command Handlers

The InsertDateHandler is an extension of the CommandHandler class. It overrides two methods, Update and Run. The Update method is queried whenever a Command is shown in a menu or executed via key bindings. By changing the info object, you can disable the Command or make it invisible, populate array commands, and more. This Update method disables the command if it can't find an active Document with a TextEditor to insert text into:

You only need to override the Update method when you have special logic for enabling or hiding the Command. The Run method executes whenever a user executes a Command, which in this case occurs when a user selects the Command from the Edit Menu. This method inserts the date and time at the caret in the text editor:

Declare the Command type as an enumeration member within DateInserterCommands:

The Command and CommandItem are now tied together - the CommandItem calls the Command when the CommandItem is selected from the Edit Menu.

IDE APIs

For information on the scope of areas that are available for development, see the Extension Tree Reference and the API Overview. When building advanced extension packages, also refer to Developer Articles. Below is a partial list of areas for customization:

• Pads
• Key Binding Schemes
• Policies
• Code formatters
• Project file formats
• Preferences panels
• Options Panels
• Debugger Protocols
• Debugger visualizers
• Workspace layouts
• Solution pad tree nodes
• Source editor margins
• Unit test engines
• Code generators
• Code snippets
• Target frameworks
• Target runtime
• VCS back-ends
• Refactoring
• Execution handlers
• Syntax highlighting

Extending The New Editor

Visual Studio for Mac introduces a new native Cocoa text editor UI built on top of the same editor layers from Visual Studio on Windows.

One of the many benefits of sharing the editor between Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac is that code targeting the Visual Studio editor can be adapted to run on Visual Studio for Mac.

Note

The new editor supports only C# files at this time. Other languages and file formats will open in the legacy editor. The legacy editor does however implement some of the Visual Studio Editor APIs described below.

Visual Studio Editor Overview

Before touching on extension details specific to Visual Studio for Mac, it is helpful to understand more about the shared editor itself. Below are a few resources that may deepen this understanding:

With those resources in hand, the primary concepts that you need to be familiar with are an ITextBuffer and an ITextView:

• An ITextBuffer is an in-memory representation of text that can be changed over time. The CurrentSnapshot property on ITextBuffer returns an immutable representation of the current contents of the buffer, an instance of ITextSnapshot. When an edit is made on the buffer, the CurrentSnapshot property is updated to the latest version. Analyzers can inspect the text snapshot on any thread and its contents is guaranteed to never change.

• An ITextView is the UI representation of how ITextBuffer is rendered on screen in the editor control. It has a reference to its text buffer, as well as Caret, Selection, and other UI-related concepts.

For a given MonoDevelop.Ide.Gui.Document, you can retrieve the associated underlying ITextBuffer and ITextView via Document.GetContent<ITextBuffer>() and Document.GetContent<ITextView>() respectively.

Additional Information

Note

We are currently working on improving the extensibility scenarios for Visual Studio for Mac. If you are creating extensions and need additional help or information, or would like to provide feedback, please fill in the Visual Studio for Mac Extension Authoring form.

See also

These words provide details of the Visual Studio extension I have created for developing dynamics 365 solutions

The extension contains the following features

The extension is free and can be installed in Visual Studio by selecting Tools -> Extensions and Updates

The screenshot below shows installation in the Extensions and Updates dialog. Select Visual Studio Marketplace and search for JosephM.Xrm.Vsix

With the extension installed you get a new XRM menu group in solution explorer for various right-click contexts. For instance this screenshot shows the menu when the solution is right clicked

To add a connection for the solution select Package Settings in the Solutions right click XRM menu. This allows you to add one or more connections into the solution, one of which will be the ‘active’ connection

This screenshot shows the Package Settings form

• The field ‘Add to Solution’ allows you to specify to add components you deploy/change into a Dynamics 365 solution
• The prefix fields are used to prefix code and files which are created from item templates
• The grid allows you to add connections to dynamics 365 instances
• Projects may also be configured to show/hide XRM menu options based on their purpose

To add a new connection click the + button at the top left of the grid

This opens the form shown below for entering the connection details and user credentials for the connection. Clicking Next will validate the connection and if connected will add the connection to the grid

The discovery service address and organisation unique name are found in the dynamics 365 web application by navigating Settings -> Customizations -> Developer Resources

Visual Studio Best Extensions

The screenshot below highlights the relevant locations

Note to find this location in newer instances you need to click Advanced Settings in the settings menu dropdown

When Next is clicked on the form containing the connections grid any changes will be saved, and the connection which is set with the Active check box set will be set as the active connection

Visual Studio For Mac Download

Note the package settings and connection are saved into files in a visual studio solution folder. This is shown in the screenshot below. The file is prefixed with the current users name to allow multiple files to be created in the same solution for different users with a personally encrypted password. Passwords are encrypted for the current user account on the current machine so will need to be reentered if changing workstations

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And thus ends these details. See the links at the start of the article for details on specific features in the extension. If you often develop solutions for dynamics 365 and write custom code in visual studio this could be worth trying out to improve productivity

Visual Studio For Mac Os