Utilizing Visual Studio Extensions

Hey folks, today I would like to mention one of the underutilized features of Visual Studio and that is the use of Visual Studio extensions. In particular, the integration of Visual Studio extensions through Extension Manager in Visual Studio 2010. You will find Extension Manager in Tools –> Extension Manager.

And what it does is that it connects with Extension Gallery on MSDN and allows you to search and download any extension that is available for Visual Studio including controls, templates, etc. Some of them are free, some of them are shareware. So let’s go ahead and search one of the extensions. As an example, I have searched and downloaded “Image Insertion” extension. After download, Visual Studio will prompt you to restart to take effect. What this extension allows me to do is to drag and drop any image on the code as the screenshots depict below:

Therefore as an example, I have inserted a class diagram just where my class begins to help the developer understand what the class does and the methods/properties in it. What you can also do is insert an image which describes the working visually or some UML diagram to help the developer in understanding code.

Hope you will like this useful feature :) Happy Coding!