Deploying a Layer Modeling Extension

  • Article

Users of Visual Studio 2010 Premium and Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate can install layer modeling extensions that you create by using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate and the Visual Studio 2010 Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack or Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2. You must set up your extension so that the installer will look for the correct requirements. For more information, see Visual Studio Feature Packs.

Setting the Deployment Options

To allow your extension to be installed on other computers, you must set the following options in source.vsix.manifest in your VSIX project.

Note

If you created your project with a layer extension project template, these options should already be set. If you created a separate VSIX project, you will have to make the following changes.

  • Supported VS Editions should be set to one or both of the following: Visual Studio 2010 Premium and Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate

  • VSIX References must include the Visual Studio 2010 Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime, which is included in the Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack and in Feature Pack 2.

The VSIX References list causes the installer to check that the extensions that you specify are installed on the target computer. There are two alternative ways to include the reference:

  • As a Reference link. When a user tries to install your extension, the installer will verify that the Runtime is already installed. If it is not installed, the user will see a message that includes a hyperlink to the installation page for the Runtime.

  • As a payload. When a user installs your extension, the installer will begin by installing the Runtime, unless it is already installed.

  1. In source.vsix.manifest, click Add Reference.

  2. Click Select Installed Extension.

  3. Select the runtime for this feature pack.

To include the Runtime as a payload in your extension installer

  1. In source.vsix.manifest, click Add Reference.

  2. Click Add Payload to VSIX.

  3. Click the ellipsis [...] button. In the dialog box, browse to the following location:

    • If you have Visual Studio 2010 Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack installed:

      %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions\Microsoft\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime\1.0\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime.vsix

      Note

      %LocalAppData% is typically DriveName:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local. On Windows XP or Windows 2003, use %AppData% instead of %LocalAppData%.

      -or-

    • If you have Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2 installed:

      …\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime\1.0\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime.vsix

Installing your extension

Your extension is compiled to a VSIX file, which you can install on other computers. You can also install it on your development computer, to make the extension available in the main instance of Visual Studio.

To install the extension

  1. In the project that contains source.vsix.manifest, open bin\* in Windows Explorer.

  2. Copy the *.vsix file to the computer on which you want to install the extension.

  3. On the target computer, double-click the *.vsix file in Windows Explorer.

    The VSIX installer opens.

To uninstall the extension

  1. In Visual Studio, on the Tools menu, click Extension Manager.

  2. Click the name of the extension and then click Uninstall.

Installing an Extension on a Team Foundation Build Server

Team Foundation Build servers do not normally have Visual Studio installed, and so you cannot install the VSIX by double-clicking it. The installation of Team Foundation Build includes some components that allow a VSIX extension to run, but you must install the extension manually.

To install your layer extension on a Team Foundation Build Server

  1. Copy the following VSIX files from your development computer to the Team Foundation Build computer:

    • If you have Visual Studio 2010 Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack installed:

      Copy the feature pack runtime from the following location: %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions\Microsoft\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime\1.0\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime.vsix

      Note

      %LocalAppData% is typically DriveName:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local. On Windows XP or Windows 2003, use %AppData% instead of %LocalAppData%.

      - or -

      If you have Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2 installed:

      Copy the feature pack runtime from the following location: …\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime\1.0\Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack Runtime.vsix

    • Your compiled VSIX from the following location:

      YourVSIXProjectName\bin\*\*.vsix

  2. On the Team Foundation Build computer, place the VSIX files in one of the following locations:

    • To install for all users and services:

      %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft

    • To install only for the network service that runs Team Foundation Build:

      %WinDir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions\Microsoft

    • If you have configured Team Foundation Build to run in interactive mode as a particular user, you can install just for that user:

      %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions\Microsoft

      Note

      %LocalAppData% is typically DriveName:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local. On Windows XP or Windows 2003, use %AppData% instead of %LocalAppData%.

  3. Expand each VSIX file into a folder in the same location:

    1. Change the file name extension from .vsix to .zip.

    2. Extract the content of the .zip file to a folder.

    3. Delete the .zip file

  4. Restart Team Foundation Build.