Options Page, Environment Node Properties

This document describes the pages (or properties collections) that are associated with the Environment category, DTE.Properties("Environment", <Property Page>), of the Options dialog box. The title of each subsection is the call that is used to access the Properties collection, and the table in each subsection lists the properties in the collection.

General

DTE.Properties("Environment", "General")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

ShowStatusBar

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the status bar is visible.

WindowMenuContainsNItems

Get/Set (Short)

Determines how document windows are contained at the bottom of the Windows menu.

MRUListContainsNItems

Get/Set (Short)

Determines how many files display in the "Most Recently Used" submenu.

Animations

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the integrated development environment (IDE) uses animation in the status bar.

AnimationSpeed

Get/Set (Short)

AutoAdjustExperience

Get/Set (Boolean)

Automatically adjusts the visual experience depending on the client performance.

RichClientExperienceOptions

Get/Set (Enum)

Enables rich client visual experience with values in [EnvDTE100.vsRichClientExperienceOptions].

CloseButtonActiveTabOnly

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the Close button is shown only on the active tab.

AutohidePinActiveTabOnly

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the Auto Hide button affects only the active tab.

Add-in/Macros Security

DTE.Properties("Environment", "AddinMacrosSecurity")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

MacrosEnabled

Get/Set (Boolean)

Allows macros to run.

AddinsEnabled

Get/Set (Boolean)

Allows add-ins to load.

LoadAddinsFromTheWeb

Get/Set (Boolean)

Allows add-ins to load from a URL on the Web.

Documents

DTE.Properties("Environment", "Documents")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

ReuseSavedActiveDocWindow

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether opening a new file reuses the current document window if the current document is saved. false means always open a new document window for each document opened.

DetectFileChangesOutsideIDE

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the environment automatically reloads files opened in the IDE when the operating system notifies the IDE that the files have been modified on disk.

AutoloadExternalChanges

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether detected external modifications to open documents automatically reload the modified file if the open document is not modified. If the open document is modified and this property is true, then the IDE prompts as if this property were false.

InitializeOpenFileFromCurrentDocument

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the OpenFile command seeds the directory and file name from the last active document, or from the last place you opened a file.

MiscFilesProjectSavesLastNItems

Get/Set (Short)

Determines how many files the Miscellaneous Files project records. As a result, you can see what you most recently had open as a miscellaneous file on disk when you next use the IDE.

ShowMiscFilesProject

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the Miscellaneous Files project is shown.

CheckForConsisentLineEndings

Get/Set (Boolean)

Checks for consistent line endings on file load.

SaveDocsAsUnicodeWhenDataLoss

Get/Set (Boolean)

Saves documents as Unicode when data cannot be saved in codepage.

DontShowGlobalUndoChangeLossDialog

Get/Set (Boolean)

Displays a warning when global undo will modify other edited files.

AllowEditingReadOnlyFiles

Get/Set (Boolean)

Allows editing of read-only files, but give a warning when there is an attempt to save them.

DocumentDockPreference

Get/Set (Enum)

[EnvDTE100.vsDocumentDockPreferenceOptions]. Position in the tab well in which to insert opened document.

Extension Manager

DTE.Properties("Environment", "ExtensionManager")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

EnableAdminExtensions

Get/Set (Boolean)

Loads per-user extensions when Visual Studio is run under Administrator credentials. Visual Studio must be restarted after this value is changed.

EnableOnline

Get/Set (Boolean)

Enables access to extensions on the Visual Studio Gallery.

AutomaticallyCheckForUpdates

Get/Set (Boolean)

Automatically checks for updates to installed extensions.

Find and Replace

DTE.Properties("Environment", "FindAndReplace")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

ShowWarningMessages

Get/Set (Boolean)

Displays warning messages.

InitializeFromEditor

Get/Set (Boolean)

Automatically populates the Find What box with text from the editor.

ShowMessageBoxes

Get/Set (Boolean)

Displays informational messages.

HideWindowsAfterMatchFromQuickFindReplace

Get/Set (Boolean)

Hides the Find and Replace window after a match is located by using Quick Find or Quick Replace.

Import and Export Settings

DTE.Properties("Environment", "Import and Export Settings")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

TrackTeamSettings

Get/Set (Boolean)

Uses the settings in the file specified by TeamSettingsFile.

