Creating the Project

To create a new DSL Designer, choose the Domain Specific Language Designer project type under the Extensibility branch of Other Project Types, as shown in Figure 6-2. Click OK.

Figure 6-2

The Domain Specific Language Designer wizard is then displayed. For this project, you want to define your own language, so select the Minimal Language template as shown in Figure 6-3. Other templates are included as examples to demonstrate how you might construct your language. Selecting one of these templates will give you a completed Language Model and Designer, enabling you to run the designer immediately by pressing F5.

Figure 6-3

Click the Next Button on the wizard and set Company Name, Designer Name, and File Extension as appropriate. The designer name is used for the namespace and code files, and the file extension is used by VS to identify the designer for a given extension so files can be opened in the correct designer. The remaining steps enable you to de-register any other designers using the file extension, specify a key file that will be used to code sign your designer assembly, and provide a name for the Visual Studio SDK package that will host your designer.