Much of this book has been about extending Visual Studio, but this chapter specifically covers the objects and API used to directly interact with the Visual Studio environment. Visual Studio includes a rich automation object model that can be used to interact with just about every part of Visual Studio.
The hacks in this chapter cover the Visual Studio automation object model, its various classes and how they can be used, how to reference the DTE assembly from outside of Visual Studio, and how to add a new file template to Visual Studio.
This chapter also covers how to write and install Visual Studio add-ins, as well as how to find commands in Visual Studio and create a custom icon for your add-in.