{"id":228878,"date":"2020-04-08T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/?p=228878"},"modified":"2020-05-14T16:59:26","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T23:59:26","slug":"for-all-things-remote-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/for-all-things-remote-development\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to remote development with Live Share"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working in a fully distributed, remote team requires sophisticated collaboration technology, which needs to be both super<\/span>charged and frictionless.\u00a0<\/span>Visual Studio\u00a0<\/span>Live Share was built on the bold principle of making\u00a0<\/span>remote\u00a0<\/span>developer collaboration<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>powerful and natural<\/span>\u00a0as in-person\u00a0<\/span>collaboration. We knew that our par<\/span>adi<\/span>gm<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>s<\/span><\/i>hare your context,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0not your screen<\/span><\/i>,<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was\u00a0<\/span>only<\/span> feasible, if we allowed the power of the modern IDE\u00a0<\/span>translate to remote collaboration sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just then the world changed drastically and everyone was forced to be remote. It<\/span> wasn\u2019t just professional developers who needed Live Share; t<\/span>here were stude<\/span>nts, teachers, and interview candidates who need<\/span>ed a\u00a0<\/span>real-time collaboration service.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>So the Live Share team continued to innovate<\/span>, and further re<\/span>duced<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>friction\u00a0<\/span>by adding an option to\u00a0<\/span>join from the browser.<\/span><\/a> This guide will highlight some of the key features of Live Share that help with remote work.<\/p>\n

\"Image In our customer development we found that the two most common things developers dislike about being remote are:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Not being able to communicate ideas efficiently<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Not being able to replicate the<\/span>\u00a0experience of<\/span>\u00a0\u2018peering over\u00a0<\/span>a co-worker’s computer\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    With Live Share, we tackle both these problems, with an entire suite of your favorite IDE features remoted during the session<\/span>, and in-built communication channels.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The following five tips will<\/span>\u00a0help you use Live Share<\/span> \u2014from your Visual Studio IDE\u2014 for<\/span>\u00a0your extended remote work, with all the bells and whistles attached.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    1. One-click share<\/span><\/h5>\n

    The easiest way to start a Live Share session is by using the contacts that populate your Live Share\u00a0<\/span>viewlet<\/span>. Once you share your <\/span>code with someone, Live Share adds that user to your recent contacts list, enabling you to invite them to any future sessions without the hassle of links. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tip:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Live Share has two session types, which set several defaults for your ease of use.\u00a0<\/span>You can<\/span>\u00a0explicitly choose a read-only session for y<\/span>our guests.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Image<\/span><\/h4>\n
    2. Join from the browser\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

    Live Share has a brand-new feature where any guest to a Live Share session can <\/span>join this session from the browser.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0This expands your scope of remote collaboration to even those who may not have t<\/span>he Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code installed on their machines.\u00a0<\/span>Joining from the browser provides guests of Live Share a fast, reliable and full-fidelity editor in the browser to collaborate with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Gif<\/p>\n

    Tip: <\/strong>All Live Share sessions can be shared and joined from Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. With the option to join from the browser, you now have another way to collaborate. The various options for using Live Share are especially useful<\/span><\/span> while <\/span><\/span>conducting technical interviews<\/span><\/span><\/a> while remote.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Start an audio call<\/span><\/h5>\n

    Being a part of the distr<\/span>ibuted remote team for an extended period can cause communication fatigue. You can try and tackle this\u00a0<\/span>by keeping your communication channels context driven.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0for your productive development time, you can stay\u00a0<\/span>focused<\/span>\u00a0within your IDE\u00a0<\/span>even when collaborating. Live Share has built<\/span>-in<\/span>\u00a0audio calling for your sessions. This not only keeps you away from other distractions wh<\/span>ile developing, it also enhances your collaboration experience\u00a0<\/span>when collaborating on features <\/span>or debugging a tough bug.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tip:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Audio calling is a<\/span>n <\/span>“insiders” feature <\/span><\/a>i<\/span>n Visual Studio. <\/span>To ensure you can use it during your Live Share session, make sure both you\u00a0<\/span>and <\/span>your guest\u00a0<\/span>have<\/span>\u00a0insiders<\/span>\u00a0features enabled<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Your guests\u00a0<\/span>using\u00a0<\/span>Visual Studio Code can use audio calling by downloading the\u00a0<\/span>Live Share extension pack<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0<\/span>marketplace<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Image\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    4. Follow and focus<\/h5>\n

    Live Share empowers you to share your\u00a0<\/span>full\u00a0<\/span>context, not\u00a0<\/span>just\u00a0<\/span>your screen. This means you get both freedom and flexibility when working with a co-worker on a project.<\/span>\u00a0All the guest<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0who join a L<\/span>ive Share session\u00a0<\/span>follow their host by default<\/span><\/a>. This means, that they will be navigated to whichever line or file the host is editing.\u00a0<\/span>This is particularly helpful during the beginning of a pairing session, when all the collaborators are ramping up on what the host wants to share. After this point,<\/span>\u00a0if peers in a Live Share session wish to independently edit different parts of the project or file, they can\u00a0<\/span>break\u00a0<\/span>follow<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>navigating to a different file or writing to a file.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tip:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>If you want to draw the attention of your fellow collaborators to where you are in the code, you can click the focus button on the top of the Live Share viewlet. You can\u00a0<\/span>have just one of the guests follow you, or vice versa by clicking on their name in the participants list.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    5. F5 shares your app<\/h5>\n

    Often, the hardest thing about being remote<\/span> is having to explain a problem which is occurring locally for you. <\/span>With Live Share the host can not only share their code, but also launch their app during a debug session; guest can view this local app and interact with it<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>This is particularly useful for desktop and mobile apps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tip:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>You can do\u00a0<\/span>full fidelity<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>co-debug sessions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0with your guests using Live Share. If you are developing a web app, Live Share will also forward your local port to your guests<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Image<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Live\u00a0<\/span>Share provides<\/span>\u00a0a way for users of Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code to collaboratively code, without the awkward fight for control over shared screens, or the in-flexibility of in-person collaboration.\u00a0<\/span>We\u2019re all going to be remote for the near future, so let\u2019s make sure our collaboration toolset is top notch.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Make sure you check\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Live Share documentation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for any other questions you may have about the product. You can also send an email to\u00a0<\/span>vsls-feedback@microsoft.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/span>fishah@microsoft.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for any feedback you may have about Live Share.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Working in a fully distributed, remote team requires sophisticated collaboration technology, which needs to be both supercharged and frictionless.\u00a0Visual Studio\u00a0Live Share was built on the bold principle of making\u00a0remote\u00a0developer collaboration\u00a0as\u00a0powerful and natural\u00a0as in-person\u00a0collaboration. We knew that our paradigm:\u00a0\u201cshare your context,\u00a0not your screen,\u201d\u00a0was\u00a0only feasible, if we allowed the power of the modern IDE\u00a0translate to remote collaboration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5685,"featured_media":228910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[1384,476],"class_list":["post-228878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-studio","tag-live-share","tag-visual-studio-live-share"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

    Working in a fully distributed, remote team requires sophisticated collaboration technology, which needs to be both supercharged and frictionless.\u00a0Visual Studio\u00a0Live Share was built on the bold principle of making\u00a0remote\u00a0developer collaboration\u00a0as\u00a0powerful and natural\u00a0as in-person\u00a0collaboration. We knew that our paradigm:\u00a0\u201cshare your context,\u00a0not your screen,\u201d\u00a0was\u00a0only feasible, if we allowed the power of the modern IDE\u00a0translate to remote collaboration […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/visualstudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}