Visual Studio Add-In Templates

When I started developing software I had no idea how to use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), fortunately I was lucky enough to have a colleague who knew a lot about IDE’s, particularly the Eclipse IDE. One of the things he taught me was the value of configuring your IDE and how to create templates for different styles of projects. When I began working with .NET and Visual Studio 2008 I started exploring the IDE for the features that I knew existed in Eclipse. During this time I was learning the Connect Add-In Framework and was writing 3-5 add-ins a day. The two efforts lead me to the creation of the add-in development templates for Visual Studio 2008.

I created a Visual Studio template for each of the different types of add-ins that you may develop. The templates will automatically include the appropriate using directives, implement the appropriate add-in interface, add the add-in class attribute and mock out enough skeleton code for you to build the class and have a skeleton add-in. As part of the template I also created a “wizard” that allows you to select the RightNow site you are working with, after selecting your site the wizard will import the add-in assemblies and optionally the Connect Data Integration assemblies.

These add-in templates greatly reduce the amount of time and manual steps required to build an add-in. I strongly encourage any developer working with the Connect Add-In Framework to take the time to install these templates. Below is a video that will guide you through the installation of these templates, which can be found on our developer community in the file exchange.

Please note this video will show sample code and screenshots of the RightNow product which fall under our Sample Code Legal Disclaimer.

What other IDE tips & tricks do you have or would you like to know more about?