I have been using an extension I really like in Visual Studio since version 2013. The extension is not maintained by its creator, but he posted the source code on GitHub. With every new version of Visual Studio I would do my best to update the extension so it would still work (I have no other experience with Extensions).
Unfortunately, in Visual Studio 2019, Microsoft deprecated one of the libraries that this extension depends on heavily (the Work Item Tracking). I've been trying to follow their migration guide but it only has a couple of code samples I could use (mostly involving Queries). Most of the code that needs converting is over my head (example: WorkItemStore or WorkItemCollection).
I have been able to get the project to build/compile successfully but due to the above, it has many warnings about the obsolete items ('QueryItem' is obsolete. For more information please see documentation at http://aka.ms/witclientom). However, there are no build errors and I can install the extension.
Once installed, the extension can be seen (and uninstalled) via the Extensions - Manage Extensions page, and information about the extension can be seen in the Help - About screen. However, the extension SHOULD add two items to the Tools menu - and most of the time, it does not. I have somehow managed to get the items to show up a couple of times, but would get an exception when trying to access them (via either the Experimental Instance of Visual Studio or the regular one). When I stopped debugging to fix the error, then uninstalled, built, and re-installed the extension, the Tools menu items are once again missing. I do not know how to get them back, nor do I understand how to figure out why they are missing - presumably due to an error, but the debug/experimental instance is not helpful here as it doesn't break or show any errors.
Is there another way I can see why the Tools menu items are not showing up?
UPDATE: Here is the contents of my extension's .vsct file. I checked it, and it appears that each item has its own unique ID.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CommandTable xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005-10-18/CommandTable" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<!-- This is the file that defines the actual layout and type of the commands.
It is divided in different sections (e.g. command definition, command
placement, ...), with each defining a specific set of properties.
See the comment before each section for more details about how to
use it. -->
<!-- The VSCT compiler (the tool that translates this file into the binary
format that VisualStudio will consume) has the ability to run a preprocessor
on the vsct file; this preprocessor is (usually) the C++ preprocessor, so
it is possible to define includes and macros with the same syntax used
in C++ files. Using this ability of the compiler here, we include some files
defining some of the constants that we will use inside the file. -->
<!--This is the file that defines the IDs for all the commands exposed by VisualStudio. -->
<Extern href="stdidcmd.h"/>
<!--This header contains the command ids for the menus provided by the shell. -->
<Extern href="vsshlids.h"/>
<!--The Commands section is where we the commands, menus and menu groups are defined.
This section uses a Guid to identify the package that provides the command defined inside it. -->
<Commands package="guidTeamPilgrimPkg">
<!-- Inside this section we have different sub-sections: one for the menus, another
for the menu groups, one for the buttons (the actual commands), one for the combos
and the last one for the bitmaps used. Each element is identified by a command id that
is a unique pair of guid and numeric identifier; the guid part of the identifier is usually
called "command set" and is used to group different command inside a logically related
group; your package should define its own command set in order to avoid collisions
with command ids defined by other packages. -->
<!-- In this section you can define new menu groups. A menu group is a container for
other menus or buttons (commands); from a visual point of view you can see the
group as the part of a menu contained between two lines. The parent of a group
must be a menu. -->
<Groups>
<Group guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="TeamPilgrimMenuGroup" priority="0x0600">
<Parent guid="guidSHLMainMenu" id="IDM_VS_MENU_TOOLS"/>
</Group>
</Groups>
<!--Buttons section. -->
<!--This section defines the elements the user can interact with, like a menu command or a button
or combo box in a toolbar. -->
<Buttons>
<!--To define a menu group you have to specify its ID, the parent menu and its display priority.
The command is visible and enabled by default. If you need to change the visibility, status, etc, you can use
the CommandFlag node.
You can add more than one CommandFlag node e.g.:
<CommandFlag>DefaultInvisible</CommandFlag>
<CommandFlag>DynamicVisibility</CommandFlag>
If you do not want an image next to your command, remove the Icon node /> -->
<Button guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="toolTeamPilgrimExplorer" priority="0x0100" type="Button">
<Parent guid="guidSHLMainMenu" id="IDG_VS_WNDO_OTRWNDWS1"/>
<Icon guid="guidImages" id="bmpPic1" />
<Strings>
<ButtonText>Team Pilgrim Explorer</ButtonText>
</Strings>
</Button>
<Button guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="toolTeamPilgrimPendingChanges" priority="0x0100" type="Button">
<Parent guid="guidSHLMainMenu" id="IDG_VS_WNDO_OTRWNDWS1"/>
<Icon guid="guidImages" id="bmpPendingChanges" />
<Strings>
<ButtonText>Team Pilgrim Pending Changes</ButtonText>
</Strings>
</Button>
<Button guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="cmdTeamPilgrimExplorer" priority="0x0100" type="Button">
<Parent guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="TeamPilgrimMenuGroup" />
<Icon guid="guidImages" id="bmpPic1" />
<Strings>
<ButtonText>Team Pilgrim Explorer</ButtonText>
</Strings>
</Button>
<Button guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="cmdTeamPilgrimPendingChanges" priority="0x0100" type="Button">
<Parent guid="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" id="TeamPilgrimMenuGroup" />
<Icon guid="guidImages" id="bmpPendingChanges" />
<Strings>
<ButtonText>Team Pilgrim Pending Changes</ButtonText>
</Strings>
</Button>
</Buttons>
<!--The bitmaps section is used to define the bitmaps that are used for the commands.-->
<Bitmaps>
<!-- The bitmap id is defined in a way that is a little bit different from the others:
the declaration starts with a guid for the bitmap strip, then there is the resource id of the
bitmap strip containing the bitmaps and then there are the numeric ids of the elements used
inside a button definition. An important aspect of this declaration is that the element id
must be the actual index (1-based) of the bitmap inside the bitmap strip. -->
<Bitmap guid="guidImages" href="Resources\Images.png" usedList="bmpPic1, bmpPendingChanges"/>
</Bitmaps>
</Commands>
<Symbols>
<!-- This is the package guid. -->
<GuidSymbol name="guidTeamPilgrimPkg" value="{f56b8666-3ef2-46e5-ac26-8aa0efe1f484}" />
<!-- This is the guid used to group the menu commands together -->
<GuidSymbol name="guidTeamPilgrimCmdSet" value="{064ac9aa-5aa9-498a-a5d9-2077be8d9ad6}">
<IDSymbol name="TeamPilgrimMenuGroup" value="0x1020" />
<IDSymbol name="cmdTeamPilgrimExplorer" value="0x0100" />
<IDSymbol name="toolTeamPilgrimExplorer" value="0x0101" />
<IDSymbol name="cmdTeamPilgrimPendingChanges" value="0x0102" />
<IDSymbol name="toolTeamPilgrimPendingChanges" value="0x0103" />
</GuidSymbol>
<GuidSymbol name="guidImages" value="{91572e9b-72ad-453b-93df-dfc995721a79}" >
<IDSymbol name="bmpPic1" value="1" />
<IDSymbol name="bmpPendingChanges" value="2" />
<IDSymbol name="bmpPicSearch" value="3" />
<IDSymbol name="bmpPicX" value="4" />
<IDSymbol name="bmpPicArrows" value="5" />
<IDSymbol name="bmpPicStrikethrough" value="6" />
</GuidSymbol>
</Symbols>
</CommandTable>
