New Post: Developer Getting Started Guide frustration

Did you add an appManger control to your main form and does your main form contain the following code?
Without the shell and the appManager.LoadExtesions nothing can be loaded.

Based on the DemoMap plugin you can see that you don't need more than the code below (plus adding the appManager control) and to copy the folder structure/ files inside the DotSpatial.zip file you downloaded to your debug folder to get the toolbox and all the other plugins to show up.

Btw it's not the tools that have to be copied into the Plugin folder but the DotSpatial.Plugins.ToolManager. The tools folder can be copied to lay beside the plugin folder.

public partial class MainForm : Form
    {
        [Export("Shell", typeof(ContainerControl))]
        private static ContainerControl Shell;

        public MainForm()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            if (DesignMode) return;
            Shell = this;
            appManager.LoadExtensions();
        }
}