Microsoft has announced the release of Visual Studio 2022 v17.13, bringing a suite of enhancements focused on AI-powered development, improved debugging capabilities, and enhanced productivity for developers.
This update emphasizes refinements to development workflows, more effective code management, and a richer overall developer experience. A key feature of this release is the inclusion of GitHub Copilot Free, which offers 2,000 code completions and 50 chat requests each month without charge.
These AI-driven improvements have already received positive feedback from developers. Hugo Augusto, an IT consultant, shared his enthusiasm:
Adding AI directly inside VS is the biggest addition Microsoft has made in a while. I’m surprised every day at how good the suggestions are and how it understands the context of the source to provide those suggestions.
Visual Studio 2022 v17.13 also introduces enhancements to debugging. AI-generated thread summaries in Parallel Stacks simplify debugging of complex applications. The profiler now unifies async stacks for .NET profiling and includes color-coded CPU swim lanes for easier performance analysis. The IEnumerable Visualizer now features syntax highlighting and Copilot-powered inline chat, which helps make debugging LINQ queries more efficient.
Alongside AI improvements, Visual Studio 2022 v17.13 also introduces new productivity features for developers. This version allows users to set default file encoding, provides a more accessible horizontal scrollbar, and offers quick navigation through recent files in Code Search. Another new feature is the option to indent wrapped lines, enhancing code readability.
Git users will find the ability to add comments directly on pull requests from within Visual Studio. Furthering the power of AI, the program now also provides AI-powered commit suggestions that help identify and fix code issues before merging.
For web and cloud developers, this release enables integration of .NET Aspire with Azure Functions, simplifying serverless application development. Docker Compose now supports scaling, giving developers more control over containerized environments. Front-end developers can extract HTML into Razor components, which streamlines code structure and makes it easier to maintain. Additionally, database developers leveraging SQL projects can now take advantage of SDK-style project support in SSDT, which simplifies debugging and schema comparisons.
Visual Studio now consistently preserves font preferences across different themes, providing a more personalized and seamless user experience. For comprehensive details, developers can refer to the release notes, which provide descriptions of all new features and updates.
