Integrating Fossil in the Microsoft Express 2010 IDE

Contributed by Gilles Ganault on 2013-05-24.

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:

Tools > Settings > Expert Settings
Tools > External Tools, where the items in this list map to "External Tool X" that we'll add to our own Fossil menu later:

Rename the default "[New Tool 1]" to eg. "Commit" 2.
Change Command to where Fossil is located eg. "c:\fossil.exe"
Change Arguments to the required command, eg. "commit -m". The user will be prompted to type the comment that Commit expects
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
Check "Prompt for arguments", since Commit requires typing a comment. Useless for commands like Changes that don't require arguments
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
Click on OK

Tools > Customize > Commands

With "Menu bar = Menu Bar" selected, click on "Add New Menu". A new "Fossil" menu is displayed in the IDE's menu bar
Click on "Modify Selection" to rename it "Fossil", and...
Use the "Move Down" button to move it lower in the list

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".