Services Reference

Visual Studio exposes functionality through services accessed via IServiceProvider.QueryService(). This reference documents the most commonly used services.

Service Provider Pattern

// Async (recommended)
var service = await ServiceProvider.GetServiceAsync(typeof(SVsUIShell)) as IVsUIShell;

// Sync (legacy)
var service = (IVsTextManager)GetService(typeof(SVsTextManager));

Text Management Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsTextManager`	`IVsTextManager`, `IVsTextManager2`	Text buffer and view management
`SVsCodeWindow`	`IVsCodeWindow`	Code editor window access
`SVsCodeWindowManager`	`IVsCodeWindowManager`	Code window dropdowns and adornments
`SVsLinkedUndoTransactionManager`	`IVsLinkedUndoTransactionManager`	Linked undo operations
`SVsExpansionManager`	`IVsExpansionManager`	Code snippet expansion
`SVsTextSpanSet`	`IVsTextSpanSet`	Text span collections
`SVsRegisterFindScope`	`IVsRegisterFindScope`	Custom find scopes

// Example: Get active text view
var textManager = (IVsTextManager)GetService(typeof(SVsTextManager));
textManager.GetActiveView(1, null, out IVsTextView activeView);

Project and Solution Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsTrackProjectDocuments`	`IVsTrackProjectDocuments2`	Track document changes
`SVsQueryEditQuerySave`	`IVsQueryEditQuerySave2`	Source control edit/save
`SVsProjectMRU`	`IVsProjectMRU`	Recent projects list
`SVsDesignTimeAssemblyResolution`	`IVsDesignTimeAssemblyResolution`	Design-time assembly resolution
`SVsStartupProjectsListService`	`IVsStartupProjectsListService`	Startup projects

// Example: Track document changes
var tracker = (IVsTrackProjectDocuments2)GetService(typeof(SVsTrackProjectDocuments));
tracker.AdviseTrackProjectDocumentsEvents(myEventSink, out uint cookie);

Source Control Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsSccManager`	`IVsSccManager2`, `IVsSccManager3`	Source control manager
`SVsSccToolsOptions`	`IVsSccToolsOptions`	SCC options
`SVsRegisterScciProvider`	`IVsRegisterScciProvider`	Register SCC providers

Debug Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsShellDebugger`	`IVsDebugger`, `IVsDebugger2`, `IVsDebugger3`	Main debugger service
`SVsDebugTargetSelectionService`	`IVsDebugTargetSelectionService`	Debug target selection

// Example: Check debug mode
var debugger = (IVsDebugger)GetService(typeof(SVsShellDebugger));
DBGMODE[] mode = new DBGMODE[1];
debugger.GetMode(mode);

if (mode[0] == DBGMODE.DBGMODE_Break)
{
    // At breakpoint
}

Shell Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsUIShell`	`IVsUIShell`, `IVsUIShell2`	UI shell (dialogs, windows)
`SVsGeneralOutputWindowPane`	`IVsOutputWindowPane`	General output pane
`SVsSolutionPersistence`	`IVsSolutionPersistence`	Solution persistence
`SVsMonitorUserContext`	`IVsMonitorUserContext`	F1 Help context

// Example: Show message box
var uiShell = (IVsUIShell)GetService(typeof(SVsUIShell));
Guid clsid = Guid.Empty;
uiShell.ShowMessageBox(0, ref clsid, "Title", "Message", null, 0,
    OLEMSGBUTTON.OLEMSGBUTTON_OK, OLEMSGDEFBUTTON.OLEMSGDEFBUTTON_FIRST,
    OLEMSGICON.OLEMSGICON_INFO, 0, out int result);

Component Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SComponentModel`	`IComponentModel`	MEF component model
`SVsFrameworkMultiTargeting`	`IVsFrameworkMultiTargeting`	Multi-targeting info
`SVsSettingsManager`	`IVsSettingsManager`	VS settings

// Example: Get MEF service
var componentModel = (IComponentModel)GetService(typeof(SComponentModel));
var myService = componentModel.GetService<IMyMefService>();

UI Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsThreadedWaitDialogFactory`	`IVsThreadedWaitDialogFactory`	Wait dialogs
`SVsInfoBarUIFactory`	`IVsInfoBarUIFactory`	Info bar UI
`SVsActivityLog`	`IVsActivityLog`	Activity logging

// Example: Threaded wait dialog
var factory = (IVsThreadedWaitDialogFactory)GetService(typeof(SVsThreadedWaitDialogFactory));
factory.CreateInstance(out IVsThreadedWaitDialog2 dialog);
dialog.StartWaitDialog("Working...", "Please wait...", null, null, null, 0, false, true);
// ... do work ...
dialog.EndWaitDialog(out bool cancelled);

Build Services

Service ID	Interface	Description
`SVsBuildManagerAccessor`	`IVsBuildManagerAccessor`	Build manager access

Best Practices

Async Service Access

// Preferred: async
var service = await ServiceProvider.GetServiceAsync(typeof(SVsUIShell)) as IVsUIShell;

// With Community Toolkit
var service = await VS.GetServiceAsync<SVsUIShell, IVsUIShell>();

Null Checking

var service = GetService(typeof(SVsTextManager)) as IVsTextManager;
if (service == null)
{
    // Handle missing service
    return;
}

Thread Safety

await ThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory.SwitchToMainThreadAsync();
var uiShell = (IVsUIShell)GetService(typeof(SVsUIShell));

Error Handling

int hr = textManager.GetActiveView(1, null, out activeView);
if (ErrorHandler.Failed(hr))
{
    // Log or handle error
    return;
}