Unzipping/extracting MSI files

Not that often but sometimes I need to extract some dlls from msi packages. msiexec provides all the functions which are needed as described here.

Usually I’m working using the command line

msiexec /a foo.msi /qb TARGETDIR="C:\TEMP\Foo"

but sometimes it’s helpful to have a context menu entry like this.

To add the Extract MSI entry to the context menu you’ve to add it to the registry, details here or use gist below. The second gist shows how a .bat file which can extract all msi’s in a folder can look like.

VS2012.2 – tips and tricks–team explorer shortcuts and patterns

With the upcoming Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 and Visual Studio Tools for Git support for Git source control is coming to visual studio.

For this the Visual Studio team has adopted some parts of VS2012 new Team Explorer UI to make it easier to connect to different repositories in a quicker way.

Like in my previous shortcuts and patterns post I’ve tried to adapt the existing pattern to support the new Visual Studio Tools for Git extension.

Team commands	shortcuts
View.TfsTeamExplorer	SHIFT + ALT + V, T
View.TfsSourceControlExplorer	SHIFT + ALT + V, S

Pattern for “classic” Team Explorer commands: SHIFT + ALT + T

Team Explorer commands	shortcuts
Team.TeamExplorerSearch	STRG + ä
TeamFoundationContextMenus.Commands.GoToHome	SHIFT + ALT + T, H
TeamFoundationContextMenus.Commands.GoToBuilds	SHIFT + ALT + T, B
TeamFoundationContextMenus.Commands.GoToWorkItems	SHIFT + ALT + T, W
TeamFoundationContextMenus.Commands.GoToPendingChanges	SHIFT + ALT + T, P
TeamFoundationContextMenus.Commands.GoToMyWork	SHIFT + ALT + T, M
TeamFoundationContextMenus.Commands.GoToWebAccess	SHIFT + ALT + T, A

Pattern for Editor/SourceControl: SHIFT + ALT + S

TFS Editor/SourceControl commands	shortcuts
File.TfsHistory	SHIFT + ALT + S, H
File.TfsAnnotate	SHIFT + ALT + S, A
File.TfsCompare	SHIFT + ALT + S, C
File.TfsUndoCheckout	SHIFT + ALT + S, U

Pattern for Git Team Explorer commands: SHIFT + ALT + T

Team Explorer commands	shortcuts	scope
Team.Git.GoToGitBranches	SHIFT + ALT + G, B	global
Team.Git.GoToGitChanges	SHIFT + ALT + G, G	global
Team.Git.GoToGitCommits	SHIFT + ALT + G, C	global
Team.Git.OpenCommandPrompt	SHIFT + ALT + O, P	Team Explorer
Team.Git.OpenFileExplorer	SHIFT + ALT + O, E	Team Explorer
Team.Git.Push	SHIFT + ALT + G, P	Team Explorer
Team.Git.ViewHistory	SHIFT + ALT + G, H	global