Visual Studio 17.12 brings C++, Copilot enhancements

Visual Studio 2022 17.12, the latest version of Microsoft’s signature integrated development environment (IDE), is now generally available, with improvements ranging from productivity enhancements for C++ developers to integrated AI variable inspection in the GitHub Copilot AI-powered programming assistant.

Released November 12, the same day as Microsoft’s .NET 9 application platform, Visual Studio 2022 17.12 can be downloaded from the Visual Studio website.

The updated IDE focuses on working with .NET 9 projects and AI improvements, according to Microsoft, but also has new capabilities for C++ developers. C++ developers now can set command line arguments right from the toolbar. They also can open a folder for an Unreal Engine uproject, thus getting a new way to open a uproject. Also featured is a clearer view of a file in Build Insights for C++ developers, with path adjustments. Microsoft has focused previously on C++ accommodations in Visual Studio.

With GitHub Copilot, debugging workflow is improved with integrated AI variable inspection. Developers also can fix code with Copilot, taking advantage of AI assistance to resolve code issues. Better AI completions for C# are featured as well.

To enhance debugging, the Visual Studio debugger now displays inline return values. And debugging has been improved for Blazor WebAssembly apps targeting .NET 9 or later. Among the productivity improvements, copying an error from the Error List now copies just the description, rather than entire row to the clipboard, and when Code Cleanup is run on Save, it now operates in a non-blocking manner, for a smoother coding experience. In Code Search, users now can navigate to a specific line in the current document or other specified document.

With Visual Studio 2022 17.12, the IDE now preserves font and font size preferences across a theme change. Mark of the Web (MotW) security warnings now are integrated into overall trust functionality, and Visual Studio now alerts the user if digital certificate problems are detected during network calls. For the cloud, publishing to Azure WebJobs on Linux now is supported by right-click publish capability. For the web, HTTP files now support request variables. Developers can send a request and then use data from the response, or request, in future requests.

In JavaScript and TypeScript projects, developers now can author test cases with Vitest. TypeScript 5.7, meanwhile, entered a release candidate stage on November 8, after being introduced as a beta on October 9.