Craig Skibo's WebLog

You may have heard that we have a new book out for Visual Studio 2005. The unfortunate bit of news is that it is only available if you buy the boxed version of Visual Studio, meaning that if you subscribe to MSDN, there will be no way for you to get a...

I have upload the source code for the Visual IL language service and project to http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/visualil . There are a few restrictions that I put on downloading the source code, mostly because I am planning on writing a new book on the...

In my last post, I said that I was hard at work on some new features that you will be able to use in Visual Studio 2005. So what do these features do? Imagine this scenario: You have created a really cool project, for example, a program for managing your...

Visual Studio 2002 and 2003 had the ability to stop a macro from running by double-clicking the small “spinning cassette” in the system tray next to the clock. For example, suppose you had a macro like this: Sub NeverEndingMacro() ...

Some more info on the SPOT watch: It is much better than I thought it would be. I am getting used to wearing it now, and it is not that much of a distraction. The messenger thing is cool, although the response time is unpredictable. Friday I sent...

How a common error when setting up Add-ins can cause other problems....

Sorry that I have not made a post in a while, but I have been very busy at work lately fixing bugs in the Whidbey object model, as well as working to get a new way of writing wizards ready (more info on that in a few days). Not too long ago I was...

There are a plethora of books, tutorials, whitepapers, etc. on the market describing how to use an existing object model. But I have never seen any real description of how to design a COM object model (the .NET framework has design guidelines, but I have...

Getting the boot...

The first release of the VS Content Installer Power Toys are now available. You will need a recent build of VS (I tested with the August CTP, but the July version may also work) to use these tools. Remember, they are still a beta build, so not everything...

I have posted an MSI that will install XML files that will help you when programming Extensibility features. When installed, you will get more information in the tool tips when programming extensibility types. If you program against any of these Assemblies...

About a month ago I ordered MSN Direct watch, and I finally got it today. I have not had a chance to play around with it too much yet, but I need to say it is quite cool. It gives you the weather, news highlights, stock quotes, meeting notifications and...

I had a comment left on my last post about enterprise templates, and it is a good time to discuss a new feature in our VSTemplate Wizard – Multi-Project Templates. The most common way of using the VSTemplate Wizard is to create a single project or project...

There is an Add-in writing contest going on over at http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/archive/2004/04/21/117663.aspx . They are giving away some great prizes - including a copy of our book that I will sign. I just finished up my web cast. It did not...

Cross-language development...

Using VS and other COM objects out of proc with .NET programs....

This is the tutorial I promised on how to create buttons with custom UI in the VS object model. A common question that I get is how can you add a custom bitmap to a command placed on a tool bar and have that bitmap support transparency. Getting...

It has been a while since I last wrote here, but the past couple months have been very busy. So, what have I been up to? After the 8+ years that I have been at Microsoft, I have never taken more that 4 days of vacation in a year. After loosing many, many...

Samples and tools are a big part of the VS SDK, but what we decide are good samples and tools are not always what you need. So here is your chance to let us know what you would like to see. Always feel free to send us mail directly if you do have a suggestion...

It has been confirmed by a few MSDN subscribers that you can download our book, Working With Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. I have not tried it myself, but it is supposed to be in PDF format. Just click on the Help | Register Product menu item to begin...

The Seattle Seahawks are in the super bowl, I am happy that they are going. But there is one small problem – I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I moved to Seattle almost 10 years ago, and before my move I was born and lived about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh...

Last night I was sitting in bed watching a little TV, and using my PocketPC to browse the web through my wireless connection in my house. I was also trying to catch up on some of the blogs on MSDN , when I realized that I could easily convert VSBlogger...

As you probably know by now from the abundant number of postings on the issue, VS 2005 beta 1 and the Express editions are now available. A few months ago, when we released the PD5 build of VS , the Add-in wizard had a listing of about 8 different applications...

Today was a big source code check-in day. I sent well over 50 files to be checked into our source code control system, and I will be here late sending off a lot more. What kind of things did I change? Well, one of the most asked for features is the ability...

It has been a little too long since I last made a post. A lot has been going on since the last time I wrote, mostly I have been working on getting bugs fixed for the “Whidbey” build of VS , and work has been proceeding on a new wizards tool...