Get project properties

This walkthrough shows how to displays project properties in a tool window.

To create a VSIX Project and add a tool window

1. Every Visual Studio extension starts with a VSIX deployment project, which will contain the extension assets. Create a Visual Studio VSIX project named ProjectPropertiesExtension. You can find the VSIX project template in the New Project dialog by searching for "vsix".

2. Add a tool window by adding a Custom Tool Window item template named ProjectPropertiesToolWindow. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the project node and select Add > New Item. In the Add New Item dialog, go to Visual C# Items > Extensibility and select Custom Tool Window. In the Name field at the bottom of the dialog, change the file name to ProjectPropertiesToolWindow.cs. For more information about how to create a custom tool window, see Create an extension with a tool window.

3. Build the solution and verify that it compiles without errors.

To display project properties in a tool window

1. In the ProjectPropertiesToolWindowCommand.cs file, add the following using directives.

   using EnvDTE;
   using System.Windows.Controls;
   
   

2. In ProjectPropertiesToolWindowControl.xaml, remove the existing button and add a TreeView from the Toolbox. You can also remove the click event handler from the ProjectPropertiesToolWindowControl.xaml.cs file.

3. In ProjectPropertiesToolWindowCommand.cs, use the ShowToolWindow() method to open the project and read its properties, then add the properties to the TreeView. The code for ShowToolWindow should look like the following:

   private void ShowToolWindow(object sender, EventArgs e)
   {
       ToolWindowPane window = this.package.FindToolWindow(typeof(ProjectPropertiesToolWindow), 0, true);
       if ((null == window) || (null == window.Frame))
       {
           throw new NotSupportedException("Cannot create window.");
       }
       IVsWindowFrame windowFrame = (IVsWindowFrame)window.Frame;
       Microsoft.VisualStudio.ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(windowFrame.Show());
   
       // Get the tree view and populate it if there is a project open.
       ProjectPropertiesToolWindowControl control = (ProjectPropertiesToolWindowControl)window.Content;
       TreeView treeView = control.treeView;
   
       // Reset the TreeView to 0 items.
       treeView.Items.Clear();
   
       DTE dte = (DTE)this.ServiceProvider.GetService(typeof(DTE));
       Projects projects = dte.Solution.Projects;
       if (projects.Count == 0)   // no project is open
       {
           TreeViewItem item = new TreeViewItem();
           item.Name = "Projects";
           item.ItemsSource = new string[]{ "no projects are open." };
           item.IsExpanded = true;
           treeView.Items.Add(item);
           return;
       }
   
       Project project = projects.Item(1);
       TreeViewItem item1 = new TreeViewItem();
       item1.Header = project.Name + "Properties";
       treeView.Items.Add(item1);
   
       foreach (Property property in project.Properties)
       {
           TreeViewItem item = new TreeViewItem();
           item.ItemsSource = new string[] { property.Name };
           item.IsExpanded = true;
           treeView.Items.Add(item);
       }
   }
   

4. Build the project and start debugging. The experimental instance should appear.

5. In the experimental instance, open a project.

6. In the View > Other Windows click ProjectPropertiesToolWindow.

You should see the tree control in the tool window together with the name of the first project and of all its project properties.