If possible, try doing it from an add-in or some facility other than the
macro IDE.
I've seen all sorts of weird errors when dealing with services from the
macro IDE; the macro IDE is a separate process and I am unsure how managed
service objects are translated between processes...

Hi Rick,

I have reproduced the problem with the macros IDE. It works from add-ins,
however. While add-ins in VS.NET are far from trivial, in your case is
simple since you don´t need UI, right? Below you have a minimal add-in that
creates a VS.NET command that when invoked shows a messagebox with the
number of controls selected in the active form, if any. As you know, you can
bind a keyboard shortcut to a command using Tools | Customize... menu,
Keyboard... button, and blah blah.

Imports Microsoft.Office.Core
Imports Extensibility
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports EnvDTE

Module Constants
Friend Const PROGID As String = "MyAddin10.Connect" ' Change this value by
the one generated by the VS.NET wizard for add-ins.
End Module

<GuidAttribute("CB49BCCB-F6D5-4A04-92B2-4F5270624D57"),
ProgIdAttribute(PROGID)> _
Public Class Connect
Implements Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2
Implements EnvDTE.IDTCommandTarget

Private m_COMMAND_NAME As String = "MyCommand"

Private m_objDTE As EnvDTE.DTE
Private m_objAddIn As EnvDTE.AddIn

Public Sub OnBeginShutdown(ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnBeginShutdown
End Sub

Public Sub OnAddInsUpdate(ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnAddInsUpdate
End Sub

Public Sub OnStartupComplete(ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnStartupComplete
End Sub

Public Sub OnDisconnection(ByVal RemoveMode As
Extensibility.ext_DisconnectMode, ByRef custom As System.Array) Implements
Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnDisconnection
End Sub

Public Sub OnConnection(ByVal application As Object, ByVal connectMode As
Extensibility.ext_ConnectMode, ByVal addInInst As Object, ByRef custom As
System.Array) Implements Extensibility.IDTExtensibility2.OnConnection

 Dim objCommand As Command

 m_objDTE = CType(application, EnvDTE.DTE)
 m_objAddIn = CType(addInInst, EnvDTE.AddIn)

 Try
  objCommand = m_objDTE.Commands.Item(PROGID & "." & m_COMMAND_NAME)
 Catch
 End Try

 If objCommand Is Nothing Then
  Try
   objCommand = m_objDTE.Commands.AddNamedCommand(m_objAddIn,
m_COMMAND_NAME, m_COMMAND_NAME, "", True, 59, Nothing,
vsCommandStatus.vsCommandStatusSupported Or
vsCommandStatus.vsCommandStatusEnabled)
  Catch e As System.Exception
   System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(e.ToString, PROGID,
MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
  End Try
 End If

End Sub

Public Sub Exec(ByVal CmdName As String, ByVal ExecuteOption As
EnvDTE.vsCommandExecOption, ByRef VariantIn As Object, ByRef VariantOut As
Object, ByRef handled As Boolean) Implements EnvDTE.IDTCommandTarget.Exec

 Dim objIDesignerHost As System.ComponentModel.Design.IDesignerHost
 Dim objIServiceProvider As System.IServiceProvider
 Dim objISelectionService As System.ComponentModel.Design.ISelectionService

 If CmdName = PROGID & "." & m_COMMAND_NAME Then

  If Not (m_objDTE.ActiveWindow Is Nothing) Then

   If Not (m_objDTE.ActiveWindow.Object Is Nothing) Then

    If TypeOf m_objDTE.ActiveWindow.Object Is
System.ComponentModel.Design.IDesignerHost Then

     objIDesignerHost = DirectCast(m_objDTE.ActiveWindow.Object,
System.ComponentModel.Design.IDesignerHost)

     objIServiceProvider = DirectCast(objIDesignerHost,
System.IServiceProvider)

     objISelectionService =
DirectCast(objIServiceProvider.GetService(GetType(System.ComponentModel.Desi
gn.ISelectionService)), System.ComponentModel.Design.ISelectionService)

     MessageBox.Show(objISelectionService.SelectionCount.ToString & "
control(s) selected")

    End If

   End If

  End If

 End If

End Sub

Public Sub QueryStatus(ByVal CmdName As String, ByVal NeededText As
EnvDTE.vsCommandStatusTextWanted, ByRef StatusOption As
EnvDTE.vsCommandStatus, ByRef CommandText As Object) Implements
EnvDTE.IDTCommandTarget.QueryStatus

 If CmdName = PROGID & "." & m_COMMAND_NAME Then
  StatusOption = vsCommandStatus.vsCommandStatusSupported Or
vsCommandStatus.vsCommandStatusEnabled
 End If

End Sub

End Class

Hi Rick,

You cannot retrieve the IDesignerHost interface from a macro. UI elements
like system.windows.control objects cannot be remoted across processes. As
Adam pointed out the macroing environment is actually in a different
process. You'll need to implement an addin or vsip package to get access to
the IDesignerHost interface.

Sincerely,
Ed Dore [MSFT]

This post is 'AS IS' with no warranties, and confers no rights.