How to: Add and Remove Property Pages

The Project Designer provides a centralized location for managing project properties, settings, and resources in Visual Studio. It appears as a single window in the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) and contains a number of panes on the right that are accessed through the tabs on the left. The panes (often referred to as property pages) in the Project Designer vary by project type and language. The Project Designer can be accessed with the Properties command on the Project menu.

A project subtype frequently needs to display additional property pages in the Project Designer. Likewise, some project subtypes might require that built-in property pages be removed. To do either, your project subtype must implement the IVsHierarchy interface and override the GetProperty method. By overriding this method and using propId parameter containing one of the values of the __VSHPROPID2 enumeration, you can filter, add or remove project properties. For example, you might need to add a page to the configuration-dependent property pages. To do this, you need to filter configuration-dependent property pages and then add a new page to the existing list.

Adding and Removing Property Pages in Project Designer

To remove a property page in Project Designer

1. Override the GetProperty(uint itemId, int propId, out object property) method to filter property pages and obtain a clsids list.

   Protected Overrides int GetProperty(uint itemId, int propId, out object property)
   Protected Overrides Function GetProperty(ByVal itemId As UInteger, ByVal propId As Integer, ByRef [property] As Object) As Integer
       'Use propId to filter configuration-independent property pages.
       Select Case propId
           .... 
           Case CInt(Fix(__VSHPROPID2.VSHPROPID_PropertyPagesCLSIDList))
               'Get a semicolon-delimited list of clsids of the configuration-independent property pages
               ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(MyBase.GetProperty(itemId, propId, [property]))
                  Dim propertyPagesList As String = ((String)[property]).ToUpper(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
               'Remove the property page here
                  ....
           ....
       End Select
           .... 
       Return MyBase.GetProperty(itemId, propId, [property])
   End Function
   

   protected override int GetProperty(uint itemId, int propId, out object property)
   {
       //Use propId to filter configuration-independent property pages.
       switch (propId)
       {
           . . . .
   
           case (int)__VSHPROPID2.VSHPROPID_PropertyPagesCLSIDList:
               {
                   //Get a semicolon-delimited list of clsids of the configuration-independent property pages
                   ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(base.GetProperty(itemId, propId, out property));
                   string propertyPagesList = ((string)property).ToUpper(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                   //Remove the property page here
                   . . . .
               }
            . . . .
        }
           . . . .
       return base.GetProperty(itemId, propId, out property);
   }
   

2. Remove the Build Events page from obtained clsids list.

   Private buildEventsPageGuid As String = "{1E78F8DB-6C07-4D61-A18F-7514010ABD56}"
   Private index As Integer = propertyPagesList.IndexOf(buildEventsPageGuid)
   If index <> -1 Then
       ' GUIDs are separated by ';' so if you remove the last GUID, also remove the last ';'
       Dim index2 As Integer = index + buildEventsPageGuid.Length + 1
       If index2 >= propertyPagesList.Length Then
           propertyPagesList = propertyPagesList.Substring(0, index).TrimEnd(";"c)
       Else
           propertyPagesList = propertyPagesList.Substring(0, index) + propertyPagesList.Substring(index2)
       End If
   End If
   'New property value
   property = propertyPagesList
   

   string buildEventsPageGuid = "{1E78F8DB-6C07-4D61-A18F-7514010ABD56}";
   int index = propertyPagesList.IndexOf(buildEventsPageGuid);
   if (index != -1)
   {
       // GUIDs are separated by ';' so if you remove the last GUID, also remove the last ';'
       int index2 = index + buildEventsPageGuid.Length + 1;
       if (index2 >= propertyPagesList.Length)
           propertyPagesList = propertyPagesList.Substring(0, index).TrimEnd(';');
       else
           propertyPagesList = propertyPagesList.Substring(0, index) + propertyPagesList.Substring(index2);
   }
   //New property value
   property = propertyPagesList;
   

To add a property page in Project Designer

1. Create a property page you want to add.

   Class DeployPropertyPage
           Inherits Form
           Implements Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IPropertyPage
       'Summary: Return a stucture describing your property page.
       .... 
       Public Sub GetPageInfo(ByVal pPageInfo As Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.PROPPAGEINFO())
           Dim info As PROPPAGEINFO = New PROPPAGEINFO()
           info.cb = CUInt(Marshal.SizeOf(GetType(PROPPAGEINFO)))
           info.dwHelpContext = 0
           info.pszDocString = Nothing
           info.pszHelpFile = Nothing
           info.pszTitle = "Deployment" 'Assign tab name
           info.SIZE.cx = Me.Size.Width
           info.SIZE.cy = Me.Size.Height
           If Not pPageInfo Is Nothing AndAlso pPageInfo.Length > 0 Then
               pPageInfo(0) = info
           End If
       End Sub
   End Class
   

   class DeployPropertyPage : Form, Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IPropertyPage
   {
       . . . . 
       //Summary: Return a stucture describing your property page.
       public void GetPageInfo(Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.PROPPAGEINFO[] pPageInfo)
       {
           PROPPAGEINFO info = new PROPPAGEINFO();
           info.cb = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(PROPPAGEINFO));
           info.dwHelpContext = 0;
           info.pszDocString = null;
           info.pszHelpFile = null;
           info.pszTitle = "Deployment";  //Assign tab name
           info.SIZE.cx = this.Size.Width;
           info.SIZE.cy = this.Size.Height;
           if (pPageInfo != null && pPageInfo.Length > 0)
               pPageInfo[0] = info;
       }
   }
   

2. Register your new property page.

   <MSVSIP.ProvideObject(GetType(DeployPropertyPage), RegisterUsing = RegistrationMethod.CodeBase)>
   

   [MSVSIP.ProvideObject(typeof(DeployPropertyPage), RegisterUsing = RegistrationMethod.CodeBase)]
   

3. Override the GetProperty(uint itemId, int propId, out object property) method to filter property pages, obtain a clsids list and add a new property page.

   Protected Overrides Function GetProperty(ByVal itemId As UInteger, ByVal propId As Integer, ByRef [property] As Object) As Integer
       'Use propId to filter configuration-dependent property pages.
       Select Case propId
           .... 
           case CInt(Fix(__VSHPROPID2.VSHPROPID_CfgPropertyPagesCLSIDList)):
               'Get a semicolon-delimited list of clsids of the configuration-dependent property pages.
               ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(MyBase.GetProperty(itemId, propId, [property]))
               'Add the Deployment property page.
               [property] &= ";"c + GetType(DeployPropertyPage).GUID.ToString("B")
       End Select
           .... 
           Return MyBase.GetProperty(itemId, propId, [property])
   End Function
   

   protected override int GetProperty(uint itemId, int propId, out object property)
   {
       //Use propId to filter configuration-dependent property pages.
       switch (propId)
       {
           . . . .
           case (int)__VSHPROPID2.VSHPROPID_CfgPropertyPagesCLSIDList:
               {
                   //Get a semicolon-delimited list of clsids of the configuration-dependent property pages.
                   ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(base.GetProperty(itemId, propId, out property));
                   //Add the Deployment property page.
                   property += ';' + typeof(DeployPropertyPage).GUID.ToString("B");
               }
        }
           . . . .
       return base.GetProperty(itemId, propId, out property);
   }
   

See Also

Other Resources

Project Subtypes