Opening a Tool Window Programmatically

Tool windows are typically opened by clicking a command on a menu, or by pressing an equivalent keyboard shortcut. However, you might have to open a tool window programmatically, like the command handler does.

To open a tool window in the managed VSPackage that provides it, use FindToolWindow. To open a tool window in another VSPackage, use FindToolWindow. In either case, the tool window is created as required.

The following code is taken from the C# Reference.ToolWindow sample.

To open a tool window programmatically

1. Create the tool window pane, frame, and the VSPackage that implements them. For more information, see Adding a Tool Window.

2. Add the ProvideToolWindowAttribute to the VSPackage that provides it.

   [ProvideToolWindow(typeof(PersistedWindowPane), Style = VsDockStyle.Tabbed, Window = "3ae79031-e1bc-11d0-8f78-00a0c9110057")]
   [ProvideMenuResource(1000, 1)]
   [MsVsShell.DefaultRegistryRoot(@"Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0Exp")]
   [PackageRegistration(UseManagedResourcesOnly = true)]
   [Guid("01069CDD-95CE-4620-AC21-DDFF6C57F012")] // your package will have a different GUID
   public class PackageToolWindow : Package
   {
   

   This registers the tool window PersistedWindowPane to be opened as docked to Solution Explorer. For more information, see Registering a Tool Window.

3. Use FindToolWindow to find the tool window pane or to create it if it does not already exist.

   ' Get the 1 (index 0) and only instance of our tool window. 
   ' If it does not already exist it will get created. 
   Dim pane As MsVsShell.ToolWindowPane = Me.FindToolWindow(GetType(PersistedWindowPane), 0, True) 
   If pane Is Nothing Then 
   End If
   

   // Get the 1 (index 0) and only instance of our tool window.
   // If it does not already exist it will get created.
   MsVsShell.ToolWindowPane pane =     this.FindToolWindow(typeof(PersistedWindowPane), 0, true);
   if (pane == null)
   {
   

4. Get the tool window frame from the tool window pane.

   Dim frame As IVsWindowFrame = TryCast(pane.Frame, IVsWindowFrame) 
   If frame Is Nothing Then 
   End If
   

   IVsWindowFrame frame = pane.Frame as IVsWindowFrame;
   if (frame == null)
   {
   

5. Show the tool window.

   ' Bring the tool window to the front and give it focus 
   ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(frame.Show())
   

   // Bring the tool window to the front and give it focus
   ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(frame.Show());