Melody's VSTA Blog : project template descriptor file

ProjectGen Gotcha: Updating the Host Item Name when using a Project Descriptor File as Input

Melody — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:48:00 GMT

On the third screen of ProjectGen there is an item to fill in titled “Host item name”. This item is used in two places in the project descriptor file and three places in projects based off the template:

Project template descriptor file:	Projects based off the template:
Host Item Name	Main code file
Host Item Name	Startup Class
PrimaryCookie	PrimaryCookie (MainCode.designer.xml file)

In VSTA v 1 the host does not need to be aware of any of these.

In VSTA v 2, the startup class is used when loading add-ins and the PrimaryCookie is used in DPM scenarios.

ProjectGen offers the option of using a project descriptor file as input instead of manually entering all of the information. This is where the Gotcha comes in. If you use a project template descriptor file as input for ProjecGen and change the host item name on the third screen, in the new project template descriptor file and the resulting template only the host item name will be updated. The PrimaryCookie will remain unchanged.

Workarounds:

1) Manually change the PrimaryCookie in the project template descriptor file before use as input for ProjectGen. Then use the descriptor file as input- no additional steps are required.

2) Manually change the PrimaryCookie attribute in the xml designer file for the main code file. To do this:

a. Create the template with ProjectGen

b. Extract the templates (both CSharp and VB).

c. Open the xml designer file for the main code file (MainCode.designer.xml).

d. Update the PrimaryCookie attribute of the HostItem element.

e. Save the file.

f. Zip the updated template (zip the items individually- do not zip the folder which contains them).

g. Place the template in the ProjectTemplateLocation if not already there.

h. Run setup for the host.

Project Template Potpourri

Melody — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:52:00 GMT

I've been working a lot with project templates and ProjectGen lately. Here are some miscellaneous findings based on the VSTA v 2 CTP February 2008 release.

ProjectGen does not find hosts registered in the Wow6432Node. This is a known issue with this build and is listed as fixed in the next release. To work around this, register the host in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VSTAHostConfig registry hive as well.

ProjectGen fails to register the template on 64bit machines, displaying an error that neither Visual Studio or VSTA are installed. The project template is created in the location specified on the 4th screen (manually enter the ProjectTemplatesLocation in the "Create project template" box). The workaround is to manually register the template by running setup for vsta and devenv.

The template parameters listed in the Project Template Generation Tool (ProjectGen) section of the SDK do not work. The regular Visual Studio template replacement variables do. These replacement variables are listed in the Visual Studio SDK (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/eehb4faa.aspx).

If the ProjectTemplateLocation is not properly registered*, ProjectGen uses the default location of "%Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates". *Properly registered meaning that the registry entry ProjectTemplatesLocation contained a valid value and the VSTAHost\<HostID>\9.0 registry hive was not present when vsta /setup was run.

If the VSTAHostConfig registry hive does not contain entries for VSCSProjectTemplatesLocation and VSVBProjectTemplatesLocation (the Visual Studio C# and VB project templates location), selecting "Register template with host application" from the fourth screen of ProjectGen will create these entries based on the ProjectTemplatesLocation. These locations will be <ProjectTemplatesLocation>\CSharp and <ProjectTemplatesLocation>\VisualBasic.

When using a project template descriptor file as input, changing the host item name through ProjectGen does not change both of the parameters the host item name is used for. The host item name is used for both the HostItemName and PrimaryCookie parameters; however, only the HostItemName changes and the original host item name is used for the PrimaryCookie.

For example, here is a descriptor file made using the SDK Walkthrough: Creating a Project Template Using the Project Template Wizard. The variables which are assigned the Host Item Name specified on the third screen of ProjectGen are marked with an *.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<Name>ShapeAppCSharp Add-in</Name>

<Description>A project for creating add-ins for ShapeAppCSharp</Description>

<DefaultProjectName>ShapeAppCSharpAddIn</DefaultProjectName>

</TemplateProperties>

<HostName>ShapeAppCSharp</HostName>

<DebugInfoExeName>C:\ShapeAppSamples\ShapeAppBasicCSharp\core\obj\Debug\ShapeAppCSharp.exe</DebugInfoExeName>

<HostIdentifier>ShapeAppCSharp</HostIdentifier>

<ProxyAssemblyName>C:\ShapeAppSamples\ShapeAppBasicCSharp\proxy\bin\Debug\ShapeAppCSharpProxy.dll</ProxyAssemblyName>

<HostItemName>ThisApplication</HostItemName> *

<BaseType>Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Samples.ShapeApp.ApplicationEntryPoint</BaseType>

<PrimaryCookie>ThisApplication</PrimaryCookie> *

</HostItem>

</HostItems>

</ProjectProperties>

</ProjectGen>

Here is an updated version of the descriptor file made by using the above descriptor file as input in ProjectGen and changed the Host Item Name from "ThisApplication" to "AppAddIn". Notice that the HostItemName parameter is changed; however, the PrimaryCookie parameter still has the original value.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<Name>ShapeAppCSharp Add-in</Name>

