The strange case of...

The strange case of no ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase fired, not even once

6 Comments

Continuing today with some tests about the The OnConnection method and ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup of Visual Studio add-ins of my last post, I created a sample add-in using the code of the first sample (temporary UI) of my article HOWTO: Adding buttons, commandbars and toolbars to Visual Studio .NET from an add-in, and later I changed my mind to use the ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase using the second sample. To my surprise, the ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase was never fired, not even once, despite the fact that debugging the add-in should fire it each time because of the /resetaddin command-line flag in the Start Options of the Debug tab of the project properties window.

Opening a command prompt window to use devenv.exe /resetaddin MyAddin.Connect caused no effect too. So, I started to get paranoid about the VS 2008 SP1 that I installed some weeks ago. Could it be possible that it broke the behavior somehow? Unfortunately no, the cause was other: in order to Visual Studio calls the OnConnection method of your add-in with the ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase, your add-in registration must specify that it wants “CommandPreload”, a flag in the registry (COM registration) or tag in the .AddIn file (XML registration). Otherwise Visual Studio doesn’t bother to load add-ins that haven’t requested the ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase. When you use the add-in wizard to create an add-in project, the page 4 of 6 has a checkbox:

“Yes, create a “Tools” menu item. By default this will cause the Add-in to load when the button is clicked unless the Add-in is set to load on startup of the host application.”

that you must check for the wizard to set that “CommandPreload” flag. I totally forgot this flag and it happens that since I always delete the whole code of the Connect class generated by the add-in wizard because I don’t like the code that it creates, most of the time I don’t bother to check that checkbox to delete less code… so, if you change your mind about whether you want ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase or not in your add-in, it is not enough to change the code of your OnConnection method, you need to pay attention to that flag, either to get the ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase, or to optimize your add-in preventing to load it for a phase that it won’t use…

6 thoughts on “The strange case of no ext_ConnectMode.ext_cm_UISetup phase fired, not even once”

  1. One question: Is it not same as specifying 1 in .AddIn file? I guess, even if you forget to check the check box, you can specify 1 here (in .AddIn file). I have not tested though.

    Thanks.

  2. Yes, you can add that XML tag in the .AddIn file without running the add-in wizard to create a new project, I’m sorry if I was not clear about that.

  3. I’ve spent whole day trying to understand why CommandPreload value in “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Addins\MyAddin.Connect” does not work.
    There is another key defining wheither fire ext_cm_UISetup or not! And it’s defined for every user on the system:
    “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\PreloadAddinState”
    Either delete value with your plugin name, or set it to 1, and you’ll get your UISetup phase!

  4. Thank you very much for this. I have spent the last hour or so struggling to work out what has gone wrong. I recreated an addin and copied some existing code and could not figure out why it only half worked. This completed the picture. Just set the flag to 1 in the .addin and everything is now working fine.
    Thanks again.
    Ste

  5. Hi,
    I have a Add-In which is developed in .Net 2003.Now I convert this Add-In into .Net 2010,I am getting two errors
    1.In OnConnection
    _CommandBars commandBars = applicationObject.CommandBars;
    To fix this I used
    _CommandBars commandBars = (_CommandBars)applicationObject.CommandBars;
    2.commandBarControl = command.AddControl(commandBar, 1);
    To fix this I used
    commandBarControl = (CommandBarControl)command.AddControl(commandBar, 1);

    When i Compile the code its compiled successfuly but when i installed on the machine,its not shown in Add-In Manager.
    OS is Windows7.
    Neither have an entry in PreloadStateManaged.
    Please suggest me.
    email Address:ravi.mullick@igt.in
    Thanks

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