This schema is used for installing extensions to Visual Studio. The Identifier section is used to uniquely identify the extension and provide metadata about the extension. The Name element is the product name. The Author element is the person or company creating the extension. The Version element is the version of the extension. The convention for version is A.B.C.D. For example: 1.0.0.0 The Description element is used to describe the extension. The Locale element describes the locale of the extension. The locale value is a four digit numerical value. For example: 1033 is English, 1041 is Japanese. The MoreInfoUrl element is used to provide additional information to the consumer of the extension. The hyperlink to the URL provided appears in the Extension Manager UI inside the product. The License element allows the developer to specify a license or end user licensing agreement (EULA). The license is displayed when the consumer of the extension tries to install the extension. The license can be a text file or an RTF file. The GettingStartedGuide element is a link to a website or file that gets launched in the client's browser after the extension is installed. This provides the developer an opportunity to provide additional information or help to the consumer once the extension is installed. The ReleaseNotes element is a link to a website or file that gets launched in the client's browser (for web addresses) or a dialog or a dialog for local files when the user clicks the link the Extension Manager UI. This provides the developer an opportunity to provide information about changes to the extension from version to version. The Icon element allows the developer to provide an icon that appears in the Extension Manager UI when browsing for the extension. The Preview element allows the developer to provide an image that appears in the Extension Manager UI preview pane when browsing for the extension. The InstalledByMsi element should be used if the VSIX is being installed by an MSI. Setting this property to true means the extension will appear in the Extension Manager if the manifest is placed in a supported location on disk. However, the end user will not be able to uninstall it. The user will need to remove the extension from Windows Add/Remove Programs by uninstalling the parent MSI. The SupportedProducts element is a list of elements the extension will target. This will target the Integrated Shell and all VS Editions. This will target VS Community, Professional and Enterprise. This will target VS Community, Professional and Enterprise. This will target VS Premium and Ultimate. This will target VS Ultimate. This will target VS Enterprise. This will target Express for Web. This will target Express for Windows. This will target Express for Desktop. This will target all Express products. The Version attribute maps to the version of Visual Studio. For VS 2010, the version is 10.0 The IsolatedShell element is used to describe which Isolated shell the extension can target. The SupportedFrameworkRuntimeEdition element is used to describe the minimum and maximum .NET Framework runtime required for the extension to run correctly. The SystemComponent element will hide the extension from the Extension Manager UI. Warning, users will not be able to uninstall the extension through the Extension Manager UI if this is set. Setting the AllUsers element to "true" will force the extension to be installed to the Per Machine location. This location for VS 2010 is %VSInstallDir%\Common7\Ide\Extensions\[Author]\[Name]\[Version] The AllowClientRole element specifies whether the extension is client enabled or not. The Id attribute is a unique string for the extension. An extension with the same Id value and a newer version value of another extension is an update of that extension. The Id string can be any string and does not have to be a GUID. The References section allows the extension creator to define the dependencies that are required for their extension. If the referenced VSIX is not installed or carried as a payload, the install will fail. The end user will see an error message and be provided a link to download the missing dependency. The Name element is the product name of the missing dependency. The MoreInfoUrl is the URL where the end user can get more information about the dependency or a link to a page where they can download the dependency. The VsixPath element allows the dependency to be carried as a payload. The path will refer to a relative path to the .VSIX file from the root of the outer VSIX. The Id attribute is the Id of the missing dependency that is being referenced. The MinVersion and MaxVersion attributes provide an optional range of versions of the missing dependency. It is up to the developer to ensure a MaxVersion if there are known breaking changes in a newer release. The MinVersion and MaxVersion attributes provide an optional range of versions of the missing dependency. It is up to the developer to ensure a MaxVersion if there are known breaking changes in a newer release. The Content section is used to describe the payload in the VSIX. Not all content needs to be described. Only the extension types need to be defined. The ProjectTemplate element is a directory name of where the project template zip appears in the VSIX. This must be a directory. The ItemTemplate element is a directory name of where the item template zip file appears in the VSIX. This must be a directory. The Assembly element is used if there is a project or item template which requires a wizard. The Assembly value will point to the assembly file in the VSIX. The AssemblyName is the full strong name of the Assembly. This is required to properly load the template wizard. The MefComponent element defines the location of the MEF assembly in the VSIX package. The Sample element defines the location of the sample folder in the VSIX package. The ProgrammingLanguages is the list of programming languages for projects in the sample. The TargetFrameworks is the list of target frameworks for projects in the sample. The CategorizationPath is the path specifying the categorization in the new project dialog. The path segments should be separated by the '\' character. The StartupFiles is the list of files in the sample folder to start when the sample is instantiated. The paths should be relative to the sample folder root. The DefaultName is the default name of the sample in the New Project Dialog. Defaults to the name of the sample solution if not specified. The SolutionPath is the path to the solution file the sample folder to start when the sample is instantiated. The path should be relative to the sample folder root. The VsPackage element defines the location of the .pkgdef file in the VSIX package. The ToolboxControl defines the location of the .pkgdef file in the VSIX that is used to register the ToolboxControl. The CustomExtension element is used for defining a custom elemenet that the Extension Manager can load. The value can be a path to a file or a directory within the VSIX file. The Version attribute is the version of the VSIX file. For VS 2010, use 1.0.0