<Description>A project for creating add-ins for ShapeAppCSharp</Description>

<DefaultProjectName>ShapeAppCSharpAddIn</DefaultProjectName>

</TemplateProperties>

<HostName>ShapeAppCSharp</HostName>

<DebugInfoExeName>C:\ShapeAppSamples\ShapeAppBasicCSharp\core\obj\Debug\ShapeAppCSharp.exe</DebugInfoExeName>

<HostIdentifier>ShapeAppCSharp</HostIdentifier>

<ProxyAssemblyName>C:\ShapeAppSamples\ShapeAppBasicCSharp\proxy\bin\Debug\ShapeAppCSharpProxy.dll</ProxyAssemblyName>

<HostItemName>AppAddIn</HostItemName> *

<BaseType>Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Samples.ShapeApp.ApplicationEntryPoint</BaseType>

<PrimaryCookie>ThisApplication</PrimaryCookie> *

</HostItem>

</HostItems>

</ProjectProperties>

</ProjectGen>

Project Templates: ProjectGen and "Unregistering" templates

Melody — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:51:00 GMT

To remove or "unregister" project templates:

The easiest way to remove or "unregister" project templates which are registered with a host is to use the vsta and devenv setup commands. These commands get the VSTA project templates location and the Visual Studio project templates locations specified in the VSTAHostConfig registry hive and extract all templates from these locations to template caches for VSTA and Visual Studio. These processes recreate the template caches, removing all old templates prior to extracting new ones.

By omitting values for the registry entries for project templates locations and running both vsta and devenv setup, the template caches are cleared for the host for VSTA and Visual Studio. The steps to perform this process are included below. It is highly recommended to export the registry settings for the VSTAHostConfig\<HostID> and VSTAHost\<HostID> registry hives prior to performing the steps outline below.

To confirm that the project templates have been removed, open the caches and verify that the project templates exist. Perform the steps below and verify that the project templates have be removed from the caches. Tip: F5 refreshes the view for folders and registries.

ProjectGen and project templates:

A common way that project templates are unintentionally registered with the host or with Visual Studio is by using ProjectGen. ProjectGen by default places templates in the location specified by the ProjectTemplateLocation registry entry value. If a template is placed here, even if the “Register template with host application” option is left unchecked, it will be registered with the host application the next time vsta setup is run and with Visual Studio the next time devenv setup is run. ProjectGen runs both of these commands when a project template is created with the “Register template with host application” option selected. When this happens, all templates in the location specified in the ProjectTemplateLocation registry entry are registered with the host. Similarly, all templates in the locations specified in the VSCSProjectTemplatesLocation and VSVBProjectTemplatesLocation registry entries are registered with Visual Studio. If no locations are specified in the VSCSProjectTemplatesLocation and the VSVBProjectTemplatesLocation registry entries, ProjectGen creates these entries and assigns them a value based on the ProjectTemplatesLocation registry entry value. To avoid this, keep project templates that are not to be registered with the host or with Visual Studio in a separate location.

VSTA v 1 Project template locations:

VSTA location:

%Documents and Settings%\%user%\Application Data\Microsoft\VSTAHost\<HostID>\8.0\TemplatesCache\Project

Visual Studio locations:

%Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\<C#,VB>\<HostID>

%Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplatesCache\<C#,VB>\<HostID>

To remove project templates for VSTA v 1:

1) Open the HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft registry hive and locate the VSTAHost and VSTAHostConfig keys. Expand these hives and locate the <HostID> key. (Right click and select export to save a copy of the original registry settings for the host.)

2) In the VSTAHostConfig\<HostID> key, remove the values for the entries ProjectTemplatesLocation, VSCSProjectTemplatesLocation, and VSVBProjectTemplatesLocation.

3) Delete the VSTAHost\<HostID>\8.0 registry key.

4) From a command prompt, change the directory to %Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE and run the vsta setup command for the host.

cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE"

vsta /hostID <hostID> /setup

5) Once the vsta setup command has finished running, run the devenv setup command.

devenv /setup

VSTA v 2 Project template locations:

VSTA location:

%Documents and Settings%\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\VSTAHost\<HostID>\9.0\ProjectTemplatesCache

Visual Studio locations:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\CSharp\<HostID>

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplatesCache\CSharp\<HostID>

To remove project templates for VSTA v 2:

2) In the VSTAHostConfig\<HostID>\2.0 key, remove the values for the entries ProjectTemplatesLocation, VSCSProjectTemplatesLocation, and VSVBProjectTemplatesLocation.

3) Delete the VSTAHost\<HostID>\9.0 registry key.

4) From a command prompt, change the directory to %Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE and run the vsta setup command for the host.

cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE"

vsta /hostID <hostID> /setup

5) Once the vsta setup command has finished running, run the devenv setup command.

devenv /setup