Extension VSIX to extend another VSIX

[cjdutoit]

I need some help / direction. Just started playing with the VS Extensions and I would like to create my own project that will extend functionality of another VSIX that is installed.

I started looking at sample extensions and landed on Add New File

Looking at the install location for this extension, I can see a Templates folder:
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\17.0_dae60504Exp\Extensions\Extensions-17.0_dae60504\qhs1xiqh.qqq\Templates

What I would like to do is create my own extension, that could add my own custom templates inside the template folder above.

So my questions:

1. Is there a way that I can check if the above extension is installed and if not prevent my extension from installing
2. If the extension is installed, is there a nice way to get the location so I can target the template folder for my custom extensions.

Any help / ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[reduckted]

1. Is there a way that I can check if the above extension is installed and if not prevent my extension from installing

Take a look at the IVsExtensionManager interface. It's not part of the SDK, but you can get an instance of the service and then call its methods using reflection.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/visualstudio/visual-studio-2013/dd884736(v%3Dvs.120)

You can get an instance of it by defining this interface:

[Guid("316F4DE6-3CA4-4f0d-B003-962D28F65238")]
public interface SVsExtensionManager {}

and then use that interface to resolve the service:

object extensionManager = await VS.GetServiceAsync<SVsExtensionManager, object>();

2. If the extension is installed, is there a nice way to get the location so I can target the template folder for my custom extensions.

The IVsExtensionManager.GetInstalledExtension method returns an IInstalledExtension. It has an InstallPath property. Again, it's not part of the SDK, so you'll need to use reflection to access it. I can provide an example of how to access it using reflection if you like.

[cjdutoit]

Thanks @reduckted , I will have look and get back to you if I have further questions.