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Would you use this VS2010 extension?

Started by Trillian Aug 26, 2010 at 9:18 AM 3 replies 1.9k views

Original Post

Aug 26, 2010 at 9:18 AM

Hi GDNetters,

I've developed an extension for Visual Studio 2010 which enables to dock any window within the VS Shell. It's currently very bare-bones. It works, but exhibits quite a few glitches, although it's fine for my personal usage.

For example, while working on an AA Tree implementation, I had docked google chrome with a few reference sites, mspaint to draw trees and Windows Media Player for music:

Another use case: I had hosted notepad++ in a tab group in order to have ASM syntax coloring (which VS doesn't have) and have C code in another tab group beside it.

It can even host whole games (Portal worked fine) so you can have them in a code tab and quickly ctrl+tab when the boss is coming :)

So, I was wondering: am I the only guy crazy enough to use this or should I polish it up and submit it to the Visual Studio 2010 Extension Gallery? Would you use it?

smr

Aug 26, 2010 at 9:54 AM

Not me, but I find the most efficient way to work is with dual displays. Or at least that's what I thought. Now I'm thinking I'd be even MORE efficient with three displays! I wonder if I can get that approved by my boss... *walks to his boss's office to bargain for another display and video card*

However I think it'd probably come in handy if I were constrained to one monitor. Windows 7's screen edge resize thing helps manage two windows, but it doesn't help much if you only want a small part of your screen occupied by the window.

Trillian

Aug 26, 2010 at 10:09 AM

Yeah, multiple displays (and virtual desktops) rock, I agree they are generally much more useful than my extension. It is a more of a small gimmick that can be useful once in a while. I can't say I've used it often myself but it has still been fun to have it the few times when the need has arisen.

NickGravelyn

Aug 26, 2010 at 10:22 AM

I think that's pretty useful, mainly for embedding Chrome in there for references. Might also be nice if one could dock Windows Explorer so I could have a file view. Even with two monitors, I occasionally am juggling windows since I like VS full screen and have a bunch open on the second monitor.

Trillian

Aug 26, 2010 at 10:37 AM

I just tested, embedding explorer windows works well.

When I say "works well", I mean it's useable. Applications typically do not behave perfectly once docked in VS, and I don't think there's much to do about it as I consider my docking trick to be a hack. For example, embedded explorer windows do not seem to receive mouse wheel events, so you have to scroll using the scrollbar. Another example: once you've detached a google chrome tab, you cannot attach it back inside a docked window.

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