Create Tool Windows

What you should know beforehand:

Examples (?):

SampleToolWindowDescriptor.cs - descriptor
SampleToolWindow.cs - registrar
OpenToolWindowAction.cs - action that shows the window

ReSharper SDK provides you an ability to create your own tool windows. There is a special ReSharper ToolWindowManager component that manages all tool windows. To create a tool window means to register it in ToolWindowManager and provide the manager with the window description.

So, here is what you need to create a simple tool window (the minimal set):

Descriptor
Registrar

Learn more about tool windows.

Tool Window Descriptor

As the name suggests it describes your future window: type, ID, caption, icon, and other parameters. Note that it does not provide the window content, i.e. UI controls.

[ToolWindowDescriptor(
        ProductNeutralId = "MyToolWindow",
        Text = "My Plugin",
        Icon = typeof(JetBrains.Ide.Resources.IdeThemedIcons.TextDocument),
        Type = ToolWindowType.MultiInstance,
        VisibilityPersistenceScope = ToolWindowVisibilityPersistenceScope.Global,
        InitialDocking = ToolWindowInitialDocking.Right            
    )
]
public class MyToolWindowDescriptor : ToolWindowDescriptor
{
    public MyToolWindowDescriptor(IApplicationHost host) : base(host)
    {
    }
}

Tool Window Registrar

This is a component that registers tool window in the tool window manager.

public class MyToolWindow
{
    private readonly TabbedToolWindowClass _toolWindowClass;
    private readonly ToolWindowInstance _toolWindowInstance;
 
    public MyToolWindow(Lifetime lifetime, ToolWindowManager toolWindowManager,
        MyToolWindowDescriptor toolWindowDescriptor, IUIApplication uiApplication)
    {
        _toolWindowClass = toolWindowManager.Classes[toolWindowDescriptor] as TabbedToolWindowClass;
        if (_toolWindowClass == null)
            throw new ApplicationException("ToolWindowClass");
 
        _toolWindowInstance = _toolWindowClass.RegisterInstance(lifetime, "My Tool Window", null,
            (lt, twi) =>
            {
                var label = new RichTextLabel(uiApplication)
                {                        
                    Dock = DockStyle.Fill
                };
 
                label.RichTextBlock.Add(new RichText("Hello World!", new TextStyle(FontStyle.Bold)));
                label.RichTextBlock.Parameters = new RichTextBlockParameters(8, ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter);
 
                return new EitherControl(lt, label);
            });
    }

    public void Show()
    {
        _toolWindowInstance.Show();
    }
}

Notes

First you should get an instance of the ToolWindowClass or TabbedToolWindowClass (for window that uses tabs to show other tool windows). Then you can use this object to register a tool window instance (_toolWindowInstance in our example).
Note that if you want to run some routines on window close, you can make it by using the ToolWindowClass.QueryCloseInstances signal. Don't forget to set the tool window instance's QueryClose property to true.
A delegate passed to the RegisterInstance method must return an instance of the EitherControl type. This is the place where you create tool window UI.
To show the window, you must obtain all the required components, e.g., if you use an action:

[Action("ActionOpenMyToolWindow", "Open a sample tool window", Id = 543211)]
public class ActionOpenMyToolWindow : SampleAction, IInsertLast<MainMenuFeaturesGroup>
{
    protected override void RunAction(IDataContext context, DelegateExecute nextExecute)
    {
        var lifetime = context.GetComponent<Lifetime>();
        var toolWindowManager = context.GetComponent<ToolWindowManager>();
        var toolWindowDescriptor = context.GetComponent<MyToolWindowDescriptor>();
        var environment = context.GetComponent<IUIApplication>();
        var toolWindow = new MyToolWindow(lifetime, toolWindowManager, toolWindowDescriptor, environment);
        toolWindow.Show();
    }
}

Last modified: 04 July 2023