Visual Studio Extension with docking window

Newbie Visual Studio extension question: I'd like to create an extension that monitors keystrokes and reports statistics to a dockable window ("dockable" like the solution explorer or properties windows). I'm having trouble locating g开发者_运维技巧ood tutorials that offer more than just syntax highlighting in the editor.

Is this all doable as an extension? Or do I need to create an add-in? What classes will I be most interested in to accomplish these high-level tasks?

You will be able to implement your ideas easily through a Visual Studio Add-In. If you want to create VS style ToolWindow, then follow the steps bellow. In the example the VS ToolWindow hosts a TreeView, but you can use a control of your choice. I prefer C++ CLI, but generally the steps bellow should be valid also for C# or VB.Net.

1. Create a new Add-In through File->New->Project->OtherProjectTypes->Extensibility->VS Add-In

2. Implement the following into your Add-In class

   public ref class Connect : public IDTExtensibility2, public IDTCommandTarget
   {
   public:
   ...
   private:
      literal String^ VSToolWinGuid = "{6CCD0EE9-20DB-4636-9149-665A958D8A9A}";
   
      DTE2^ appObject;    // object which lets us access the IDE
      AddIn^ addInInstance;   // the AddIn object itself
      Window^ MainWindow;     // VS style tool Window
      TreeView^ FormTreeView; 
   
      // Instance of the Add-In button located in the VS IDE Toolbar
      CommandBarButton^ StdCommandBarButton;  
   
      void InitializeToolBarButton(); // Creates a button on the Standard Toolbar
      void ShowAddInWindow();     // Creates and displays the Tool Window
   ...
   };
   
   
   
   void Connect::OnConnection(...)
   {
      appObject = dynamic_cast<DTE2^>(Application);
      addInInstance = dynamic_cast<AddIn^>(AddInInst);
   
      // Initialize the add-in when VS is setting up it's user interface
      if (ext_ConnectMode::ext_cm_UISetup==ConnectMode)
         InitializeToolBarButton();
   }
   
   
   void Connect::Exec(...)
   {
      handled = false;
      if (vsCommandExecOption::vsCommandExecOptionDoDefault == ExecuteOption)
      {
         // when the ToolBar Button is clicked through the UI
         if (!CmdName->CompareTo("FormBrowserAddIn.Connect.FormBrowser"))
         {             
            ShowAddInWindow();
            handled = true;
            return;
         }
      }
   }
   
   
   void Connect::InitializeToolBarButton()
   {
      try
      {    
         Command^ command = nullptr;           
         try
         {  // obtain the command if it is already created         
            command = appObject->Commands->Item(addInInstance->ProgID + "." + AddInName, -1);
         }
         catch(Exception^){}
   
         // create the command if does not exists
         if (nullptr == command)
         {
            // it is better to use the newest Commands2, because it allows to create
            // the ToolBar button with the style definition at once
            EnvDTE80::Commands2^ commands2 = safe_cast<EnvDTE80::Commands2^>(appObject->Commands);
   
            // optional, determines which environment contexts (debug mode, design mode, ...) show the command
            Array^ contextGUIDs = Array::CreateInstance(Object::typeid, 0);                
   
            // create the ToolBar button for our Add-In
            command = commands2->AddNamedCommand2(addInInstance, 
                 AddInName, AddInCaption, AddInToolTip, true, 59, contextGUIDs,
                (int)(vsCommandStatus::vsCommandStatusSupported | vsCommandStatus::vsCommandStatusEnabled),
                (int)vsCommandStyle::vsCommandStylePict, vsCommandControlType::vsCommandControlTypeButton);
          }
   
          // Obtain the Standard command bar and insert our ToolBar button there
          VisualStudio::CommandBars::CommandBars^ commandBars;
          commandBars = (VisualStudio::CommandBars::CommandBars^)appObject->CommandBars;
          CommandBar^ stdCommandBar = commandBars["Standard"];
          StdCommandBarButton = (CommandBarButton^)command->AddControl(stdCommandBar, stdCommandBar->Controls->Count+1);
       }
       catch(Exception^ e)
       {
           MessageBox::Show(e->ToString());
       }
   }
   
   
   void Connect::ShowAddInWindow()
   {
      try
      {
         if (nullptr == MainWindow)
         {
            // obtain the assembly of the TreeView
            String^ TreeViewFullName = "System.Windows.Forms.TreeView";
            String^ assembly = Reflection::Assembly::GetAssembly(System::Windows::Forms::TreeView::typeid)->Location;
   
            // create the VS style Tool Window
            Object^ UserCtrlObject = nullptr;
            EnvDTE80::Windows2^ win = (EnvDTE80::Windows2^)appObject->Windows;
            MainWindow = win->CreateToolWindow2(addInInstance, assembly, TreeViewFullName, AddInCaption, VSToolWindowGuid, UserCtrlObject);
   
            // set-up the tree view
            FormTreeView = (TreeView^)UserCtrlObject;      
         }
   
         // refresh the content and make the add-in visible
         RefreshTreeView();
         MainWindow->Visible = true;
      }
      catch (Exception^ e)
      {
         MessageBox::Show(e->ToString());
      }
   }
   

I have never tried to handle Key events from an Add-In, but I hope you can find the answers here.

Anyway, you can find lots of good tutorials here or search for MZTools.