In previous article, we had discussed about VS add-ins. In this article, we will look into interfacing Win Forms to it. Integrating Win Forms in add-ins gives a better UI for interactions. I am going to explain the integration by a sample. Open our VS 2008 and create a new VS add-in as explained in previous article with name as WinFormAddin.
Now add a new Form named as MyForm to the add-in as shown below:
We will make our Form to show list of opened VS windows. Design the form as shown below:
Go to connect.cs and add below code to Exec method:
public void Exec(string commandName, vsCommandExecOption executeOption, ref object varIn, ref object varOut, ref bool handled)
{
handled = false;
if(executeOption == vsCommandExecOption.vsCommandExecOptionDoDefault)
{
if(commandName == "WinFormAddin.Connect.WinFormAddin")
{
handled = true;
MyForm objFrm = new MyForm((DTE2)_applicationObject);
objFrm.Show();
return;
}
}
}
Here, we are passing DTE2 to our form. By using this DTE2 instance, we can work on Visual Studio IDE events, windows etc. When we run our add-in, it will call Exec(). In this method, we are defining form's instance and passing DTE2 (_applicationobject) to it.
Now, go to code-behind of MyForm and add below code to it:
public partial class MyForm : Form
{
public DTE2 MyDTE;
public List<Window> MyWindows = new List<Window>();
public Button PrevButton;
public int FormHeight = 25;
public MyForm(DTE2 myDTE)
{
MyDTE = myDTE;
InitializeComponent();
}
private void MyForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
LoadAllWindows();
}
private void LoadAllWindows()
{
if (MyDTE != null)
{
cxtOpenedWindows.Items.Clear();
MyWindows.Clear();
this.Controls.Clear();
//Get List of Opened Windows.
for (int i = 1; i <= MyDTE.Windows.Count; i++)
{
cxtOpenedWindows.Items.Add(MyDTE.Windows.Item(i).Caption, null, new EventHandler(WindowHandler));
MyWindows.Add(MyDTE.Windows.Item(i));
Button btn = new Button();
btn.Text = MyDTE.Windows.Item(i).Caption;
btn.Height = 20;
btn.Width = this.Width - 10;
if (PrevButton == null)
{
btn.Top = 0;
}
else
{
btn.Top = PrevButton.Top + 20;
}
FormHeight += btn.Height;
btn.Click += new EventHandler(btn_Click);
PrevButton = btn;
this.Controls.Add(btn);
}
cxtOpenedWindows.Items.Add("Refresh Windows", null, new EventHandler(WindowHandler));
this.Height = FormHeight;
}
}
void btn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string name = ((Button)sender).Text;
OpenSelectedWin(name);
}
private void WindowHandler(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string name = ((ToolStripItem)sender).Text;
OpenSelectedWin(name);
}
private void OpenSelectedWin(string name)
{
//To refresh Windows List.
if (name == "Refresh Windows")
{
PrevButton = null;
FormHeight = 25;
LoadAllWindows();
return;
}
foreach (Window w in MyWindows)
{
if (w.Caption == name)
{
w.Activate();
break;
}
}
}
}
On Form load, we are getting list of opened windows using MyDTE.Windows collection. Than, we are creating a button and contect menu item for each opened window. Finally, on click of the button ; we are calling Activate() to set focus to the selected window. Run the application and select Tools 
WinFormAddIn and the output will be as shown below:
When we click on the button, it will set focus to that window. In this way, we can integrate win forms using DTE2 events and methods.
I am ending up the things here. I am attaching source code for reference. I hope this article will be helpful for all.