Visual Studio 2010/2012 Add-in Project Questions - c++

I have already created a simple source code analyses tool for C/C++, but I wanted it to be an extension or tool for Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 editions. It is written completely in C++. For this reason I created it using "Create an Add-in using Visual C++/ATL" option. And then under "Choose Add-in Options", I have some problems. I don't know which one or ones to select. I want it to have a name and icon under Tools section, but on the other hand, my code analyzer can be used from command line too. If someone can advice me which option(s) to select there I would be glad.
My second question is this, when I have opened a source file in Visual Studio, and if I go to Tools -> MyAddin, and press it, I want it to do its job and analyze the code, and show the results in the output section below.
And my last question is that, if I have a C/C++ project with few files let's say, and if I right-click one of the files, I want to see my add-in and be able to execute the add-in from there, not to go always to Tools -> MyAddin. And also the same thing to work if I right-click the project, then it should analyze the all files and show the problems in the output section.
Please note that I have already created the source code analyzer tool in C++, and I have it as a DLL. I can also use it in Linux from terminal, and if I want I can also create a GUI for it, which I plan to do later. But I'm not that much experienced with Visual Studio, especially about add-ins, that's why I need your help. As you can see my first question is a kind of advice, but I think my second and third questions require some source code. I know that it is very hard for you to give me some help without seeing my code, but if you would help me somehow I would be glad.

For Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 you should consider using Extensions, not Add-Ins. It is a new technology introduced in Visual Studio 2010. Extensions come in form of a VSIX packages and are automatically installed in all applicable versions of Visual Studio. If you are not targeting Visual Studio version prior to 2010, I strongly recommend using extensions.
From this point of view, I will not answer any of your technical questions about Add-Ins. Here are a couple of links to start using extensions instead:
Anatomy of a VSIX Package
Building and publishing an extension for Visual Studio 2010
VSX FAQ
Walkthrough: Creating an Options Page

I think you will find valuable information on this topic here: Developing extension packages for Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010/2012 using C# with real-life samples

Related

Creating markdown files with Visual Studio 2019

So I have been making presentations and projects using Rmarkdown and Jupyter Notebooks. This is great because I can breakdown parts as needed and run code a section at a time. Now my projets require cpp, and I have been using Visual Studio 2019, in the new project folder I have been unable to find a way markdown option.
I did find this link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/889434/markdown-implementations-for-c-c?r=SearchResults&s=1|64.2071
However most of these are quite old answers, and those that are still being updated seem to be for Visual Studio CODE not VS2019.
Mads Kristensen released a new, "complete rewrite of the original Markdown Editor with tons of fixes, tweeks, and performance improvements" (as stated in his Github Repo).
It is the best solution if you work with .MD files within your Visual Studio projects and solutions.
Also, it works with Visual Studio 2022 too.
Here is the simplest way to find and install it:
Inside your Visual Studio IDE, just go to Extensions -> Manage Extensions -> Online and then type "markdown editor v2" at the search box.

Where is the place to add c++ Preprocessor Directives in Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise?

I saw questions similar to this for older versions of Visual Studio but not this latest version. I am following a course on Lynda.com and basically the instructor is trying to use C++ in a pure form that will look the same for students using a visual IDE on Mac. Anyway, the instructor sets up a Working project for teaching the language constructs and such. He right clicks on the project in Visual Studio and under C++ there is Pre-processor section.
I should note that he is using VS 2013 Community Edition. I have a more fully featured version of VS 2015. I don't see that option for defining pre-processor directives on a "project" basis. MS won't let me install 2 copies of VS 2015, but maybe it will let me install VS 2013.
Still, I hope my question makes enough sense as to what we are trying to accomplish, so that I can find the option in VS 2015 Enterprise.
Thanks,
Bruce
You would need to at least add a .cpp file to your Source Files folder in the the current project that you right will click. That should give you the option you are looking for in Visual Studio 2015.
Right click on your project. Select Properties. You should see the below menu where you can navigate to Configuration Properties > C/C++ > Preprocessor.
This is how I see it in my Visual Studio Enterprise 2015.
Is this what you're looking for?

