Troubleshoot extensions for layer diagrams

This topic addresses some problems that you might encounter when you create layer model extensions.

When I press F5 to debug my extension, my commands, gesture handlers, validation extensions, or custom properties do not appear on layer diagrams in the Experimental instance of Visual Studio

1. Open your extension solution in the Experimental instance of Visual Studio, and on the Build menu, click Rebuild Solution.

2. Press F5 or CTRL+F5 to start the experimental instance of Visual Studio. Open a layer diagram and test your extension.

   Continue with the next procedure if necessary.

An old version of my extension runs.

1. Make sure that no experimental instance of Visual Studio is running.

2. Delete the following folder: %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\[version]\ComponentModelCache

   Note

   %LocalAppData% is typically DriveName:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local.

   Continue with the next procedure if necessary.

An old version of my validation results appears, or my validation method is not called.

1. In the experimental instance of Visual Studio, on the Build menu, click Clean Solution. This clears the cached results of the previous validation analysis.

2. Make sure that the layers in your model are associated with code elements, and that there is at least one dependency link in the model. Validation is not invoked if there is nothing to validate.

3. Regular breakpoints might not work in a validation method, because it runs in a separate process. You must insert a call to System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch() if you want to step through your method.

4. In source.extension.vsixmanifest in your layer validation project, make sure that you have added both a MEF Component item and a Custom Extension Type item under Content.

See Also

Extend layer diagrams