Creating Custom Task List Views

You can display a custom task list in Visual Studio by creating a custom task list view.

Use the registry to create a custom view and make these specifications:

  • The columns

  • The sort order for the columns

  • The default sort order

  • Task categories that you want displayed

You can display one custom category or specify CAT_ALL for multiple categories. You can also create custom text columns that contain any text. However, you cannot sort on custom text columns.

The following tables show the registry format for custom task list views.

In each of the tables, VS Reg Root is equal to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\. The tables provide the script entries and additional information for each registry statement.

[VS Reg Root\TaskList\Views\GUID]

Name

Type

Range

Description

Name

REG_SZ

Text

STRING name of the view or #xxx.

The Name can be a normal string like "My Custom View" or it can be a resource string within a package (#xxx).

Package

REG_SZ

Text

[opt] STRING representation of GUID. This is required if some of your strings are resource strings (#xxx); otherwise, it is ignored.

[VS Reg Root\TaskList\Views\GUID\Columns\number]

Note

number is the 1-based order of the columns in the view (where 1 is the leftmost column). For more columns, increment number.

Name

Type

Range

Description

Field

REG_DWORD

 

A VSTASKFIELD that is the field of the column.

Width

REG_DWORD

 

Optional. The width of the column in pixels. If the column is not sizeable, this parameter is ignored.

Index

REG_DWORD

 

Optional. If the Field is FLD_CUSTOM, this is the custom column index.

Name

REG_SZ

Text

If Field is FLD_CUSTOM, this is the name of the custom column.

Name can also be a resource string in #xxx format.

Filter

REG_SZ or REG_DWORD

 

Either a DWORD that has a built-in VSTASKCATEGORY or a STRING that represents the GUID of a custom category.

[VS Reg Root\TaskList\Views\GUID\Sort\number]

Note

number identifies the sort key. For example, for the primary sort key, number equals 1. For the secondary sort key, number equals 2, and so on.

Name

Type

Range

Description

Field

REG_DWORD

 

A VSTASKFIELD that is the field of the column.

Index

REG_DWORD

 

Optional. If the Field is FLD_CUSTOM, this is the custom column index.

To implement a custom column, you must implement the IVsTaskItem2 interface on your task items and you must implement the following methods on that interface:

When required, the task list queries your IVsTaskItem2 implementation by using a custom column number from a specific view, represented by some guid. If your task has the appropriate information about that column in that view, you supply information to that column, and specify whether that text is read-only.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create Custom Categories of Task Lists