Visual Studio Add In to Create an Intellisense Support in .NET

Question

3.50/5 (2 votes)

See more:

Hi Guys,

I would like to create my own intellisense support for my library.

Example:

int i = 10;

i. ?????? (My own list of members)

Now, when I say i. here I need my own list of members to be displayed.

I have no idea how to start with.

Please read the discussion for more information.

Please help me with this.

How should I proceed ?

Thank you :)

Posted 15-May-11 20:20pm

Sanjay J Patolia

Updated 20-May-11 21:12pm

v2

Add a Solution

4 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

R. Hoffmann · Answer 1 · 2011-05-21T14:06:00

It sounds to me as if extension methods might be of some help? You could define them in your library, for your custom (or built-in types), and then simply by using your library in a source file you'd be able to have the extension methods show up in Intellisense, without having to go the Add-in route.

Extension methods[^]

Wonde Tadesse · Answer 2 · 2011-05-21T15:50:00

I think you can achieve this functionality using Extensions method. This functionality is added since C#3[^]. For example, the following class will extend an int datatype instances to have a functionality called HasValueOtherThanZero.

C#

/// <summary>
/// Integer Extension class
/// </summary>
public static class IntegerExtension
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Check my number is greater than zero.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="myNumber">MyNumber value</param>
    /// <returns>True/False</returns>
    public static bool HasValueOtherThanZero(this int myNumber)
    {
        if (myNumber != null && myNumber > 0)
            return true;
        return false;
    }
}

So when ever you instantiate an integer variable, this functionality will appear after "." called.

C#

static void Main(string[] args)
  {
       int x = 20;
       if (x.HasValueOtherThanZero()) {
            // do something
        }
  }

I hope this might help you well.

Fabio V Silva · Answer 3 · 2011-05-15T20:58:00

Solution 1

When you create a class its members are displayed by intellisense automatically. Are you not getting this behaviour?

Posted 15-May-11 20:58pm

Fabio V Silva

Comments

Sanjay J Patolia 16-May-11 4:28am

Yes sure it is, but I would like to extend it, I would like to display my own options in intellisense window.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 4 · 2011-05-15T21:05:00

Solution 2

What you describe looks like a very simple part related to Intellisense called Snippets.

See how they works: in the C# text hot context menu key and select "Insert snippet". You can easily, without any programming, replace predefined snippets with your own or add some additional ones. They are simple text files (XML) with very simple syntax.

(I'm not 100% sure it will be sufficient for you as your question is very vague, but snippets are simple and easy to write, so it worth trying.)
For more information, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z4c5cc9b(v=vs.80).aspx[^].

—SA

Posted 15-May-11 21:05pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Updated 15-May-11 21:08pm

v2

Comments

Sanjay J Patolia 16-May-11 4:27am

Thanks :) but is it possible to display my own intellisense window when I say (.) after any object. with code snippet?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 4:33am

I'm not sure.
"." is reserved to give you the selection from the list of acceptable members; you don't want to disrupt this useful behavior. What do you want to see in the intellisense list after "." if not the members you can use?
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 4:35am

OK, I can see from your other comment that you want to extend this behavior. May I ask you what's your idea? Could be interesting...
--SA

Sanjay J Patolia 16-May-11 4:43am

Yes sure,

Let's say

dynamic d = 12;

d.

Here, (.) will not display anything because it will be resolved at run time.So I would like to display my own optinos there. That's it.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 4:48am

Just for dynamic? If can be difficult (I would say, impossible) to say anything about "d". Don't forget, it happens before run-time and generally even before design time. You cannot even reflect your code (this is a great feature of intellisense -- it can show members even if the whole code does not compile -- I don't really understand how). Do you know how to do it (imagine for a second you already learned how to access VS environment for intellisense)?
--SA

Sanjay J Patolia 16-May-11 4:44am

12 is a sample here. It can be any reference type's and so on...

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 4:49am

I understand. Look at my comment above. I have no idea how you can achieve that in principle. To me, it looks like you cannot. It is not even related to IDE API.
--SA

Sanjay J Patolia 16-May-11 4:56am

Yes you are right. But Can't we do it with Macros or Add ins. I searched with snippet it is not possible? May be Macros or Add ins. Still I am trying.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 5:03am

We can do whole lot of things with add-ins (not macros though).
I would play with the concept on a simple model outside VS before you decide to waste time on learning VS API.
The whole concept looks very questionable to me. You did not explain what options you want to display after "d.", but to me it looks you won't have enough information in principle, especially for a dynamic type.
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 5:08am

Even for a regular (even a statically known in compile-time) type. OK, through reflection I can get exhaustive information about it. But what if the project does not compile? I know because I did it -- I developed IDE with .NET. The error may be unrelated to the line you want to work with, but to reflect it, you need some assembly. It if compiles, you load it in a separate application domain (it is the only possible option, because there is not un-loading of assembly, only an AppDomain). But if assembly does not compile -- what to do. VS somehow keeps showing intellisense...
--SA

Sanjay J Patolia 16-May-11 5:18am

Yes, I understood what you are trying to explain. But my requirement is in such a way that I have to do it with any of the alternative way. I think I have to catch my ear in alternative way. :) Well thank you very much for your kind suggestions and interest :)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-May-11 5:34am

You're welcome.
--SA