How to inspect / disassemble a Visual Studio Extension

Question

I have a visual studio extension (.vsix) which I want to inspect and/or preferably disassemble as it contains some source code that I want to research.

I am using Visual C# 2010 Express Edition, however I would like an external tool if such a thing exists.

Can anyone suggest where I might find tools for inspecting / disassembling extensions?

Thanks.

@Guillaume - ILSpy does not open the extension (.vsix) – Matthew Layton Oct 19 '12 at 09:41 — Matthew Layton, Oct 19 '12 at 09:41
Take a look at the others' answers. – Guillaume Oct 19 '12 at 11:31 — Guillaume, Oct 19 '12 at 11:31

score 27 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 19 '12 at 09:43

27

Change the extension of the vsix file to zip and then use your favorite disassembler on the DLLs it contains.

answered Oct 19 '12 at 09:43

mlorbetske

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score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 19 '12 at 10:18

As already said, VS plugins are just glorified zip-archives. Rename plugin file from vsix to zip, unpack it and decompile. I have just done it with free Teleric Just Decompile and got this code out of nuget package:

protected virtual bool CollapseVersions
{
    get
    {
        SwitchParameter allVersions = this.AllVersions;
        if (allVersions.IsPresent)
        {
            return false;
        }
        else
        {
            return this.ListAvailable;
        }
    }
}

Pretty cool!

How to inspect / disassemble a Visual Studio Extension

2 Answers2