How to: Create a SharePoint project extension
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
Create a project extension when you want to add functionality to any SharePoint project that is open in Visual Studio. For more information, see Extend the SharePoint project system.
To create a project extension
Create a class library project.
Add references to the following assemblies:
Microsoft.VisualStudio.SharePoint
System.ComponentModel.Composition
Create a class that implements the ISharePointProjectExtension interface.
Add the ExportAttribute to the class. This attribute enables Visual Studio to discover and load your ISharePointProjectExtension implementation. Pass the ISharePointProjectExtension type to the attribute constructor.
In your implementation of the Initialize method, use members of the projectService parameter to define the behavior of your extension. This parameter is an ISharePointProjectService object that provides access to the events defined in the ISharePointProjectEvents interface.
Example
The following code example demonstrates how to create a simple project extension that handles most of the SharePoint project events that are defined by the ISharePointProjectEvents interface. To test the code, create a SharePoint project in Visual Studio and then add more projects to the solution, change project property values, or delete or exclude a project. The extension notifies you of the events by writing messages to the Output window and Error List window.
Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.SharePoint
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.ComponentModel.Composition
Namespace Contoso.ExampleProjectExtension
<Export(GetType(ISharePointProjectExtension))> _
Class ExampleProjectExtension
Implements ISharePointProjectExtension
Private WithEvents projectService As ISharePointProjectService
Public Sub Initialize(ByVal projectService As ISharePointProjectService) _
Implements ISharePointProjectExtension.Initialize
Me.projectService = projectService
End Sub
' A project was added.
Private Sub projectService_ProjectAdded(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SharePointProjectEventArgs) _
Handles projectService.ProjectAdded
Dim project As ISharePointProject = CType(sender, ISharePointProject)
Dim message As String = String.Format("The following project was added: {0}", e.Project.Name)
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message)
End Sub
' A project was loaded in the IDE.
Private Sub projectService_ProjectInitialized(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SharePointProjectEventArgs) _
Handles projectService.ProjectInitialized
Dim project As ISharePointProject = CType(sender, ISharePointProject)
Dim message As String = String.Format("The following project is being initialized: {0}", e.Project.Name)
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message)
End Sub
' The name of a property was changed.
Private Sub projectService_ProjectNameChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As NameChangedEventArgs) _
Handles projectService.ProjectNameChanged
Dim project As ISharePointProject = CType(sender, ISharePointProject)
Dim message As String = String.Format("The project named {0} was changed to {1}.", e.OldName, project.Name)
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message)
End Sub
' A project property value was changed.
Private Sub ProjectPropertyChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As PropertyChangedEventArgs) _
Handles projectService.ProjectPropertyChanged
Dim project As ISharePointProject = CType(sender, ISharePointProject)
Dim message As String = String.Format("The following property of the {0} project was changed: {1}",
project.Name, e.PropertyName)
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message)
End Sub
' A project is being removed or unloaded.
Private Sub projectService_ProjectRemoved(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SharePointProjectEventArgs) _
Handles projectService.ProjectRemoved
Dim project As ISharePointProject = CType(sender, ISharePointProject)
Dim message As String = String.Format("The following project is being removed or unloaded: {0}", e.Project.Name)
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message)
End Sub
' A project was removed or unloaded.
Private Sub projectService_ProjectDisposing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SharePointProjectEventArgs) _
Handles projectService.ProjectDisposing
Dim project As ISharePointProject = CType(sender, ISharePointProject)
Dim message As String = String.Format("The following project was removed or unloaded: {0}", e.Project.Name)
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message)
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace
```
```csharp
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.SharePoint;
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
namespace Contoso.ExampleProjectExtension
{
[Export(typeof(ISharePointProjectExtension))]
internal class ExampleProjectExtension : ISharePointProjectExtension
{
public void Initialize(ISharePointProjectService projectService)
{
projectService.ProjectAdded += projectService_ProjectAdded;
projectService.ProjectInitialized += projectService_ProjectInitialized;
projectService.ProjectNameChanged += projectService_ProjectNameChanged;
projectService.ProjectPropertyChanged += projectService_ProjectPropertyChanged;
projectService.ProjectRemoved += projectService_ProjectRemoved;
projectService.ProjectDisposing += projectService_ProjectDisposing;
}
// A project was added.
void projectService_ProjectAdded(object sender, SharePointProjectEventArgs e)
{
ISharePointProject project = (ISharePointProject)sender;
string message = String.Format("The following project was added: {0}", e.Project.Name);
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message);
}
// A project is loaded in the IDE.
void projectService_ProjectInitialized(object sender, SharePointProjectEventArgs e)
{
ISharePointProject project = (ISharePointProject)sender;
string message = String.Format("The following project is being initialized: {0}", e.Project.Name);
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message);
}
// The name of a project was changed.
void projectService_ProjectNameChanged(object sender, NameChangedEventArgs e)
{
ISharePointProject project = (ISharePointProject)sender;
string message = String.Format("The project named {0} was changed to {1}.", e.OldName, project.Name);
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message);
}
// A project property value was changed.
private void projectService_ProjectPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
ISharePointProject project = (ISharePointProject)sender;
string message = String.Format("The following property of the {0} project was changed: {1}",
project.Name, e.PropertyName);
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message);
}
// A project is being removed or unloaded.
void projectService_ProjectRemoved(object sender, SharePointProjectEventArgs e)
{
ISharePointProject project = (ISharePointProject)sender;
string message = String.Format("The following project is being removed or unloaded: {0}", e.Project.Name);
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message);
}
// A project was removed or unloaded.
void projectService_ProjectDisposing(object sender, SharePointProjectEventArgs e)
{
ISharePointProject project = (ISharePointProject)sender;
string message = String.Format("The following project was removed or unloaded: {0}", e.Project.Name);
project.ProjectService.Logger.WriteLine(message, LogCategory.Message);
}
}
}
This example uses the SharePoint project service to write the message to the Output window and Error List window. For more information, see Use the SharePoint project service.
For examples that demonstrate how to handle the ProjectMenuItemsRequested and ProjectPropertiesRequested events, see How to: Add a shortcut menu item to SharePoint projects and How to: Add a property to SharePoint projects.
Compile the code
This example requires references to the following assemblies:
Microsoft.VisualStudio.SharePoint
System.ComponentModel.Composition
Deploy the extension
To deploy the extension, create a Visual Studio extension (VSIX) package for the assembly and any other files that you want to distribute with the extension. For more information, see Deploy Extensions for the SharePoint tools in Visual Studio.