Adding Custom menu to Visual Studio-2013 - c#

I have built a custom menu command (Launch Application1) using Visual studio SDK-13(using C# extensibility) which pops up in the 'Tools' menu of Visual studio.
Now, when I run this project a new instance of Visual studio opens up and 'Launch Application1' is shown under the 'Tools' menu of that visual studio.
The output is a '.dll' file and not an '.exe' but I want to have an installer for this, so that a simple installation can deploy this into any visual studio environment permanently. Please help!

The output of a visual studio extension - in your case a custom menu command is always a dll file, with the dll file visual studio also creates a VSIX file which is a Zip file and contains the dll and some other manifest files.
The VSIX file can directly be distributed for installation on other systems, If the correct version visual studio is installed, the extension will be installed with that.
For basic stuff you can use the VSIX as your redistributable. If you want to have a proper MSI file you can try WiX installer.

Related

Issues publishing WPF ClickOnce project using MSBuild

I have a WPF project in Visual Studio 2017 that correctly publishes if I go on the project properties and publish it from there it does so just the way I want, but when I run msbuild /target:publish it creates an unwanted .exe file.
Furthermore, there's another option I enabled on Visual Studio which is in the Deployment tab called "deployment web page", which I just put "clickonce.htm".
So, when I publish using Visual Studio I get these files:
Application Files
clickonce.htm
[ProjectName].application
setup.exe
And when I use MSBuild:
Application Files
[ProjectName].application
[ProjectName].exe
setup.exe
How can I make it so that MSBuild outputs the same as Visual Studio?

Visual Studio ClickOnce and Setup & Deployment Projects

I have created Excel add in in Visual Studio 2017 in C#. My problem is when I create an installer for it setup.msi using Visual Studio 2017 Installer extension it builds with out any problems and I'm able to install on my local machine but when I start up Excel add in is not on the list. When I'm running the code to test from Visual Studio level it is all working and it adds my add in Excel. What am I missing?

Visual Studio 2012 Installer Project in VS 2015 "The application is not installed" after installing Visual Studio Installer Projects in 2015

I have an installer project I created using Visual 2012's built-in InstallShield Limited Edition Wizard.
I have a need to modify this project on a new computer. The source code was saved and obtained via Team Foundation Server.
So far, I've opened the solution in Visual Studio 2015, installed the Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension, and I'm still receiving the (incompatible) message along with the collapsed message "The application is not installed" for the installer project specifically. All other projects + project types compile, and run fine.
Any thoughts on what I'm missing?
The two are separate tools and require a separate installation of InstallShield LE in order to open the project, because this was an InstallShield project to start with. The Windows Installer extension is something separate.
This was happening because InstallShield wasn't installed. For my purposes, I was using InstallShield LE 2015 in both cases. To resolve, I installed InstallShield using method described below.
Choose items in the following order from the main menu in Visual Studio 2015:
File > New > Project
Other Project Types
Setup and Deployment
Enable InstallShield Limited Edition
OK
Download Now
This brings up a browser window where asking you to enter some details and the InstallShield website will provide a serial and installer.
The process above is described in MSDN.
After which, upon opening the solution with the project in question, should open with a prompt from InstallShield asking for activation. Choose appropriate response, and you will encounter a installer project with its structure similar, if not identical, to the structure in VS 2012.

Why are my VSPackage menus missing?

I have been going through the process of converting a VSPackage to Visual Studio 2010 that was originally written in Visual Studio 2005 and upgraded to Visual Studio 2008. See my other recent question: Is it possible to use .ctc files in Visual Studio 2010 packages?
After realising that my CTC files could no longer be used, I converted it to the VSCT format and I can run it successfully under the debugger in the experimental version of Visual Studio. However, when I try to register the package in the Registry for the actual version of Visual Studio, none of my menus show up (everything else works, so the plugin is registered).
This is the command that I used for regpkg to generate the .reg file which I then add to the Registry:
regpkg /codebase /regfile:Package.reg Package.dll
Is there anything else that I need to do when registering the package?
Update: It seems that running with the /register flag works. What is it doing differently from the registry file?
Thanks,
Alan

How can I fix the Microsoft Visual Studio error: "package did not load correctly"?

