Peder Borg Borup

Although I know, that the majority of people use C# for creating plugins to Windows Live Writer – I’d still like to make a small guide into the basic concept of creating a plugin using VB.NET.

1) Create a new project in Visual Studio .NET
  
Select the template "Class Library" and type the name of your project in the Name field.

2) Delete the default class created.

3) Add a new class to your project.

4) Add a reference to the Windows Live Writer API.

- and a reference to System.Windows.Forms

5) Import the namespaces

Imports WindowsLive.Writer.Api


Imports System.Windows.Forms

7) Create a Folder in your project and name it Images:

Create a new PNG-image at the size of 20 by 18 pixels and save it in your "Images"-folder.

Add the file as a ressource

1. Double-click "My Project"
2. Click "Resources"
3. Click "Add Resource" – and make sure you click "Add Existing File", and select the image saved in your Images-folder
4. If you find that type system.drawing.bitmap is not defined – try adding and removing a form.

10) Click your image in the Images-folder and under Build Action select "Embedded Resource".

9) Add some code (Please note, that the GUID should be unique for your plugin – if you need a guid – then go to http://www.replymedia.net/guid):

Imports WindowsLive.Writer.Api


Imports System.Windows.Forms





<WriterPluginAttribute("05D06AD8-694D-458B-9631-F8F19F88A9BA", _


"Insert current date and time", _


Description:="Inserts current date and time", _


ImagePath:="DemoPlugin.png", _


HasEditableOptions:=False, _


PublisherUrl:="http://tech.pederborgpoulsen.dk"), _


InsertableContentSourceAttribute("Current Date and Time")> _


Public Class Plugin


    Inherits ContentSource





    'Overrides the function CreateContent


    Public Overrides Function CreateContent(ByVal dialogOwner As System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, ByRef newContent As String) As System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult





        Try


            'Adding content to newContent - newContent is returned to Windows Live Writer


            newContent = FormatDateTime(Now(), DateFormat.GeneralDate).ToString





            'Returns to caller


            Return DialogResult.OK





        Catch ex As Exception





            'Do some error-handling





        End Try





    End Function





End Class

10) Build the project and copy the DLL-file to your Windows Live Write Plugin-directory.

11) Start or Restart Windows Live Writer – and notice that your plugin appears in the Insert-list:

12) And that clicking on it inserts the current date and time: 05-09-2006 21:32:33

… Happy Coding …