Today saw the All-In-One Code Framework Sample Browser updated to Version 4. I have to say, that I really love the look and feel of this latest version. Now while I know that there is a Sample Browser Visual Studio Extension for 2010, I feel that version 4 looks nicer and I wanted to have it available inside Visual Studio 2010. To enable this, follow these steps:

Step 1

From the Toolbar, select the Tools menu item.

Step  2

Select External Tools

Step 3

Click on Add

Step 4

Specify a Title for the new item

Step 5

Seeing as the All-In-One Code Framework is a ClickOnce Application, you need to specify the ClickOnce Application Reference in the Command text box. This is usually installed to the following path “C:Users[UserName]AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsMicrosoft All-In-One Code Framework”. When you browse to this path and select the Application Reference, it will then find the actual exe. ClickOnce applications are installed in random directories on each computer in a hidden folder within the user account called the “AppData” folder.

Step 6

What I did next was to change the “One” to “1” and add an ampersand in front of the “1” to make it “&1”. This acts as an accelerator. Also, very important for this post, I moved my new menu item to the top. (You will see why a little later on – Step 14)

Step 7

Clicking on OK, will add the Menu Item to the Tools Menu. If you had to type “1” now, the accelerator would kick in and start the All-In-One Code Framework Browser.

Step 8

Next, we will click on “Customize…”

Step 9

On the Customize Screen, click on “New”. We want to add a new Toolbar for our One Code Browser.

Step 10

Give the New Toolbar a Suitable Name and click on OK.

Step 11

Next, you want to click on the Commands Tab.

Step 12

On the Commands Tab, select “Toolbar” and select the Toolbar we created earlier.

Step 13

We now want to add a new Command to our Toolbar.

Step 14

Select the “Tools” Category (this is our Tools Menu Item) and select “External Command 1” from the available Commands. You need to select the External Command 1 because we moved our Menu Item up to the very top in Step 6.

Step 15

When you click on OK, your new  toolbar is added to Visual Studio.

You can now repeat this process and add more quick Menu Items to your toolbar. This makes a nice quick and easy, one stop location for all your developer tools. What are some of the tools you as developer use? If you have any you simply can’t live without, leave a comment and let us know.