I installed Visual Studio 2012 and DevExpress 13.1. As Visual Studio started, it generated an error shown by this attached image,
The 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Editor.Implementation.EditorPackage' package did not load correctly.
The problem may have been caused by a configuration change or by the installation of another extension. You can get more information by examining the file 'C:\Users\must\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ActivityLog.xml'.
Continue to show this error message?
This error also appears in Visual Studio 2017.
I started to see this on a fresh Windows and Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate with Update 2 installation (although others have also reported it on Updates 3 and 4, as well as the Professional version).
To resolve the problem, close all Visual Studio instances, then delete all files in the following folder:
Visual Studio 2013
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache
It worked fine for me. Thanks to this article.
Visual Studio 2015
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache
Visual Studio 2017
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_xxxx\ComponentModelCache
Visual Studio 2019
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16_xxxx\ComponentModelCache
Visual Studio 2022
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\17_xxxx\ComponentModelCache
I encountered this problem in Visual Studio 2017 (15.7.4). After trying various solutions, eventually this worked for me: close all Visual Studio instances, and run this from the command line (possibly with administrator rights):
devenv.exe /clearcache
devenv /updateconfiguration
Close Visual Studio.
Backup and delete the following path:
C:\Users\{your_username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0
Restart Visual Studio as Admin. Otherwise, the Roaming folder can't be repaired by Visual Studio.
Try devenv /setup on the Visual Studio Command Prompt with administrative rights.
I had the same problem with Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate. I tried the solution by Reza posted here, but it didn't work.
Eventually I couldn't close Visual Studio. It was showing a similar dialog when I tried to close, and it wasn't closing. I tried this: Error message "No exports were found that match the constraint contract name". Neither.
I noticed a message in the Team Explorer window saying "Page 'somenumber' cannot be found". I tried that way, and I found this answer: Page '312e8a59-2712-48a1-863e-0ef4e67961fc' not found using Visual Studio 2012. So I run devenv /setup on the Visual Studio Command Prompt with administrative rights.
It did the job, and everything is fine now.
Solution for Visual Studio 2017:
Step 1: open Visual Studio cmd in administrator mode (see start menu item: Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017 - Be sure to use: Run as administrator)
Step 2: change directory to the folder where Visual Studio 2017 is installed, for example:
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise
(You can copy/paste this command to your cmd prompt. For Visual Studio Professional, the folder will be called "Professional" instead of "Enterprise", etc.)
Step 3: copy/paste the below command
gacutil -if Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.8.0.dll
Hit Enter...
It will resolve the issue...
Otherwise, you can also add the following to the GAC as above:
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.9.0.dll
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.10.0.dll
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll
I had a similar problem, and I went to Control Panel → Programs and repaired the Visual Studio installation. It worked for me.
I had the same problem. Try to remember the latest extension that you installed. I delete the latest extension from extensions and updates and restart Visual Studio. and the problem is solved. For me, the extension name is Productivity Power Tools
I had a similar issue (Tizen Project type package did not load correctly) with Visual Studio 2017.
After trying all the answers above, and spending a few hours searching for a solution for the errors inside ActivityLog.XML, nothing worked for me.
Eventually, the solution was a Visual Studio Repair.
I assume that the repair process overrides some configurations that caused the problem.
Repair Visual Studio 2017
Repair Visual Studio 2019
I also experienced this issue after installing Telerik Reporting. I was not able to launch any solution in Visual Studio 2013, nor could I close Visual Studio 2013.
After uninstalling the reporting package and deleting Local / Roaming AppData for Visual Studio 2012, the problem was fixed.
In my case the error message is "The 'IntelliCodeCppPackage' package did not load correctly" (Visual Studio 2019):
I solved this is issue with these steps;
Disable the Visual Studio IntelliCode extension
Restart Visual Studio
Enable that extension again
I tried everything except the repair. I even did an update. This is what fixed it for me:
Open "Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017" as Admin
CD into (your path may vary) CD C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies
Run command gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll
Restart Visual Studio
Based on this Connect feedback I fixed it by closing all opened documents and restarting Visual Studio. I use Visual Studio 2015.
You need to find file devenv.exe.config in C:\Users\{user_name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ and update it. (Or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\, depending on the location of your devenv.exe file.)
For this particular case, you should find rows that setup redirects for System.Collections.Immutable and change newVersion from 1.1.36.0 to 1.1.37.0.
The original article is How to restore Visual Studio 2015 after the Update 1 (dependency dance).
I had this problem, and projects were not loading correctly or stating that they needed migration. The ActivityLog.xml showed an error with a particular extension. I uninstalled the extension and restarted Visual Studio. That resolved the issue.
I also experienced the same error, "NPM package not installed correctly",
while creating a Node.js project in Visual Studio 2015.
I resolved my issue by performing two steps:
Delete all files present in this location:
C:\Users\<Your User Name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache
Restart Visual Studio.
Open Visual Studio and go to menu Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Package Manager Settings →
On the left side: You will see a drop down list: select Node.js, Tools → Npm → ClearCache → *OK
Then again try to create the project. It resolved my issue.
I had the pleasure of experiencing this random problem in Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise.
