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Creating a Multi-Instance Tool Window
Learn how to modify a tool window so that multiple instances of it can be open simultaneously. By default, tool windows can have only one instance open.
11/04/2016
how-to
multi
tool windows
maiak
maiak
mijacobs
extensibility-integration

Create a multi-instance tool window

You can program a tool window so that multiple instances of it can be open simultaneously. By default, tool windows can have only one instance open.

When you use a multi-instance tool window, you can show several related sources of information at the same time. For example, you could put a multi-line xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox control in a multi-instance tool window so that several code snippets are simultaneously available during a programming session. Also, for example, you could put a xref:System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid control and a drop-down list box in a multi-instance tool window so that several real-time data sources can be tracked simultaneously.

Create a basic (single-instance) tool window

  1. Create a project named MultiInstanceToolWindow using the VSIX template, and add a custom tool window item template named MIToolWindow.

    [!NOTE] For more information about creating an extension with a tool window, see Create an extension with a tool window.

Make a tool window multi-instance

  1. Open the MIToolWindowPackage.cs file and find the ProvideToolWindow attribute. and the MultiInstances=true parameter, as shown in the following example:

    [PackageRegistration(UseManagedResourcesOnly=true)][InstalledProductRegistration("#110","#112","1.0",IconResourceID=400)]// Info on this package for Help/About[ProvideMenuResource("Menus.ctmenu",1)][ProvideToolWindow(typeof(MultiInstanceToolWindow.MIToolWindow),MultiInstances=true)][Guid(MIToolWindowPackage.PackageGuidString)]publicsealedclassMIToolWindowPackage:Package{...}

  2. In the MIToolWindowCommand.cs file, find the ShowToolWindos() method. In this method, call the xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Package.FindToolWindow%2A method and set its create flag to false so that it will iterate through existing tool window instances until an available id is found.

  3. To create a tool window instance, call the xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Package.FindToolWindow%2A method and set its id to an available value and its create flag to true.

    By default, the value of the id parameter of the xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Package.FindToolWindow%2A method is 0. This value makes a single-instance tool window. For more than one instance to be hosted, every instance must have its own unique id.

  4. Call the xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsWindowFrame.Show%2A method on the xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsWindowFrame object that is returned by the xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.ToolWindowPane.Frame%2A property of the tool window instance.

  5. By default, the ShowToolWindow method that is created by the tool window item template creates a single-instance tool window. The following example shows how to modify the ShowToolWindow method to create multiple instances.

    privatevoidShowToolWindow(objectsender,EventArgse){for(inti=0;i<10;i++){ToolWindowPanewindow=this.package.FindToolWindow(typeof(MIToolWindow),i,false);if(window==null){// Create the window with the first free ID.window=(ToolWindowPane)this.package.FindToolWindow(typeof(MIToolWindow),i,true);if((null==window)||(null==window.Frame)){thrownewNotSupportedException("Cannot create tool window");}IVsWindowFramewindowFrame=(IVsWindowFrame)window.Frame;Microsoft.VisualStudio.ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(windowFrame.Show());break;}}}
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