Visual Studio

Working with Community Components

Community components consist of items, such as starter kits, item templates, controls, IntelliSense code snippets, or add-ins, that are packaged with an XML file and zipped together to make a .vsi file. After packaging, you can share community components with other developers by posting them on the Internet, posting them on a network share, or sending them by e-mail.

Developers who have downloaded or received a community component can double-click the .vsi file to start the Visual Studio Content Installer. The installer places the components in the correct locations so that Visual Studio can display the components in the appropriate dialog boxes, such as the New Project dialog box.

In This Section

How to: Install Community Components: Step-by-step instructions for installing a component that you have received or downloaded so it can be used within Visual Studio.

How to: Package Community Components to Use the Visual Studio Content Installer: Step-by-step information for creating a .vsi file that can be recognized by the Visual Studio Content Installer.

Reference

Visual Studio Content Installer Schema Reference: The XML schema for the .vscontent file required to install community components using the Visual Studio Content Installer.

Related Sections

Creating Item Templates: Information about the types of item templates you can create and how to create them.

Creating Project Templates: Information about the types of project templates you can create and how to create them.

Creating Code Snippets: Information about the ways you can create code snippets in Visual Studio.

Starter Kits: Information about what starter kits are, how they differ from project or item templates, and how to create them.

How to: Publish Project Templates: Step-by-step information about how to make custom project templates available to other developers to use.

How to: Publish Code Snippets: Step-by-step information about how to make custom code snippets available to other developers to use.

Creating Add-ins and Wizards: Links to information related to creating add-ins and wizards that can be used in Visual Studio.