Here’s a collection of small code samples on different ways to work with files and documents.
Get active text view
Get the current active text view to manipulate its text buffer text.
DocumentView docView = await VS.Documents.GetActiveDocumentViewAsync();
if (docView?.TextView == null) return; //not a text window
SnapshotPoint position = docView.TextView.Caret.Position.BufferPosition;
docView.TextBuffer?.Insert(position, "some text"); // Inserts text at the caret
File icon associations
To associate an icon with a file extension in Solution Explorer, add the [ProvideFileIcon()] attribute to your package class.
[ProvideFileIcon(".abc", "KnownMonikers.Reference")]
public sealed class MyPackage : ToolkitPackage
{
...
}
See the thousands of available icons in the KnownMonikers collection using the KnownMonikers Explorer tool window. Find it under View -> Other Windows in the main menu.
Open file
Use the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.VsShellUtilities helper class.
string fileName = "c:\\file.txt";
await VS.Documents.OpenAsync(fileName);
Open file via project
Use this method when the file you open is part of the solution.
string fileName = "c:\\file.txt";
await VS.Documents.OpenViaProjectAsync(fileName);
Open file in Preview tab
The Preview tab, also known as the Provisional tab, is a temporary tab that opens on the right side of the document well. Open any file in the Preview tab like this:
string fileName = "c:\\file.txt";
await VS.Documents.OpenInPreviewTabAsync(fileName);
Get file name from ITextBuffer
Use the extension method buffer.GetFileName() located in the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text namespace.
string fileName = buffer.GetFileName();
SolutionItem from file
Find the SolutionItem from an absolute file path.
string fileName = "c:\\file.txt";
PhysicalFile item = await PhysicalFile.FromFileAsync(fileName);