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Advantages & Disadvantages of writing IE addons in .NET

Since i am a .NET developer, I am planning to write a IE addon in .NET. Does anyone here have experience with/in developing IE extensions in .NET that can share their knowledge?

Specifically i like to know about advantages & disadvantages of using .NET for this task in comparison to ATL COM.

Solution

  • I'd rather say that advantages & disadvantages are not bound to IE addons but more to the programming languages and their platforms.

    .NET:

    • It is easier and more safe then C++
    • Easy to create and program UI
    • Requires end user machines to have a specific .NET Framework installed (you can run your addon on compatible frameworks)
    • Uses more memory
    • Requires to declare WinApi functions and constants if you need them

    C++ (ATL COM approach):

    • Uses less memory
    • Can be statically linked thus does not require .Net frameworks, Visual C++ runtimes, etc (in other words run everywhere)
    • Easy to call WinApi
    • Requires more knowledge and generally more tough then .NET
    • Awful UI editor (at least the built-in for ATL/MFC)

    So if you are a .NET guy pay attention to compatibility with different .NET Framework versions. Other stuff is minor.