User Interfaces

In a VSPackage, you can create a user interface (UI) that resembles the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE), and you can change how UI elements in the IDE behave.

Related Topics

Title	Description
User Interface Essentials	Presents best practices for changing the content and appearance of UI elements.
Commands, Menus, and Toolbars	Explains how to create a UI that includes menus, toolbars, and command combo boxes.
Tool Windows	Describes how to create tool windows such as the Task List, Solution Explorer, and Properties window.
Document Windows	Provides information about how to create document windows, for example, those that display editors and designers.
Toolbox (Visual Studio SDK)	Explains how to add new controls and other items to the Toolbox and how to use Toolbox functionality.
Status Bar	Describes how to access status bar functionality from a VSPackage.
Properties Window and Property Pages	Explains how the Properties window works and how to control the display of information in it.
Output Window (Visual Studio SDK)	Explains how to write to and read from the Output window, and how to create and manage custom panes.
Task List	Describes how to create and register a task provider, and how to create custom task views.
User Settings and Options	Describes how to program a VSPackage to obtain and preserve user preferences.
Colors, Gradients, and Opacity	Shows how VSPackages can query the IDE for colors, cursors, theme brushes, gradient schemes, and palettes that you can use in a UI element.
Fonts	Explains how to use fonts and colors to display text.
Start Pages	Explains how to create custom start pages.
Common Tasks with User Interface Elements	Shows how to modify Visual Studio user interface elements
Walkthroughs for User Interface Elements	Shows how to perform more complicated tasks with Visual Studio user interface elements.

See Also

Other Resources

Extending Visual Studio Overview