How to inspect / disassemble a Visual Studio Extension

Question

I have a visual studio extension (.vsix) which I want to inspect and/or preferably disassemble as it contains some source code that I want to research.

I am using Visual C# 2010 Express Edition, however I would like an external tool if such a thing exists.

Can anyone suggest where I might find tools for inspecting / disassembling extensions?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Change the extension of the vsix file to zip and then use your favorite disassembler on the DLLs it contains.

Answer 2

As already said, VS plugins are just glorified zip-archives. Rename plugin file from vsix to zip, unpack it and decompile. I have just done it with free Teleric Just Decompile and got this code out of nuget package:

protected virtual bool CollapseVersions
{
    get
    {
        SwitchParameter allVersions = this.AllVersions;
        if (allVersions.IsPresent)
        {
            return false;
        }
        else
        {
            return this.ListAvailable;
        }
    }
}

Pretty cool!