Add in doubts

    Hi,

Should the LoadAddIns be called before the application is run always,
why is it I am not able to hit a breakpoint when I call loadaddins at a later time,,


I have reached a stage where  I launch the add in through the IDE and write some code and build it,
it is linked to my current application... i need to restart my application to see the reflected changes ..
how do i have the changes reflected immediately..



(Can someone please tell me the exact meaning of an add-in and a macro),
MS examples are tooo confusing, tooo complex and exteremely hard to follow.. the documentation is even worse,
is there some book that we can refer!


also is there some exteremely simple example available online that is not outdated where i can send a string to and fro between the add in and the host application without restarting either of them...


This site was of great use so far

From your description, you are evaluating VSTA 1.0.

You need to unload the 'release' add-in, build a 'release' of the add-in and reload new add-in before the changes can be reflected. 

This is demonstrated by the AdvancedShapeApp samples with macro recording.  The IDE/debug version makes things confusing. 

This might be a helpful hint:

There is a bug in the ShapeApp MacroManager samples which by default prevents the list of macros from being populated without first recording a macro or opening and building the macro project.  If you are using the ShapeApp sample’s MacroManager and the code associated with this in the extension class, you are probably having the same problem.  To check if this is the same problem, try starting the shape app sample, then record a macro or open and build the macro project - once either of these are done the macro list should be populated. 

 

If the above check works, then try changing the line in the Connect method of the Extension class (line 61, see below) that assigns the macroAddInPath using “bin\debug” to use “bin\release” instead.  The folder used to create the macroAddInPath should match the build output of your macro project.

 

//Change this to match the build output of the macro project

//this.macroAddInPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(this.macroProjectPath, @"bin\debug");

this.macroAddInPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(this.macroProjectPath, @"bin\release");

 

==

 The simplest minimal sample would be Testcon (http://www.summsoft.com/files/folders/vsta_samples/entry248.aspx)

Another idea:

The SDK samples always build release .dll unless you run from debugger.

You can change this:

Tools | Options | Show Advanced Build Configurations

then

Build | Configuration Manager, select Debug or Release