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The Visual Studio SDK helps you extend Visual Studio features or integrate new features into Visual Studio. You can distribute your extensions to other users, as well as to the Visual Studio Gallery. The following are some of the ways in which you can extend Visual Studio:
- Add commands, buttons, menus, and other UI elements to the IDE
- Add tool windows for new functionality
- Extend IntelliSense for a given language, or provide IntelliSense for new programming languages
- Use light bulbs to provide hints and suggestions that help developers write better code
- Enable support for a new language
- Add a custom project type
- Reach millions of developers via the Visual Studio Gallery
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Installing the Visual Studio SDK as Part of a Visual Studio Installation
Starting in Visual Studio 2015, you do not install the Visual Studio SDK from the download center. It is included as an optional feature in Visual Studio setup. You can also install the VS SDK later on.
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Start the Visual Studio 2015 installation. You can install any edition of Visual Studio except Express.
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On the first screen, select Custom, not Default. Click Next.
- You should see a tree view of custom features. Open Common Tools. You should see Visual Studio Extensibility Tools .
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Installing the Visual Studio SDK after Installing Visual Studio
If you decide to install the Visual Studio SDK after completing your Visual Studio installation, you should follow the following procedure:
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Go to Control Panel / Programs / Programs and Features, and look for Visual Studio 2015. You can install the Visual Studio SDK for any edition of Visual Studio 2015 except Express.
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Right-click Visual Studio 2015, and then click Change. You should see the installation page.
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Follow the same procedure as in Installing the Visual Studio SDK as Part of a Visual Studio Installation above.
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Click the Visual Studio Extensibility Tools link to install the Visual Studio SDK.
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