Visual Studio Editor Extension Options Dialog

Question

I have a simple Visual Studio extension that is built in a similar manner as the one presented in this walkthrough (using the IWpfTextViewCreationListener interface).

The extension uses two colors that I'd like to make configurable.

How can I define an Options Dialog for this extension? (for example, a properties page that would appear in the Tools/Options menu)

I have tried to do this using the DialogPage Class, but apparently it requires a VSPackage and I'm not sure if this approach is compatible with what I'm doing.

Answer 1

I think you can make your colors customisable without providing a custom OptionsPage. You can Export your own colors and they will became configurable from Tools-Options-Fonts and Colors

By your linked example:

[Export(typeof(EditorFormatDefinition))]
[Name("EditorFormatDefinition/MyCustomFormatDefinition")]
[UserVisible(true)]
internal class CustomFormatDefinition : EditorFormatDefinition
{
  public CustomFormatDefinition( )
  {
    this.BackgroundColor = Colors.LightPink;
    this.ForegroundColor = Colors.DarkBlue;
    this.DisplayName = "My Cusotum Editor Format";
  }
}

[Export(typeof(EditorFormatDefinition))]
[Name("EditorFormatDefinition/MyCustomFormatDefinition2")]
[UserVisible(true)]
internal class CustomFormatDefinition2 : EditorFormatDefinition
{
  public CustomFormatDefinition2( )
  {
    this.BackgroundColor = Colors.DeepPink;
    this.ForegroundColor = Colors.DarkBlue;
    this.DisplayName = "My Cusotum Editor Format 2";
  }
}

[Export(typeof(IWpfTextViewCreationListener))]
[ContentType("text")]
[TextViewRole(PredefinedTextViewRoles.Document)]
internal class TestViewCreationListener : IWpfTextViewCreationListener
{
  [Import]
  internal IEditorFormatMapService FormatMapService = null;

  public void TextViewCreated( IWpfTextView textView )
  {
    IEditorFormatMap formatMap = FormatMapService.GetEditorFormatMap(textView);

    ResourceDictionary selectedText = formatMap.GetProperties("Selected Text");
    ResourceDictionary inactiveSelectedText = formatMap.GetProperties("Inactive Selected Text");

    ResourceDictionary myCustom = formatMap.GetProperties("EditorFormatDefinition/MyCustomFormatDefinition");
    ResourceDictionary myCustom2 = formatMap.GetProperties("EditorFormatDefinition/MyCustomFormatDefinition2");

    formatMap.BeginBatchUpdate();

    selectedText[EditorFormatDefinition.BackgroundBrushId] = myCustom[EditorFormatDefinition.BackgroundBrushId];
    formatMap.SetProperties("Selected Text", selectedText);

    inactiveSelectedText[EditorFormatDefinition.BackgroundBrushId] = myCustom2[EditorFormatDefinition.BackgroundBrushId];
    formatMap.SetProperties("Inactive Selected Text", myCustom2);

    formatMap.EndBatchUpdate();
  }
}

Custom EFDs can provide SolidColorBrushes.

If this isn't enought, you can also access to the service provider used by VSPackages. You can make a package for the option page, and communicate with the Editor Extension through the service provider with a custom service.

You can import the service provider like this:

[Import]
internal SVsServiceProvider serviceProvider = null;

This soulution also doesn't require from you to migrate the original logic, only the creation of an additional package.