ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute Class
Registers language service support for code snippets.
Namespace: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell
Assembly: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell (in Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.dll)
Syntax
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple := True, Inherited := True)> _
<ComVisibleAttribute(False)> _
Public NotInheritable Class ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute _
Inherits RegistrationAttribute
Dim instance As ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = true, Inherited = true)]
[ComVisibleAttribute(false)]
public sealed class ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute : RegistrationAttribute
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::Class, AllowMultiple = true, Inherited = true)]
[ComVisibleAttribute(false)]
public ref class ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute sealed : public RegistrationAttribute
public final class ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute extends RegistrationAttribute
Remarks
This user-defined attribute (which is specific to C#) is used to provide information necessary to register a language service's support for code snippets with Visual Studio. The values specified by this attribute are stored as metadata in the assembly. This metadata is later used by a program such as regpkg.exe program (part of the VSIP SDK) to create the corresponding registry keys and entries that tell Visual Studio about the language service.
The registry entries affected by the ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute are found under the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\
VisualStudio\
[X.Y]\
Languages\
CodeExpansions\
[language name]\
(Default) = reg_sz: [Language Service GUID]
DisplayName = reg_sz: [language name resource ID]
IndexPath = reg_sz: [path to snippet index file]
Package = reg_sz: [Package GUID]
LangStringID = reg_sz: [language identifier]
Paths\
(Default) = reg_sz:
[language name] = reg_sz: [paths to snippets]
Where:
[X.Y] is the version of Visual Studio, for example, 8.0Exp.
[language name] is the name of the language (as specified in the second parameter to the ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute class constructor).
[language name resource ID] is the resource ID of the language name that is used for display purposes and can therefore be localized.
[path to snippet index file] is the full path to the index file that describes the location of the snippets.
[language identifier] is a string used to mark all snippets and the snippets index file. This string is used to associate a set of snippets with a particular language service.
[paths to snippets] a semi-colon-delimited list of paths to search for snippets if the index file is not available.
The paths can contain substitution variables that point to locations such as the installed root for Visual Studio and the user's My Documents location. See Supporting Code Snippets (Managed Package Framework) for details of these substitution variables.
The class constructor specifies the minimum required parameters. A user-defined attribute class also supports optional named parameters. These named parameters are specified in the constructor's parameter list after the required parameters. All of the properties on this class that support both get and set operators can be specified as a named parameter. The Example shows how named parameters are used.
The following user-defined attributes are used for language services:
Attribute |
Description |
|---|---|
Registers the language service with Visual Studio and specifies what features are supported. |
|
Associates a file extension with the language service. |
|
Specifies a property node or page for the Options dialog box specific to the language service. |
|
ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute |
Specifies location information to support code snippets in the language service. |
Registers a language service as a Visual Studio service. All services supplied in managed code use this attribute. |
Notes to Implementers:
This attribute class cannot be inherited from so there is nothing to implement.
Notes to Callers:
This attribute class is typically applied to your primary VSPackage class, although it can appear on any class. This attribute should appear only once.
Examples
This example shows how this user-defined attribute is used to register support for code snippets for a language service.
Notes
Visual C# allows for a shorthand form of a user-defined attribute by dropping the "Attribute" part of the name. This shorthand form is used in this and all other examples throughout this class.
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell;
namespace MyLanguagePackage
{
internal class MyConstants
{
public const string languageName = "MyLanguage";
public const int languageNameResourceID = 106;
public const string languageIdentifier = "mylanguage";
public const string snippetsIndexFilePath = @"%InstallRoot%\MyLanguage\SnippetsIndex.xml";
}
[ProvideCodeExpansion(typeof(MyLanguageService),
MyConstants.languageName,
MyConstants.languageNameResourceID,
MyConstants.languageIdentifier,
MyConstants.snippetsIndexFilePath,
// Optional code expansion properties
SearchPaths = @"%InstallRoot%\MyLanguage\Snippets\%LCID%\Snippets;" +
@"\%MyDocs%\Code Snippets\MyLanguage\My Code Snippets";
)]
class MyLanguagePackage
{
}
}
Inheritance Hierarchy
System.Object
System.Attribute
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.RegistrationAttribute
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.ProvideLanguageCodeExpansionAttribute
Thread Safety
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
See Also
Concepts
Supporting Code Snippets (Managed Package Framework)