Using Special Interfaces to Extend the IDE
Go Up to Extending the IDE Using the Tools API
The Tools API provides some special interfaces that you can implement in custom classes and then register in the IDE. These interfaces make it easy to extend the IDE in specific ways, such as adding a wizard to the IDE or handling notifications from special events in the IDE.
These are the main kinds of interfaces that you can implement to extend the IDE:
- A "wizard" is a setup assistant. The IDE provides a base interface for wizards, as well as child interfaces that you can use to build specific kinds of wizards easily. See Writing a Wizard Class.
- A "notifier" is another kind of interface that the IDE uses to call back to your wizard when something interesting happens. You can write a notifier so that the IDE calls back to your notifier object when the user opens a file, edits source code, modifies a form, starts a debugging session, and so on. See Notifying a Wizard of IDE Events.
- A "creator" is another kind of interface that you can use to create new units, projects, or other files, or to open existing files. See Creating Form and Project Wizards.
- Other important interfaces are "modules" and "editors". A module interface represents an open unit, which has one or more files. An editor interface represents an open file. Different kinds of editor interfaces give you access to different aspects of the IDE: the source editor for source files, the form designer for form files, and project resources for a resource file. See Working with Files and Editors.
Topics
- Writing a Wizard Class
- Notifying a Wizard of IDE Events
- Creating Form and Project Wizards
- Working with Files and Editors