TeamSettingsFile

Get/Set (String)

Name of file that has team settings.

AutoSaveFile

Get/Set (String)

Name of file where user settings are automatically saved.

International Settings

DTE.Properties("Environment", "International")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

Language

Get/Set (String)

LCID value for the current language for Visual Studio.

Keyboard

DTE.Properties("Environment", "Keyboard")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

Scheme

Get/Set (String)

Returns a string that contains a built-in scheme, a string containing the full path of the .vsk file that is loaded, or "(Default)" if no .vsk file is loaded.

Projects and Solution

DTE.Properties("Environment", "ProjectsAndSolution")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

OnRunOrPreview

Get/Set (String)

Determines whether the IDE saves everything before previewing or running a built project.

ProjectsLocation

Get/Set (String)

Determines the default directory where the Add Project dialog box saves new projects.

ShowOutputWindowBeforeBuild

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether starting a build displays the Output window.

ShowTaskListAfterBuild

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether an unsuccessful build operation displays the Task List when the build is done.

TrackFileSelectionInExplorer

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the current item is tracked in Solution Explorer.

AlwaysShowSolutionNode

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether the solution node is displayed.

OnlySaveStartupProjectsAndDependencies

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether save operations are limited to startup projects and their dependent files.

ShowAdvancedBuildConfigurations

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether advanced build configurations are displayed.

ConcurrentBuilds

Get/Set (String)

Determines the maximum number of parallel project builds that can occur.

SaveNewProjects

Get/Set (Boolean)

Determines whether new projects are automatically saved after being created.

PromptForRenameSymbol

Get/Set (Boolean)

Specifies whether to prompt for symbolic renaming when files are renamed.

OnRunWhenErrors

Get/Set (Enum)

Specifies the behavior on Run when a build completed with errors.

OnRunWhenOutOfDate

Get/Set (Enum)

Specifies the behavior on Run when a project is out of date.

ProjectTemplatesLocation

Get/Set (String)

Directory that contains user project templates.

ProjectItemTemplatesLocation

Get/Set (String)

Directory that contains user item templates.

DefaultBehaviorForStartupProjects

Get/Set (String)

MSBuildOutputVerbosity

Get/Set (String)

Specifies the level of verbosity for Build output.

Startup

DTE.Properties("Environment", "Startup")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

OnStartUp

Get/Set (Enum)

Action to take at startup, from vsStartUp, with values 0 through 5:

  • 0: Open Home Page

  • 1: Load last loaded solution

  • 2: Show Open Project dialog box

  • 3: Show New Project dialog box

  • 4: Show empty environment

  • 5: Show Start Page

StartPageRSSUrl

Get/Set (String)

URL for the RSS feed that is used at startup.

StartPageRefreshDownloadedContent

Get/Set (Boolean)

Refreshes the Start Page after every passage of the interval specified in StartPageRefreshInterval.

StartPageRefreshInterval

Get/Set (Short)

Interval in minutes to refresh the Start Page.

TaskList

DTE.Properties("Environment", "TaskList")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

ConfirmTaskDeletion

Get/Set (Boolean)

Specifies whether a confirmation box displays when deleting tasks from the Task List.

WarnOnAddingHiddenItem

Get/Set (Boolean)

Specifies whether you are warned when adding a user task that will not be shown.

DontShowFilePaths

Get/Set (Boolean)

Specifies whether to show full file paths in the Task List.

CommentTokens

SafeArray

Returns a SafeArray of comment token values. Each has the fields, Name (string) and Priority (vsTaskPriority, High, Medium, or Low).

Web Browser

DTE.Properties("Environment", "WebBrowser")

Property Item Name

Value

Description

HomePage

Get/Set (String)

Represents the home page URL.

SearchPage

Get/Set (String)

Represents the search page URL.

ViewSourceIn

Get/Set (Enum)

vsBrowserViewSource (Source, Design, External).

ViewSourceExternalProgram

Get/Set (String)

The path of the external source viewer.

See Also

Concepts

Controlling Options Settings

Determining the Names of Property Items on Options Pages

Options Page, Fonts and Colors Node Properties

Options Page, Text Editor Node Properties