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Add a dependency to a VSIX package

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You can set up a VSIX package deployment that installs any dependencies that are not already present on the target computer. To accomplish this, include the VSIX dependencies to the source.extension.vsixmanifest file.

To add a dependency

  1. Open the source.extension.vsixmanifest file in the Design view. Go to the Dependencies tab and click New.

  2. To add an installed extension: in the Add New Dependency dialog box, select Installed extension and then, for the Name, select an extension on the list.

  3. To add another VSIX that is not installed: in the Add New Dependency dialog box, select File on file system and then use the Browse button to select the VSIX.

Require a specific Visual Studio release

If your extension requires a specific version of Visual Studio 2017, for example, it depends on a feature released in 15.3, you can specify the build number in your VSIX InstallationTarget. For example, release 15.3 has a build number of '15.0.26730.3'. You can see the mapping of releases to build numbers here. Note that using the release number '15.3' will not work correctly.

If your extension requires 15.3 or higher, you would declare the InstallationTarget Version as [15.0.26730.3, 16.0):

<Installation>
  <InstallationTarget Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community" Version="[15.0.26730.3, 16.0)" />
</Installation>

The VSIXInstaller will detect earlier versions of Visual Studio and inform the user that a later update is required.

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