Adding a separator to menu in Visual Studio extension

Question

I am building my first Visual Studio extension, and now that I am nearing the end I am just trying to make it look a little better. I have my own heading in the top menu with items in it. I would like to add a separator to the menu to make it neater, but can't figure out how to do so.

The separator I am talking about is the line that goes across menus/context menus to separate the items.

I am geussing it will have to be added to the xml in the vsct file but incase it's relevant the add-in is in C#.

I can't really find much on this at all, so I am hoping someone can help me out.

EDIT:I seemed to have figured out my issue. After looking around EVERYWHERE, I got the idea to try putting a couple of the menu items into a different group in the XML vsct file..and VOILA! I now have a cool separator. So the answer is that it is automatically added to separate groups, and it cannot be done by code(or so I think). Remember Extensions don't use C# or VB to add menu items, only add-ins do. Extensions use XML.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 25 '15 at 05:09

A separator is a visual separation of command groups defined in a .vsct file.

A command group is a logical container for commands belonging together. This kind of grouping also can be used for visual effects.

If you put more than one command group in a menu, a separator is created to visually emphasize the separation of command groups.

To learn more about .vsct files look at: http://dotneteers.net/blogs/divedeeper/archive/2008/03/02/LearnVSXNowPart14.aspx

Cool. I was looking for this for an hour. It worked! Thanks. — Major, Jul 10 '18 at 16:01

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 25 '13 at 05:33

0

From here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsx/thread/f26acf64-0ee6-4947-84e4-a7a0ded9d636

It looks like this is the code, but honestly I have no idea.

'Me.AddSeparatorLine(generateCodeCommandBarPopup, 3)   
CType(cmnd_GenerateListDetailFormCode.AddControl(generateCodeCommandBarPopup.CommandBar, 3),CommandBarButton).BeginGroup = True

This also looks like it might be useful: http://www.mztools.com/articles/2005/MZ2005003.aspx

answered Jan 25 '13 at 05:33

Anthony Nichols

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Thanks for the help, that is actually for an add-in which is a little different. It has a specific connection file in C# where I would create menu items/ nsert that, but extensions use XML to create their menu items. Thanks anyways though. – user1632018 Jan 26 '13 at 02:33

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 25 '13 at 06:36

In .vcts, Commands section is responsible for that functionality. On order to do sthm with menus dynamically you may realise IVsShellPropertyEvents interface and do your logic in OnShellPropertyChange method

public int OnShellPropertyChange(int propid, object propValue)
    {
      // --- We handle the event if zombie state changesfrom true to false
        if ((int)__VSSPROPID.VSSPROPID_Zombie == propid)
        {
            if ((bool)propValue == false)
            {
                // --- Show the commandbar
                EnvDTE80.DTE2 dte = GetService(typeof(DTE)) as DTE2;
                CommandBar cb = ((dte.CommandBars as CommandBars)["YourCommandBar"] as CommandBar);

                foreach (CommandBarControl cbc in cb.Controls)
                {
                    if (cbc.Caption == "YourCaption")
                    {
                        CommandBarButton btn = (CommandBarButton)cbc;
                        btn.BeginGroup = true; // HERE WE ADD NEW GROUP - means add separator
                    }
                }
            }

            // --- Unsubscribe from events

            var shellService = GetService(typeof(SVsShell)) as IVsShell;
            if (shellService != null)
            {
                ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(shellService.UnadviseShellPropertyChanges(_EventSinkCookie));
            }

            _EventSinkCookie = 0;
        }

        return VSConstants.S_OK;
    }

@user1632018 Looking at your answer, it seems that it works only for add-ins. — nikita, Jan 26 '13 at 06:38

score -3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 25 '13 at 05:40

-3

Not sure how you're creating the menu, but if you're using the MenuItem class, you can pass "-" to its constructor to create a separator.

MenuItem separator = new MenuItem("-");

answered Jan 25 '13 at 05:40

Superman

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Thanks but the menu items are actually created through XML in the VSCT file. – user1632018 Jan 26 '13 at 02:35

Adding a separator to menu in Visual Studio extension

4 Answers4