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Auto Saving Project Items |   | Microsoft Word has an auto save capability and Visual Studio .NET does not. Is there a way to implement auto save in an add-in? In this article I will show you a Class to automatically save all changed project items at a user specified time interval. If you have ever had your computer hang or crash and you realize that you have been coding for an hour and have lost your code, this type of functionality will suddenly become invaluable.
To implement auto save functionality, I will instantiate a class when the add-in is started and it will automatically save at the interval that I specify. First, I will show the code required in the Connect class of the add-in and then show the code for the auto save class itself.
In the declaration section of the Connect class of your add-in, place the following declaration. I only dimension the object here, because I want the activation of the functionality to be optional, based on a registry or configuration file setting.
Public Shared objAutoSave As CAutoSave
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In the OnConnection method of the connect class, I will place the following code. It checks a registry setting that determines the number of minutes at which the class is to auto save project items. If the setting is set to zero, I will not activate the auto save class. I use a setup form in my add-ins and this registry setting is one of the parameters that I would be able to set from the setup dialog. If the value of AutoSave is greater than zero, I instantiate the object and pass two parameters to the constructor. The first is the application object, which I have saved in an object named oVS. The second parameter is the number of minutes between auto saves.
' if autosave is configured to run, start it up
Dim iMinutes As Integer = _
GetSetting(Me.APP_TITLE, Me.SETTINGS, "AutoSave", 0)
If iMinutes > 0 Then
objAutoSave = New CAutoSave(oVS, iMinutes)
End If
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The code for the auto save class will be displayed and documented below. The code is commented.
Imports Extensibility
Imports EnvDTE
Imports System.Timers
Public Class CAutoSave
Public SaveTimeInMinutes As Integer
Private oVB As EnvDTE.DTE
WithEvents AutoSaveTimer As New System.Timers.Timer()
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This is the main method and is responsible for saving the open documents. Obviously, any windows that are not open do not need to be saved.
Public Sub SaveAllDirtySolutionObjects()
Dim docs As Documents
Dim doc As Document
Dim prj As Project
Dim prjs As Projects
Dim SBar As EnvDTE.StatusBar
Dim i As Integer
Dim count As Integer
Try
Dim sln As Solution = oVS.Solution
SBar = oVS.StatusBar
If Not sln Is Nothing Then
' get count of the number of open documents.
' only open windows can be dirty
count = oVS.Documents.Count
i = 1
' loop through the open documents
For Each doc In oVS.Documents
' a little flash for the audience, update the
' IDE status bar as the windows are saved
SBar.Progress(True, "AutoSaving " & doc.Name, i, count)
SBar.SetLineColumnCharacter(i, count, 0)
i += 1
' save the current document if dirty
If Not doc.Saved Then
doc.Save(doc.FullName)
End If
Next
' save the projects
' this sometimes fails so ignore the error
For Each prj In sln.Projects
Try
prj.Save(prj.FullName)
Catch
End Try
Next
End If
' All done, so get rid of the bar.
SBar.Progress(False)
Exit Sub
Catch
End Try
End Sub
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This is the class constructor. It accepts two parameter, previously described, and initiates an object of the System Timer class. The timer will fire at intervals set by the parameter passed from the OnConnection method.
Public Sub New(ByRef roVS As EnvDTE.DTE, _
ByVal MinutesToSave As Integer)
oVS = roVS
Me.SaveTimeInMinutes = MinutesToSave
Me.AutoSaveTimer.Interval = Me.SaveTimeInMinutes * 60 * 1000
AutoSaveTimer.Enabled = True
End Sub
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This event handles the firing of the timer. It checks to see if the user has turned off the timer from the setup dialog. If so, it does not save.
Private Sub AutoSaveTimer_Elapsed(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs) _
Handles AutoSaveTimer.Elapsed
' user could have changed the save time or turned off auto save
If Me.SaveTimeInMinutes <> 0 Then
SaveAllDirtySolutionObjects()
Me.AutoSaveTimer.Interval = Me.SaveTimeInMinutes * 60 * 1000
Else
Me.AutoSaveTimer.Interval = 0
Me.AutoSaveTimer.Enabled = False
End If
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub Finalize()
MyBase.Finalize()
Try
Me.AutoSaveTimer.Enabled = False
Me.AutoSaveTimer.Interval = 0
AutoSaveTimer = Nothing
Catch
End Try
End Sub
End Class
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