Does anyone know how to implement the DynamicEnumP

Question

I am trying to add a property to our custom build configuration for a C++ project. I want the property combo box to display a dynamic list of values that I can set in code. I think that this should be done using the DynamicEnumProperty type but I am unsure of its implementation. Has anyone worked with this property before that can point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Answer 1

I know it's a bit old question... but you might still enjoy the solution ;)

Beside referencing the assemblies and exporting desired type via MEF as Dmitry explained above, you also need to mark the VSPackage as MEF-enabled to make it scan though your contracts. Do it by editing source.extension.vsixmanifest:

for VS2010:

<Content>
  <VsPackage>|%CurrentProject%;PkgdefProjectOutputGroup|</VsPackage>
  <MefComponent>|%CurrentProject%|</MefComponent>
</Content>

for VS2012 / VS2013:

<Assets>
  <Asset Type="Microsoft.VisualStudio.MefComponent" d:Source="Project"
         d:ProjectName="%CurrentProject%" Path="|%CurrentProject%|" />
</Assets>

This should let you hit a breakpoint set in an exported class.

---

Additionally, if you need to create an object at runtime 'manually', you can use VisualStudio's internal composition container. The simplest way to access it from anywhere is:

var container = Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Package.GetGlobalService(typeof(SComponentModel)) as IComponentModel;
var service = container.GetService<SVsXYZ>();

I will shortly add a sample here: https://github.com/phofman/vs-plugin, so just putting the link for future reference.

Answer 2

In your VSPackage (or any MEF-exposed DLL referenced by it) create a class implementing IDynamicEnumValuesProvider and add [Export(typeof(IDynamicEnumValuesProvider)), DynamicEnumCategory("MyCategory")] to that class's attributes. Then add EnumProvider="MyCategory" to the DynamicEnumProperty definition and your class will be used as the values provider.

Make sure your package references Microsoft.VisualStudio.ProjectSystem.Utilities.v12.0.dll and Microsoft.VisualStudio.ProjectSystem.V12Only.dll (for VS2013) or similar assemblies for earlier versions.