VSPackage State

Many factors determine the set of persisted values, or state, of a Visual Studio application.

• Projects have project and configuration properties.

• Solutions have properties.

• User settings determine the size and position of document windows, tool windows, docking state, and keyboard shortcuts.

• Applications can have options that a user sets.

• Objects that an application creates can have properties of their own.

Here are some of the ways that a Visual Studio application state can be managed:

• Through the project and solution property pages.

• Through the Import and Export Settings Wizard, which enables a user to move settings from one computer to another.

• Through the Options dialog box, which includes options related to applications.

• Through the Properties window, which exposes properties of objects.

• Through Automation. An application can access VSPackage and object properties that have been exposed to Automation.

Underlying the application state are various persistence mechanisms that enable the application state to be saved and restored.

In This Section

• Support for State Persistence (C#)
  Lists common strategies for saving, restoring, and resetting the state of a VSPackage.

• Support for Options Pages
  Introduces general and custom Options pages and explains how to implement them.

• Walkthrough: Creating an Options Page
  Explains how to create two Options pages, a simple page and a custom page.

• Support for Settings Categories
  Discusses user settings and how they are created and persisted.

• Walkthrough: Creating a Settings Category (C#)
  Explains how to create a Visual Studio settings category and use it to save values to and restore values from a settings file.

• Support for the Property Browser
  Explains how to display and change the value of an object in the Properties window.

• Walkthrough: Exposing Properties to the Properties Window (C#)
  Explains how to expose the public properties of an object to the Properties window.

• Support for Project and Configuration Properties
  Explains how to display and change project and configuration properties.

• Walkthrough: Exposing Project and Configuration Properties (C#)
  Explains how to create project and configuration properties and accesses them through the <Project Name> Property Pages dialog box.

• Walkthrough: Retrieving Project Properties
  Guides you through the steps of creating a managed VSPackage that displays project properties in a tool window.

Related Sections

• VSPackages
  Provides a general orientation to topics that explain how to create and use VSPackages.