UIHierarchy Interface

  • Article

Represents standard tool windows in the integrated development environment (IDE) that use hierarchical trees of data, such as Solution Explorer, Server Explorer, and Macro Explorer.

Namespace:  EnvDTE
Assembly:  EnvDTE (in EnvDTE.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<GuidAttribute("72A2A2EF-C209-408C-A377-76871774ADB7")> _
Public Interface UIHierarchy

[GuidAttribute("72A2A2EF-C209-408C-A377-76871774ADB7")]
public interface UIHierarchy

[GuidAttribute(L"72A2A2EF-C209-408C-A377-76871774ADB7")]
public interface class UIHierarchy

[<GuidAttribute("72A2A2EF-C209-408C-A377-76871774ADB7")>]
type UIHierarchy =  interface end

public interface UIHierarchy

The UIHierarchy type exposes the following members.

Properties

  Name Description
Public property DTE Gets the top-level extensibility object.
Public property Parent Gets the immediate parent object of a UIHierarchy object.
Public property SelectedItems Gets a collection of all of the currently selected items.
Public property UIHierarchyItems Gets a collection representing children of the item.

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Methods

  Name Description
Public method DoDefaultAction In the hierarchy, performs the same action as if the user had double-clicked or pressed ENTER.
Public method GetItem Gets the item designated by given path.
Public method SelectDown Selects the node immediately below the currently selected node with respect to the tree's current expansion state.
Public method SelectUp Selects the node immediately above the currently selected node with respect to the tree's current expansion state.

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Remarks

The UIHierarchy object provides a common object model for standard tool windows that present hierarchical data in a tree view. You can select items regardless of whether the expansion state of the tree shows the item. Selecting an item that is not shown in the current tree expansion causes the tree to expand to show the item.

You obtain this object by using Window.Object on any standard tree-view tool window.

Because the UIHierarchy object represents any tree view-type window, it is a Window object. Its UIHierarchyItems property returns the collection of top-level nodes in the specified window. In Solution Explorer, there is only a single top-level node, the solution. In Macro Explorer, there is also only one top-level node, the Macros node. This means that the project nodes are not in the window's UIHierarchyItems collection, but rather in the top-level node's collection.

Bearing this in mind, there are two ways to access a particular node (UIHierarchyItem):

  • Use the GetItem method to directly reference the desired node.

  • Use UIHierarchyItems.Item.UIHierarchyItems... (a collection/item/collection... pattern).

    To navigate deeper into a node nesting, keep using this pattern. For example, to navigate to the second node under the top-level node, use UIHierarchy.UIHierarchyItems.Item(1).UIHierarchyItems.Item(2).

Following are examples of how to use both techniques to access a lower-level node.

Examples

This example uses the GetItem method strategy of accessing a node in a UIHierarchy.

Sub UIHierarchyExample1()
   'Reference the UIHierarchy, UIHierarchyItem, and OutputWindow objects.
   Dim UIH As UIHierarchy = _
     DTE.Windows.Item(Constants.vsWindowKindMacroExplorer).Object
   Dim samples As UIHierarchyItem = UIH.GetItem("Macros\Samples")
   Dim OWPane As OutputWindowPane = GetOutputWindowPane("List Macros")
   Dim file As UIHierarchyItem

   OWPane.Clear()
   For Each file In samples.UIHierarchyItems
      OWPane.OutputString(file.Name & _
        Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
      Dim macro As UIHierarchyItem
      For Each macro In file.UIHierarchyItems
         OWPane.OutputString("   " & macro.Name & _
           Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
      Next
   Next
End Sub

Function GetOutputWindowPane(ByVal Name As String, Optional ByVal show _
  As Boolean = True) As OutputWindowPane
   Dim win As Window = _
     DTE.Windows.Item(EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindOutput)
   If show Then win.Visible = True
   Dim ow As OutputWindow = win.Object
   Dim owpane As OutputWindowPane
   Try
      owpane = ow.OutputWindowPanes.Item(Name)
   Catch e As System.Exception
      owpane = ow.OutputWindowPanes.Add(Name)
   End Try
   owpane.Activate()
   Return owpane
End Function

This example uses the UIHierarchyItems.Item.UIHierarchyItems strategy for accessing a node in a UIHierarchy.

Sub UIHierarchyExample2()
   Dim UIH As UIHierarchy = _
     DTE.Windows.Item(Constants.vsWindowKindMacroExplorer).Object
     ' Set a reference to the "Samples" node in Macro Explorer. The 
     ' collections are one-based.
     Dim UIHItem As UIHierarchyItem = _
     UIH.UIHierarchyItems.Item(1).UIHierarchyItems.Item(2)
   Dim file As UIHierarchyItem
   Dim OWPane As OutputWindowPane = GetOutputWindowPane("List Macros")
   For Each file In UIHItem.UIHierarchyItems
      OWPane.OutputString(file.Name & _
        Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
      Dim macro As UIHierarchyItem
      For Each macro In file.UIHierarchyItems
         OWPane.OutputString("   " & macro.Name & _
           Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
      Next
   Next
End Sub

See Also

Reference

EnvDTE Namespace

Other Resources

How to: Manipulate Tree Views by Using UIHierarchy