AMP Visual Studio Plugin - .NET 8 Template

Professional Visual Studio extension providing a modern .NET 8 project template for CubeCoders AMP plugin development.

🎯 Purpose

This extension updates the outdated .NET Framework 4.8 AMP plugin template to modern .NET 8, enabling developers to create AMP plugins using current technology and best practices.

✨ Features

• ✅ Modern .NET 8 - SDK-style project format
• ✅ C# 12 - Latest language features
• ✅ Nullable Reference Types - Better null safety
• ✅ Complete Example - Full PluginMain.cs implementation
• ✅ Web Interface - Dark theme HTML/CSS/JS template
• ✅ API Helpers - JavaScript functions for AMP API calls
• ✅ Comprehensive Docs - README with examples and guides

📦 What's Included

Template Structure

YourPlugin/
├── YourPlugin.csproj          # .NET 8 SDK-style project
├── PluginMain.cs              # Complete plugin implementation
├── README.md                  # Project documentation
└── WebRoot/
    ├── Plugin.html            # Web interface
    ├── CSS/
    │   └── Plugin.css         # Dark theme stylesheet
    └── Scripts/
        └── Plugin.js          # API helper functions

Code Features

• Modern async/await patterns
• Web API method examples with [WebMethod] attribute
• Lifecycle management (Init/Shutdown)
• IPC method support
• Error handling examples
• Full XML documentation

🚀 Installation

From Visual Studio Marketplace (Recommended)

1. Open Visual Studio 2022
2. Go to Extensions → Manage Extensions
3. Search for "AMP Plugin Template"
4. Click Install
5. Restart Visual Studio

Manual Installation

1. Download AMPPluginTemplate.NET8.vsix
2. Double-click the file
3. Visual Studio will install the extension
4. Restart Visual Studio

📝 Usage

Create New Plugin

1. Open Visual Studio 2022
2. File → New → Project
3. Search for "AMP Plugin"
4. Select AMP Plugin (.NET 8)
5. Enter your plugin name
6. Click Create

Configure AMP Path

Before building, set your AMP installation directory:

Option A: Environment Variable

setx AMPINSTALLDIR "C:\Path\To\Your\AMP\Installation"

Option B: Edit .csproj

<Reference Include="ModuleShared">
  <HintPath>C:\Your\Path\ModuleShared.dll</HintPath>
  <Private>false</Private>
</Reference>

Build Your Plugin

dotnet build -c Release

Output: bin\Release\net8.0\

Deploy to AMP

Windows:

xcopy /E /I bin\Release\net8.0\* "%ProgramData%\CubeCoders\AMP\instances\[Instance]\Plugins\[YourPlugin]\"

Linux:

sudo -u amp cp -r bin/Release/net8.0/* /home/amp/.ampdata/instances/[Instance]/Plugins/[YourPlugin]/

Restart AMP:

ampinstmgr restart [InstanceName]

💻 Example Code

Basic Plugin Structure

namespace MyPlugin;

public class PluginMain : AMPPlugin
{
    public override string DisplayName => "My Plugin";
    public override string Author => "Your Name";
    public override Guid PluginID => new Guid("12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc");
    public override string PluginVersion => "1.0.0";
    public override bool HasWebRoot => true;
    
    public override void Init(IApplicationWrapper app, ProviderManifest manifest)
    {
        base.Init(app, manifest);
        Console.WriteLine("[MyPlugin] Loaded!");
    }
}

Web API Method

[WebMethod("Get server status", "status")]
public ActionResult GetStatus()
{
    return new ActionResult
    {
        Status = ActionStatus.OK,
        Result = new { success = true, uptime = TimeSpan.FromHours(24) }
    };
}

🔄 Differences from Old Template

Feature	Old Template (.NET 4.8)	New Template (.NET 8)
Project Format	Legacy .csproj	SDK-style
Target Framework	net48	net8.0
NuGet	packages.config	PackageReference
AssemblyInfo	Separate file	In .csproj
Nullable Types	Disabled	Enabled
C# Version	7.3	12.0
Build Tool	msbuild	dotnet CLI

📋 Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 (17.0 or later)
• .NET 8 SDK (Download)
• CubeCoders AMP 2.5+ (runs on .NET 8)

🛠️ For Extension Development

Building the VSIX

cd /path/to/repo
zip -r AMPPluginTemplate.NET8.vsix extension.vsixmanifest [Content_Types].xml LICENSE.txt icon.png preview.png ProjectTemplates/AMPPluginTemplate.zip

Updating the Template

1. Edit files in ProjectTemplates/
2. Rebuild template ZIP:

cd ProjectTemplates
zip -r AMPPluginTemplate.zip *

3. Rebuild VSIX (see above)
4. Test in Visual Studio

Publishing to Marketplace

See MARKETPLACE_SETUP_GUIDE.md for detailed instructions.

📚 Documentation

• Installation Guide - Complete setup instructions
• Publishing Guide - How to publish to VS Marketplace
• Quick Start - Quick reference guide

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork this repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

🐛 Issues & Support

• GitHub Issues: Report a bug or request a feature
• Website: barrersoftware.com

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE.txt for details.

Important Notes

• This is an independent community contribution
• Not officially endorsed by CubeCoders Limited
• AMP is a trademark of CubeCoders Limited
• Template designed for use with AMP software
• No affiliation or warranty implied

🙏 Credits

Created by: Barrer Software
With assistance from: GitHub Copilot CLI
For: CubeCoders AMP community
Icon Design: Modern shield (Windows Defender inspired)

📊 Project Stats

• Extension Size: 21 KB
• Template Files: 8 files
• Code Examples: Complete plugin with web interface
• Documentation: Comprehensive guides included
• License: MIT (free and open source)

🔗 Links

• Visual Studio Marketplace: Coming soon
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/barrersoftware/AMP-Visual-Studios-plugin
• AMP Documentation: https://cubecoders.com/AMPdocs
• .NET 8 Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/whats-new/dotnet-8

📅 Version History

v2.0.1 (2025-10-21)

• ✅ Modern shield icon (Windows Defender style)
• ✅ Professional appearance
• ✅ Updated preview images

v2.0.0 (2025-10-21)

• ✅ Initial release
• ✅ .NET 8 support
• ✅ SDK-style project format
• ✅ Complete example plugin
• ✅ Web interface template
• ✅ Comprehensive documentation

---

Made with ❤️ for the AMP community

Helping developers create modern AMP plugins with .NET 8