<h1>Integrating Fossil in the Microsoft Express 2010 IDE</h1>

<i>Contributed by Gilles Ganault on 2013-05-24.</i>

The Express version of Visual Studio doesn't support add-in's and plug-in's,
but it's not an issue since it's still possible to use Fossil through the
External Tools menu and Fossil is a CLI application anyway:

<ol type="1">
    <li>Tools &gt; Settings &gt; Expert Settings</li>
    <li>Tools &gt; External Tools, where the items in this list map
        to "External Tool X" that we'll add to our own Fossil
        menu later: </li>
    <ol type="1">
        <li>Rename the default "&#91;New Tool 1&#93;" to eg.
        "Commit"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2. 
        </li>
        <li>Change Command to where Fossil is located eg.
            "c:\fossil.exe"</li>
        <li>Change Arguments to the required command, eg.
            "commit -m". 
        The user will be prompted to type the comment that Commit expects</li>
        <li>Set "Initial Directory" to point it to the work directory 
        where the source files are currently checked out
        by Fossil (eg. c:\Workspace). It's also possible to use system
        variables such as "$(ProjectDir)" instead of hard-coding the path</li>
        <li>Check "Prompt for arguments", since Commit
        requires typing a comment. Useless for commands like Changes
        that don't require arguments</li>
        <li>Uncheck "Close on Exit", so we can see what Fossil says 
        before closing the DOS box. Note that "Use Output Window" 
        will display the output in a child window within the IDE instead of 
        opening a DOS box</li>
        <li>Click on OK</li>
    </ol>
    <li>Tools &gt; Customize &gt; Commands</li>
    <ol type="1">
        <li>With "Menu bar = Menu Bar" selected, click on "Add 
        New Menu". A new "Fossil" menu is displayed in the
        IDE's menu bar</li>
        <li>Click on "Modify Selection" to rename it
        "Fossil", and...</li>
        <li>Use the "Move Down" button to move it lower in
        the list</li>
    </ol>
    <li>Still in Customize dialog: In the "Menu bar" combo, select 
    the new Fossil menu you just created, and Click on "Add Command...": 
    From Categories, select Tools, and select "External Command 1". 
    Click on Close. It's unfortunate that the IDE doesn't say which command 
    maps to "External Command X".</li>
</ol>
