There is a really useful and undocumented assembly that comes with the VS SDK 4.0 that is located under %VSSDK_InstallDir%\%Version_Number%\Prerelease\VSCT\VSCTLibrary.dll
The purpose of this assembly is to provide an API to support the creation/update and browsability of VSCT command definition files.
As I unfortunately said there is no documentation at this moment at MSDN but with the help of Reflector we can browse the API definition easily.
Example:
Lets suppose that we want to create a VSCT based on the following ctc definition:
#include “stdidcmd.h”
#include “vsshlids.h”
#include “msobtnid.h”
#include “CommandIds.h”
#include “Resource.h”
#include “Guids.h”
#define OI_NOID guidOfficeIcon:msotcidNoIcon
#define IDB_MENU_IMAGESÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 300
CMDS_SECTION guidVsPackage2Pkg
 NEWGROUPS_BEGIN
   // NewGroup                      Parent Group                      Priority
   guidVsPackage2CmdSet:MyMenuGroup, guidSHLMainMenu:IDM_VS_MENU_TOOLS, 0×0600;
 NEWGROUPS_END
 BUTTONS_BEGIN
   // Command                        Parent Group                     Priority Image                        Type   Visibility  Text     Â
   guidVsPackage2CmdSet:cmdidMyCommand, guidVsPackage2CmdSet:MyMenuGroup, 0×0100,  guidVsPackage2CmdSet:bmpPic1, BUTTON,           , "My Command name";
 BUTTONS_END
 BITMAPS_BEGIN
   // Bitmap                            Bitmap Index,…
   guidVsPackage2CmdSet:IDB_MENU_IMAGES, bmpPic1
 BITMAPS_END
CMDS_END
// guids.h: definitions of GUIDs/IIDs/CLSIDs used in this VsPackage
// package guid
// { 55d8e094-bc5c-4458-8bf8-421a99af60cf }
#define guidVsPackage2Pkg { 0x55D8E094, 0xBC5C, 0×4458, { 0x8B, 0xF8, 0×42, 0x1A, 0×99, 0xAF, 0×60, 0xCF } }
#ifdef DEFINE_GUID
DEFINE_GUID(CLSID_VsPackage2,
0x55D8E094, 0xBC5C, 0×4458, 0x8B, 0xF8, 0×42, 0x1A, 0×99, 0xAF, 0×60, 0xCF );
#endif
// Command set guid for our commands (used with IOleCommandTarget)
// { fda7d55d-d66c-47d2-85bf-00258bec545a }
#define guidVsPackage2CmdSet { 0xFDA7D55D, 0xD66C, 0x47D2, { 0×85, 0xBF, 0×0, 0×25, 0x8B, 0xEC, 0×54, 0x5A } }
#ifdef DEFINE_GUID
DEFINE_GUID(CLSID_VsPackage2CmdSet,
0xFDA7D55D, 0xD66C, 0x47D2, 0×85, 0xBF, 0×0, 0×25, 0x8B, 0xEC, 0×54, 0x5A );
#endif
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The following simple program shows the usage of the VSCTLibrary.dll API:
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using Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommandTable;
using System;
using System.Globalization;
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namespace VSCTTest
{
   class Program
   {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         CreateCommandTable();
      }
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      private static void CreateCommandTable()
      {
         Guid guidSHLMainMenu = new Guid(“d309f791-903f-11d0-9efc-00a0c911004f”);
         Guid guidVsPackage2Pkg = new Guid(“55d8e094-bc5c-4458-8bf8-421a99af60cf”);
         Guid guidVsPackage2CmdSet = new Guid(“fda7d55d-d66c-47d2-85bf-00258bec545a”);
         uint idm_vs_menu_tools = 133;
         uint myMenuGroup = 4128;
         uint cmdidMyCommand = 256;
         uint idb_menu_images = 300;
         uint bmpPic1 = 1;
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         CommandTable table = new CommandTable();
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         table.AddGuidSymbol(guidSHLMainMenu, “guidSHLMainMenu”);
         table.AddGuidSymbol(guidVsPackage2Pkg, “guidVsPackage2Pkg”);
         table.AddGuidSymbol(guidVsPackage2CmdSet, “guidVsPackage2CmdSet”);
