Extending Properties

The Visual Studio Properties window is a universal property browser for COM and COM+ components and supports all Visual Studio products. The Properties window works with ITypeInfo type information and COM+ metadata to list the design-time properties for the currently selected object in any other window in the integrated development environment (IDE).

The Properties window, which can be opened by pressing F4 on the keyboard, or selecting Properties Window on the View menu, is used to view and edit configuration-independent, design-time properties and events of selected objects. Configuration-dependent properties, associated with solutions and projects, are displayed on Property Pages. For more information, see NIB:Project Properties, Managing Configuration Options, and NIB:Item Management in Projects.

Properties window

This section provides detailed information that relates to the individual areas of the Properties window and the interfaces that you must implement and call to populate the window.

In This Section

Properties Window Overview
Explains the purpose of the Properties window relative to the tool window and the document window.

Template Policy and the Properties Window
Discusses how a project is contained in an enterprise template project, and how that enterprise template project can enforce policy.

Properties Window Fields and Interfaces
Explains the basis for selection that determines what information is displayed in the Properties window.

Properties Window Object List
Describes the purpose of the Properties window object list, describing how, when a different object from this list triggers a call, the environment is informed that a new object has been selected.

Properties Window Buttons
Explains the purpose of the four default buttons displayed on the Properties window toolbar.

Properties Display Grid
Explains where the property names and property values fields are found in the grid.

Announcing Property Window Selection Tracking
Describes selection tracking for the Properties window.

Hiding Properties That Have Child Properties
Explains how to hide properties that have child properties by implementing the IVsPerPropertyBrowsing interface.

Providing a Custom Properties Window
Details the steps for providing your own property browser.

Getting Field Descriptions from the Properties Window
Explains where to find the description area that displays information related to the selected property field.

Updating Property Values in the Properties Window
Provides step-by-step instructions that show the two ways to keep the Properties window synchronized with property value changes.

Related Sections

Project Types
Discusses projects as the building blocks of the Visual Studio IDE.

Compiling and Building
Describes how you can use the Visual Studio Platform for continuously testing and debugging applications as you build them.

HTML Document Properties, Properties Window
Provides instructions for editing an HTML document directly from the Properties window, and provides a table detailing the fields in an HTML document in the Properties window.

IDispatch
Describes the IDispatch interface, which was first designed to support automation, providing a late-bound mechanism to access and retrieve information about the methods and properties of an object.

NIB: Introduction to Dynamic Properties (Visual Studio)
Provides an overview of dynamic properties that let you configure your application so that property values are stored in an external configuration file instead of the application's compiled code.

NIB:Projects as Containers
Describes the role of the project as a container in a solution to logically manage, build, and debug the items that make up your application.

NIB:Project Properties
Describes how the project manages settings that let you control properties that apply to the whole project and also properties that are limited to certain build configurations of the project.

Solutions and Projects
Explains how Visual Studio efficiently manages the items such as references, data connections, folders, and files that are required by your development effort through solutions and projects.

Extending Other Parts of Visual Studio
Explains how to use Visual Studio services to create UI elements that match the rest of Visual Studio.