Please Read
I wrote this initial example before Jesse Kaplan suggested using WPF and Crossbow to implement Windows Control Add-in integration. My newer post here describes this technique. The approach below may still be valid if seen as a *lightweight* technique if the overhead of loading WPF is too great and Hot Key integration is not important.
UI Integration for Add-Ins
With the release of .NET 3.5 Beta 2, Jack Gudenkauf touted the inclusion of the highly requested UI integration feature for System.AddIns, for WPF only. While from a .NET 3.5 perspective it looks attractive to leave Windows Forms behind, the reality is that:
- Microsoft has done an excellent job making new .NET Framework versions additive and pseudo-backwards compatible, thus it has become easier to use the best of the new without needing to fully migrate to the bleeding edge.
- Windows Forms has been around a long time. There’s plenty of legacy code, and perhaps more importantly, legacy developer skills.
Even with an eventually migration to WPF in the near-term future, I needed a Windows Form extensibility story now. (more…)
