How do I set the registry in the Deployment Project so that my add-in can be connected to both releases of .NET?
You can create an add-in under the 1.0 Release of .NET and connect it to both the 1.0 and 1.1 Release of the Visual Studio .NET IDE. However, you cannot create an add-in under 1.1 and expect to connect it to the 1.0 IDE.
Building the registry entries for the 1.0 Add-in Manager will be accomplished by the installation of the add-in automatically. However, the installation will not automatically create registry entries for the 1.1 Add-in Manager. You must set up those registry entries in the deployment project manually, as described below. Figure 1, shown below, shows the result of following the steps outlined below:
1. In the Solution Explorer, right click on the Setup Project.
2. Select the View menu option and then select Registry.
3. A view of the registry entries that are to be setup, that are automatically built in the deployment project, wiil be shown in the TreeView in the left pane of the window. Open up the tree as shown by click the "+" to the left of each succeeding node beginning with HKEY-LOCAL-MACHINE.
4. You will see that the entries have been set up for NetCommander, for Release 1.0, or Visual Studio 7.0.
5. All you need to do now is to duplicate the nodes beginning by adding "7.1" under Visual Studio. Simply duplicate all of the entries from the 7.0 to 7.1.
When you create the deployment project, and subsequently install it on the target computer, you will find that the proper entries have been created and both releases of .NET can connect and use your add-in.
Figure 1 - Adding Registry Entires for the Target Machine.
