Visual Studio Blog
The official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team
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Introducing a new, more conversational way to chat with GitHub Copilot
In the fast-evolving world of software development, intuitive AI-driven interactions are becoming essential to unlocking new levels of productivity. Today, we’re excited to share our latest innovation - a guided chat experience within GitHub Copilot that reshapes how developers interact with AI. This guided chat experience is available in Visual Studio 2022 17.12 Preview 3 and above. This guided way to chat was created with one clear goal in mind: to make interactions between developers and AI more natural, effective, and aligned with everyday workflows. It is our deep belief that conversational AI is the futu...
Learn how to create a Client-Server Application in under 45 Minutes in the new Season of AI
What if you could create a robust, versatile client-server application in under 45 minutes? With Visual Studio and GitHub Copilot, this is not only possible but also efficient and enjoyable. This Season of AI, we show you how to use developer tools like GitHub Copilot to create apps from scratch. This season of AI occurs from October 1 through December 30, 2024, and the first 150 speakers with confirmed events will receive a special swag gift pack! You will experience firsthand how to: - Develop both server-side and client-side code using .NET, Blazor, and Minimal APIs. - Run and test your applicatio...
The making of Bring Back Plus/Minus
A lesson about the software forensics process involved in developing the Bring Back Plus/Minus extension, which brings back the plus/minus symbols to the editor outlining feature in Visual Studio 2022. While I did have the advantage of being able to look at the Visual Studio source code, I could have figured this out just as well without it, and that's the focus of this article. The investigation of how to bring back the plus/minus symbols started with this important clue from a comment on the Developer Community feedback ticket for this issue: However, Visual Studio has a very rich extensibility model, an...
Unreal Engine Toolbar in Visual Studio
In Visual Studio 2022 version 17.11, we’ve added a new Unreal Engine toolbar to Visual Studio. The Unreal Engine toolbar is a new feature that provides quick access to common Unreal Engine tasks. You can find the toolbar at the top of your code window when you have an Unreal Engine project loaded. The toolbar includes the following actions: Attach to Unreal Engine process: Lets you easily debug your game or editor by attaching to the running Unreal Engine process. You can choose which process to attach to from a drop-down menu. Rescan Blueprints Cache: Refreshes the cache of Blueprint symbols in Visu...
Create Unreal Engine modules faster
Unreal Engine modules help keep your code organized and modular. However, creating modules can be a tedious and error-prone process that involves manually editing configuration files and adding boilerplate code. Visual Studio 2022 version 17.11 comes with a new dialog to help with this process. With the new Add Module dialog, you can quickly add new modules to your project without leaving Visual Studio or manually editing configurations. How to use the Add Unreal Engine Module dialog To use the Add Unreal Engine Module dialog, you need to have an Unreal Engine project open in Visual Studio. You can do this b...
Easily add Unreal Engine classes to your C++ project
Visual Studio 2022 v17.11 introduces a new Add Unreal Engine Class dialog that lets you easily add common Unreal Engine classes to your project. You can also choose to which module to add your class, so you can keep your code organized and modular. To use this feature, you need to have an Unreal Engine project open in Visual Studio. Right click on the project in Solution Explorer and select Add > Unreal Engine Item. In the Add New Item dialog, select Unreal Engine Common Classes to open the Add Unreal Engine Class dialog. This dialog shows you a list of common Unreal Engine classes that you can use as a...
Upgrade Your Windows Forms .NET Projects to the Latest .NET Version for Enhanced Security
Each release of .NET introduces a host of new features and bug fixes that enhance both performance and security. To leverage these benefits both service and desktop application developers must upgrade their applications to the latest .NET versions. Just like other developers wanting to take advantage of the latest .NET enhancements, we are updating our design-time support policy. This update will enhance the safety of the Visual Studio WinForms design-time experience and motivate WinForms developers to update their applications for improved security. Â However, updating this policy will mean we will no longer supp...
Get Hands-On with Visual Studio, .NET, AI, and More at Live! 360 next month.
Visual Studio LIVE! Orlando 2024 November 17-22 | Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Orlando, FL We’re only four weeks away from the final Visual Studio Live! event of the year, and we’re close to capacity! Live! 360 Orlando offers something for everyone—whether you’re a developer, IT professional, data specialist, or cybersecurity expert. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from industry leaders while networking with peers who share similar roles. Packed Hands-On Labs and Workshops The week kicks off and wraps up with two full days of hands-on labs and workshops, featuring top experts like GitHub's Brian Randell a...
Debug CMake Scripts on Linux with Visual Studio
If you are working on a CMake project that targets Linux, you may have encountered some challenges when trying to debug your CMake scripts and CMakeLists.txt files. You may have wondered why your variables are not set correctly, or why your custom commands are not executed as expected. Or you may have simply wanted to step through your CMake scripts and see what is happening behind the scenes of the configure step. We are excited to announce that the CMake debugger in Visual Studio now has support for CMake projects targeting Linux via WSL or SSH. The CMake debugger allows you to debug your CMake scripts and C...