I tried every solution here, and it didn't work, including the Visual Studio repair (which takes a while). Several hours in, I thought maybe I should actually check the ActivityLog.xml file.
I uninstalled the offending extension from the 'Developer Command Prompt for VS2017' as an administrator since Visual Studio just freezed after open and nothing could be clicked.
Steps to uninstall - courtesy of jessehouwing.net
Find the vsix file you used to install the extension.
Open it in your favorite archiver (mine is 7-Zip).
Grab the extension's Id from the Identity node from the extension.vsixmanifest.
Run (in my case) vsixinstaller /u:Microsoft.VisualStudio.LiveShare to remove the extension.
Find the ComponentModelCache folder
Delete Microsoft.VisualStudio.Default.cache
Restart Visual Studio
Enjoy using Visual Studio.
I had a similar problem.
After checking ActivityLog.xml and it said that it could not create an instance for the Extension/package name from a specific folder. I traced that path and I didn't find that folder it is looking for.
So I installed the extension again, I looked for the dll, and copied the containing folder contents to the folder Visual Studio is looking for.
So to recap:
Check if the folder in the error exists
If not, create a new folder with the same name
Look for the dll in the error in the Visual Studio folder, if not found, install the extension again
If the error resists, search inside the Visual Studio folder in Program Files (x86) for the dll and open the containing folder
Copy all the contents
Paste inside the new folder you have created with the name mentioned inside the ActivityLog.xml
Firstable, you need to be sure have the last Microsoft .NET Framework version, in my case, I had the 4.6 version and I have downloaded and updated the .NET Framework 4.8.03761 Developer Pack, from the official site:
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-framework/net48
Once I restarted my PC, to continue fixing that, I solved this problem by clearing Visual Studio Component Model Cache.
Just delete or rename this folder:
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache
or
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VPDExpress\11.0\ComponentModelCache
and restart Visual Studio.
Since this is the top SO result in google for this issue, I'm going to leave my fix here for VS 2022 when experiencing this issue. I found it is commonly caused by an extension issue. In my particular case TypeScript Definition Generator was causing the issue and removing the extension solved it. To find which extension could be causing the issue, run VS with the /Log command line switch.
i.e.: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /Log
After the error occurs, close VS and locate ActivityLog.xml found at %AppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml. Search the log for any extensions reporting an error and uninstall it.
I just wanted to mention that I got a similar error in SQL Server Management Studio 2016, where I basically ignored it. Later, I launched Visual Studio (2015), and this error occurred there as well.
I searched and found the answer here recommending that files be deleted from the
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache
folder. However, in my case, this folder was empty.
Since I remembered that I saw the error in Management Studio first, I checked, and there was a similar folder at
%localappdata%\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\13.0\ComponentModelCache
This folder was not empty. I closed both Visual Studio and Management Studio, and deleted the files from this folder.
Afterwards, both Management Studio and Visual Studio launched without error.
I had this problem after installing Crystal Reports for Visual Studio. I solved it by closing all Visual Studio instances and reinstalling Crystal Reports.
I solved it:
Go to install
Modify
Go to "Installation location" tab
Check "keep download cache after the installation"
Modify
My issue was Mysql connector net 6.4.4, Nuget, xamarin, VSPackage, EditorPackage and etc.. package did not load correctly.
My solution is below for vs2015
Open AppData location // all the configurations are updating on it.
Backup and Remove the folder in which configuration error is thrown in the visual studio.
forex. If you have Nuget package did not load correctly error - Remove Nuget folder in Local and Roaming directories.
And also clear the data on AppData/Microsoft/visual Studio/14.0 for vs2015
that's it and it worked for me!...
For Visual Studio 2019: I have done the following things to solve the problem
Backup the following Folder. After Taking backup and Delete This Folder C:\Users\munirul2537\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16.0_add0ca51
Go to the installation panel of visual studio and do the following things
1.Go to install
2.Modify
3.Go to "Installation location" tab
4. Check "keep download cache after the installation"
5. Modify
For Visual Studio 2017, 2019. I got this error and able to fix it just by enable the Live Share extension from extensions.
see the VS community page for detail.
For others that have a similar problem but with live share.
In the visual studio installer there was a warning that live share was not installed correctly and a modification was pending, that would download live share again.
After completion of the modification the error was resolved.
I had the same problem for Visual Studio 2019 v16.8.6. It was fixed after repair Visual Studio from Visual Studio Installer.
After trying lots of options this worked for me (VS 2019):
Launch Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 (Run as Administrator)
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies" Replace Community with your specific distribution.
Execute the next line: gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll
One more solution that worked for my colleague after trying all the others that did not work (for Visual Studio 2022).
Try this:
Close all instances of Visual Studio
Go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows
You should see a number of vX.0-like directories (e.g. v10.0A for Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise). Back-up and remove all those directories except the one matching your Visual Studio (in my case I'd remove everything except v10.0A).
Start Visual Studio. The "package did not load correctly" warning will be gone.
Rationale:
If you had older versions of Visual Studio installed previously, they will come with their own NETFX Tools which might not uninstall correctly together with those older instances of Visual Studio. The new Visual Studio will for some reason pick the old Tools and fail using them. Removing the redundant directories fixes it.

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