Using the Automation Model

After you have connected your VSPackage to automation, you can obtain the properties and methods by calling the GetObject method on the _DTE object, passing a string representing the object you wish to retrieve.

Obtaining Project Objects

The following are two code examples that show how an automation consumer obtains the project automation objects. For information about how to get the DTE object, see How to: Get References to the DTE and DTE2 Objects.

Sub DoAutomation()  
    Dim MyProjects As Projects  
    MyProjects = DTE.GetObject("AcmeProject")  
End Sub  

void DoAutomation(void)  
{  
  CComQIPtr<Projects> pMyPkg; // Use an IDispatch-derived object type.  
    pMyPkg = pDTE->GetObject("AcmeProjects");   
  
   // The '=' performs a Query Interface.  
   // Assumes pDTE is already available as a global.  
   // Use pMyPkg to access your projects object's properties and methods.  
}  
  

At this point, you can use the standard project objects that are part of a specific VSPackage to move down the hierarchy model.

The following code example shows how to get a custom object that is a property of a custom project type.:

Dim MyPrj As Project  
Dim MyPrjItem As ProjectItem  
Dim objMyObject as MyExtendedObject  
  
MyPrj = MyProjects.Item(1) 'use the Projects collection to get a project  
objMyObject = MyPrj.Object 'You call .Object to get to special Project  
                           'implementation  
objMyObject.MySpecialMethodOrProperty  

The following code lists the names of all of the properties in the Visual Studio environment General option on the Tools menu:

dim objDTE  
dim objEnv  
set objDTE = CreateObject("VisualStudio.DTE")  
set objEnv = objDTE.Properties("Environment", "General")  
for each obj in ObjEnv  
MsgBox obj.Name  
Next  
  

See Also

GetObject