Word (Office) Automation Visual Studio 2013 C++

I have to make a program which can operate with Word documents (edit, view, create) and use C++ with Visual Studio 2013.
I have searched the net and found out VSTO is only available for Visual Basic and C#.
On the Microsoft site there is "How to create an automation project using MFC and a type library" here but seems it is written for very old versions of Visual Studio (like 5.0 and 6.0). When I reach the ninth step "Select the Automation tab." it seems there is no such tab in ClassWizzard in my version of Visual Studio.
Is there any way to perform automation with C++ in newer versions of Visual Studio like 2013?
I found a way here. Actually I am using the "import" method and it worked for me in console mode(COM method also worked, but it seems to me more complicated), I haven`t tested it for GUI yet. There is not C++ documentation, but can be used Visual Basic API with a bit thinking here.

How to downgrade solution from Visual Studio 2010 to Visual Studio 2005?

I have a huge Visual Studio 2010 solution. I work with Visual Studio 2005, so I want to convert the solution to the desired version. Basically, it's a portable C++ code so it should compile on Visual Studio 2005 too. Changing the version in the *.sln file doesn't help because the *.vcxproj format is completely different from the old *.vcproj format.
Recreating the solution by hand is not an option because of its size. Also there may be some non-default compiler flags, dependencies, etc. that I don't know of (and I can't look through ALL this XML junk that I don't understand).
There is already a related question on How Do I Downgrade a C++ Visual Studio 2008 Project to 2005. However, the utility suggested there supports at most Visual Studio 2008.
Any suggestions?
It really totally sucks, that every proprietary IDE today thinks it needs to create its own project file format.
"Dear IDE developers, just use Makefiles and create a nice GUI for it so that also people without Makefile knowledge can use it!" In VS6 it was at least possible to import/export Makefiles, but not today anymore. And it was possible to use nmake for automated builds. No IDE needed to be installed, just the toolchain which could be grabbed by a simple checkout without installation.
I use CMake now. It's free, it's cross-platform, it is well supported in free IDEs like KDevelop, QtCreator, etc. It can generate Makefiles and Visual Studio projects.
So you maintain only one project source, the CMakeLists.txt file and can work with any IDE. No pain with different versions of Visual Studio or with other proprietary project file formats.
This way you can generate or VS projects for developing and you can generate Makefiles for commandline builds using nmake like in the good old days.
BTW, it's much easier to change settings in a CMakeLists.txt than clicking through various GUI dialogs. But this is a matter of personal preferences.
In my work made a utility which utilized the EnvDTE.dll and scanned a vcproj-file and optionally all vcproj-files within a sln-file. It compared all settings with a "template" and would issue a warning or optionally update the setting to correct values. We used this utility so that settings would be verified to be correct and consistent throughout all projects. I haven't updated the utility to 2010 yet due to other priorities.
EnvDTE hasn't changed much from Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2010. Perhaps it is possible to create a simple utility which opens the vcxproj-file using DTE100 and saves it using DTE90, or earlier.
Easiest way is probably to create a new project in VS 2005, and use the add existing item dialog to add the code to the project. I'd suggest using 'Empty Project' as the project type, so you don't have a lot of rubbish autogenerated for you that you'll just delete anyway.
I haven't tried it, but this looks promising:
http://www.emmet-gray.com/Articles/ProjectConverter.htm
edit: Nope, not promising, sorry :-(

Visual Studio 2008 C++ language support?

I've been developing a couple of C# tools recently, but primarily working with a lot of legacy Visual Basic 6.0 code (I know, I know...). For the C# development, I've been using Visual Studio 2008 Professional edition that I downloaded using our MSDN subscription here at work.
But, as a change of pace over the weekend, I was going to check out a complex C++ project that we have. However, when I went to open it through Visual Studio, it wouldn't open it saying that the .vcproj file type wasn't supported. I figured it was a compatibility issue and that the project file type had changed between versions of Visual Studio, but when I tried creating a new C++ application inside Visual Studio 2008 Pro, the option just wasn't there.
I've been searching online by way of Bing, Google, MSDN, and MSDN subscriber downloads to no avail. Nothing I've found so far explains why this is happening.
I have found the express edition of MS Visual C++ 2008, but I could not locate the "full version" of this part of Visual Studio.
Any help would be much appreciated.
It sounds like you haven't got it installed.
Go to Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features, or whatever Windows 7 calls it) and modify your installation. You'll get a list of checkboxes so you can install C#, VB.NET, Crystal Reports etc... and Visual C++. Check that checkbox and wait the hour or so for the installer to do its stuff.