Visual Studio Blog
The official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team
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GitHub Copilot Free is here in Visual Studio
If you haven’t already heard, GitHub just announced Copilot Free! And great news: you can already start using Copilot Free right now in Visual Studio. It's avai...
Latest posts
Our Favorite NEW Visual Studio Features of 2024
Last year, the Visual Studio team delivered many new developer-focused improvements and AI integrations, many of which came directly from your feedback on Developer Community. In this post, we highlight the team’s favorite features from 2024 that boost productivity, streamline workflows, and enhance your coding experience. Let’s dive in! Image Hover Preview: See your images instantly! (Mads Kristensen 00:30) Struggling to visualize referenced images in your code? Visual Studio’s Image Hover Preview solves this by showing a quick preview of any image, complete with dimensions and file size, when you hover ...
Join us at VS Live! 2025 Las Vegas
Join Your Favorite Speakers at VS Live! Las Vegas With the new year here, many developers are looking for the best ways to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. That’s why Visual Studio Live! Las Vegas, March 10-14, 2025, is a must-attend event! Stay ahead of the curve with the latest enhancements in .NET, Azure, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, Visual Studio, and more. Visual Studio Live! Las Vegas is your fastest way to catch up on the innovations shaping the tech landscape. What Makes VS Live! Las Vegas a Must-Attend? From hands-on workshops to deep-dive sessions, this event is loaded with practical g...
Enhanced Change Signature in C++
Change Signature allows you to modify a function's parameters, including reordering, adding, removing, or altering them across various locations. Previously, the Change Signature feature in Visual Studio involved multiple clicks and nested pop-up windows. In Visual Studio 2022 version 17.12, we've reduced the number of clicks and eliminated these nested steps to streamline the process. Simplified Process with Intuitive Interface We have updated the user interface for the Change Signature feature based on direct feedback we received from C++ developers to reduce the number of clicks and pop-up windows. It al...
Benchmarking with Visual Studio Profiler
In Visual Studio 17.13 Preview we have released our updated BenchmarkDotNet diagnosers, allowing you to use more of the tools in the performance profiler to analyze benchmarks. With this change it is super quick to dig into CPU usage and allocations of benchmarks making the measure, change, measure cycle quick and efficient. Benchmarking a real project So, to show how we can use the tools to make things better let's go ahead and benchmark a real project. At the time of writing this article, CsvHelper is the 67th most popular package on Nuget.org with over 9 million downloads of the current version. If we can be...
Unlocking insights with Meter Histogram in the profiler
Are you struggling with performance bottlenecks in your applications? Look no further! Visual Studio 2022 introduces the Meter Histogram feature in its performance profiling suite, providing you with the tools to analyze and visualize histogram data like never before. The Meter Histogram is a key enhancement to Visual Studio's performance profiling suite. This feature enables you to capture and analyze histogram data generated by various performance instruments, offering clear insights into the distribution of your application's data. By visualizing this data, you can easily identify patterns and anomalies...
Dock the Code Search window in Visual Studio 2022
Ever felt frustrated with the search window cluttering your workspace? The latest feature in Visual Studio 2022 gives you more control over the behavior of the Code and Feature Search window, making your search experience smoother and more efficient. Some users have shared that the search window feels intrusive, interrupting your work by appearing mid-screen or on the wrong screen and taking up precious screen real estate. You now have the option to turn the search window into a tool window and dock it where you’d like. Choose how you want your search window Visual Studio now allows you to dock the searc...
Go to line anywhere with Code Search for Visual Studio 2022
Finding the exact line of code where an issue is occurring can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Whether you are debugging an error on line 43 of a file or diving into a specific section of code, you can efficiently jump to the right places with this newest addition to Code Search. In Code Search, you can now jump to a specific line in the current file or another file, making it faster and easier to move around your codebase. Navigate to a line in the current document No need to scroll endlessly to find a specific line. With the updated Code Search, you can swiftly jump to any line in the current...
Connect securely to your Azure resources
Visual Studio 2022's Connected Services features are being updated to help you start secure. In the past, for example with Azure Storage, we’d inject the entire connection string into your configuration. With this update, we’ve removed the secrets from the UX – and from what we save to configuration – altogether. This means your code has fewer secrets in it, so you won’t push those into your source control repository inadvertently. Integrated authentication, by default Prior to this update, Connected Services would inject secret-inclusive connection strings for resources like Azure Storage into your secrets...
Security updates to Azure publishing from Visual Studio
Visual Studio 2022 introduces a new feature to improve the security of publishing applications to Azure App Service. This feature is designed to disable Basic Authentication and enable integrated security for a more secure publishing process. Basic Authentication has been identified as a less secure method for managing app deployments. Visual Studio 2022 addresses this issue by offering you an option to disable Basic Authentication, which enhances security by using integrated authentication. The problem with Basic Authentication Basic Authentication involves sending user credentials in a format that is n...