Developing a Guidance Package

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This section details common steps that you need to take to develop a Guidance Package. The following sections provide details for these steps:

• Developing Recipes
• Developing Wizards
• Developing Actions
• Developing T4 Templates
• Developing Visual Studio Templates
• Developing a VSIX File

After you create all the elements that make up a Guidance Package, you need to install and test it. For more information about this and other installation and operations considerations for Guidance Packages, see Using Guidance Packages.

Using the Guidance Package Development Template

The starting point for developing a Guidance Package is the Guidance Package Development solution template. This template is created when you install the Guidance Automation Toolkit. It is possible to develop Guidance Packages without using the Guidance Package Development template, but this section assumes that you are using it to create all of your Guidance Packages.

To start working with the Guidance Package Development template

1. Start Visual Studio 2010.
2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
3. In the New Project dialog box, click Guidance Packages.
4. Select Guidance Package Development.
5. Under Visual Studio installed templates, select Guidance Package.
6. Specify the name and location of the Guidance Package development solution.
7. Click OK.
8. In the Create New Guidance Package Development Solution wizard, enter a name, caption, description, and namespace for the Guidance Package development solution.
9. Click OK. The template will unfold, creating a solution you can use to build your Guidance Package.
10. Create appropriate recipes, actions, wizards, Visual Studio templates, and T4 templates for the Guidance Package.
11. Execute the Set Item's Build Properties recipe. It is bound to the Templates folder.
12. Right-click the Guidance Package development solution, and then click Build. This makes your package available for testing. You can further press Ctrl + F5 and create an Experimental Instance to test the package.
13. Building the solution creates the VSIX in the bin\Debug or bin\Release folder (depending on how the solution was built). Double-click the VSIX to install the Guidance Package.

Guidance Package Configuration File

Much of the configuration of a Guidance Package, including the definition of recipes, arguments, and wizards, is defined in the Guidance Package configuration file. This file is an XML file that must conform to a specific schema. A Guidance Package will be enabled only if its configuration file is located on the local computer. The elements of the configuration file must occur in a specific, pre-defined order. When you create a Guidance Package using the Guidance Package Development template, a Guidance Package configuration file is created with the appropriate sections in the correct order.

Note

Note: When a Guidance Package is loaded, the Recipe Framework checks to see if the timestamp on the Guidance Package configuration file has been changed. If it has been changed, to ensure that the Guidance Package behaves as expected, the Recipe Framework prompts you to reinstall the Guidance Package. This means that if you install a Guidance Package and then modify the Guidance Package configuration file in any way, you need to reinstall the Guidance Package.

See also

Developing Recipes | Developing Wizards | Developing Actions | Developing T4 Templates | Developing Visual Studio Templates | Developing a VSIX File