Add custom editor windows to Visual Studio window panes
c#, editor, mef, visual-studio, visual-studio-extensions
Solution
The Git Source Control Provider is an open source extension includes a tool pane that embeds a standard editor as a control within a custom WPF tool window. I would use this code as a reference for any Visual Studio 2010+ extension where I wanted to host an editor window in some custom location.
- `PendingChangesView.xaml` includes a `ContentControl` named `DiffEditor`, the content of which will be the editor.
- `PendingChangesView.xaml.cs` includes a method `ShowFile`, which calls a method to create the editor control and assigns the result as the content of `DiffEditor`.
- `ToolWindowWithEditor.cs` includes a method `SetDisplayedFile` which returns a `Tuple<Control, IVsTextView>` interface, which provides access to a `Control` that can be added to a `ContentControl` as well as the `IVsTextView` for the text view. The heavy lifting is in this method.
Note that the `SetDisplayedFile` method includes several lines with the following form:
textViewHost.TextView.Options.SetOptionValue({name}, {value});
These lines perform key functionality for the Git Source Control Provider such as removing margins and making the window read only. There are many options available, so you'll want to review the documentation for `DefaultTextViewOptions` and `DefaultTextViewHostOptions` to apply the ones appropriate for your particular extension.
Problem
My Problem I'm trying to build an extension to Visual Studio that allows code to be edited on a per-function basis, rather than a per-file basis. I'm basically attempting to display code in a similar fashion to Microsoft Debugger Canvas. I'm wondering how to host multiple Visual Studio editors within a single window (I believe the windows are implementing IVsWindowFrame). The functionality I'm after can be seen below: Each editor window retains typical functionality and interacts with third-party extensions as expected. (For example, VsVim functions correctly within these windows). What I've Tried I've spent almost two weeks researching and trying this stuff and I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out which services, interfaces and classes I'm going to be using. Reading through MSDN First off, most of the documentation discusses how to edit a single editor window and add adornments, tags, margins etc. It doesn't discuss the possibility of spawning multiple editors within a window pane. I've looked through the documentation on a vast number of interfaces of interest to me including `IVsTextBuffer`, `IVsTextView` and `IVsInvisibleEditor`. Unfortunately I can't get some of these interfaces to play nicely together. On top this, the usually excellent MSDN is extremely lacking in this area. Many of the interfaces contain only a list of members without even a basic remark on intended use and functional. (IComponentModel, for example). Many of the interfaces make reference to a set of Editor Samples but the code cannot be read or downloaded on MSDN. Apparently it shipped with Visual Studio 2005, but I don't have this version of Visual Studio, nor can I find it. Interacting with IVsUIShell I can get access to all WindowFrames open using `IVsUIShell.GetDocumentWindowEnum();` I see there is an IVsUiShell.CreateDocumentWindow() method, but I'm completely unfamiliar with the parameters it accepts, or if this is the correct path to go down. What I need to do - Programatically create a dockable window pane - Programatically add editors to this window pane. (And ensure they're correctly registered within Visual Studio, the running document table, etc.) Edit: I'm sorry, I should have expanded on my steps. When I said I needed to register with the running document table and Visual Studio, it's because I want to actually edit the original document in my custom editor. Below is a short example of the functionality available in Debugger Canvas that I'm trying to recreate: https://i.stack.imgur.com/e5HeL.gif (I can't embed a .gif) Alternatively: If anyone knows where I can find the editor samples included with Visual Studio 2005 such as the Basic Editor Sample I'm sure I could figure this stuff out. The MSDN documentation has no code samples regarding these interfaces, which has made my job extremely difficult.