         table.AddIDSymbol(guidSHLMainMenu, idm_vs_menu_tools, “idm_vs_menu_tools”);
         table.AddIDSymbol(guidVsPackage2CmdSet, myMenuGroup, “MyMenuGroup”);
         table.AddIDSymbol(guidVsPackage2CmdSet, cmdidMyCommand, “cmdidMyCommand”);
         table.AddIDSymbol(guidVsPackage2CmdSet, idb_menu_images, “IDB_MENU_IMAGES”);
         table.AddIDSymbol(guidVsPackage2CmdSet, bmpPic1, “bmpPic1″);
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         table.CreateGroup(
            table.GetIDFromGuid(guidVsPackage2CmdSet),
            myMenuGroup,
            table.GetIDFromGuid(guidSHLMainMenu),
            idm_vs_menu_tools,
            1536);
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         BitmapItem bitmap = table.CreateBitmap(
            table.GetIDFromGuid(guidVsPackage2CmdSet),
            idb_menu_images);
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         CommandButton button = table.CreateButton(
            table.GetIDFromGuid(guidVsPackage2Pkg), //If you know the Guid alias you could do table.FindSymbolGuid(“guidVsPackage2Pkg”)
            table.GetIDFromGuid(guidVsPackage2CmdSet),
            cmdidMyCommand,
            table.GetIDFromGuid(guidVsPackage2CmdSet),
            myMenuGroup,
            256);
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         button.IconGID = table.GetIDFromGuid(guidVsPackage2CmdSet);
         button.IconIndex = bmpPic1;
         button.SetMenuText(0, “My Command name”, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
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         SaveOptions options = new SaveOptions(SaveOptions.SaveFormat.XML);
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         table.Save(@”C:\MyCommandDefinition.vsct”, options, null);
      }
   }
}
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This is the result of the program execution:
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<CommandTable language=“en-US“ xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005-10-18/CommandTable“>
 <Commands>
  <Groups>
   <Group guid=“guidVsPackage2CmdSet“ id=“MyMenuGroup“ priority=“0×0600“>
    <Parent guid=“{d309f791-903f-11d0-9efc-00a0c911004f}“ id=“0×0085“ />
   </Group>
  </Groups>
  <Bitmaps>
   <Bitmap guid=“guidVsPackage2CmdSet“ resID=“IDB_MENU_IMAGES“ usedList=“bmpPic1“ />
  </Bitmaps>
 </Commands>
 <Commands package=“guidVsPackage2Pkg“>
  <Buttons>
   <Button guid=“guidVsPackage2CmdSet“ id=“cmdidMyCommand“ priority=“0×0100“ type=“Button“>
    <Parent guid=“guidVsPackage2CmdSet“ id=“MyMenuGroup“ />
    <Icon guid=“guidVsPackage2CmdSet“ id=“bmpPic1“ />
    <Strings>
     <ButtonText>My Command name</ButtonText>
    </Strings>
   </Button>
  </Buttons>
 </Commands>
 <Symbols>
  <GuidSymbol name=“guidSHLMainMenu“ value=“{d309f791-903f-11d0-9efc-00a0c911004f}“>
   <IDSymbol name=“idm_vs_menu_tools“ value=“0×0085“ />
  </GuidSymbol>
  <GuidSymbol name=“guidVsPackage2Pkg“ value=“{55d8e094-bc5c-4458-8bf8-421a99af60cf}“ />
  <GuidSymbol name=“guidVsPackage2CmdSet“ value=“{fda7d55d-d66c-47d2-85bf-00258bec545a}“>
     <IDSymbol name=“MyMenuGroup“ value=“0×1020“ />
     <IDSymbol name=“cmdidMyCommand“ value=“0×0100“ />
   <IDSymbol name=“IDB_MENU_IMAGES“ value=“0x012C“ />
   <IDSymbol name=“bmpPic1“ value=“0×0001“ />
  </GuidSymbol>
 </Symbols>
</CommandTable>
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I am using this API heavily on VSSDK Assist to create VS commands that target the new VSCT format.Â
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Pablo
