Today we are announcing the release of Visual Studio for Mac version 7.6. Our focus with this release has been to improve product reliability in various areas, with a special focus on the code editing experience. We have also made several fixes that improve IDE performance. Finally, we’ve extended our support for Azure functions with the addition of new templates and the ability to publish your function to Azure from within the IDE.
This post highlights the major improvements in this release. To see the complete list of changes, check out the Visual Studio for Mac version 7.6 Release Notes. You can get started by downloading the new release or updating your existing install to the latest build available in the Stable channel.
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Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows. Download Visual Studio Code to experience a redefined code editor, optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications. Open your C++ code file in Text Editor, then use shortcut Ctrl+Alt+N, or press F1 and then select/type Run Code, or right click the Text Editor and then click Run Code in context menu, the code will be compiled and run, and the output will be shown in the Output Window.
Improving reliability of the Code Editor
We’ve focused our attention on improving the reliability of the code editor in Visual Studio for Mac and have addressed several issues with the code editor. In particular, we want to highlight the following fixes to issues many of you have reported:
- We fixed an issue where Quick Fix menu items don’t display if source analysis is disabled.
- We also addressed a widely reported issue where tooltips wouldn’t disappear.
- We fixed an issue where IntelliSense seems to fail, resulting in red “squiggles” continuing to hang around in the editor even though there were no errors.
- We improved IntelliSense for F# developers. There was an issue where you could not use “.” for autocompletion, but we’ve fixed this and various other F# IntelliSense issues.
- We made improvements to JavaScript syntax highlighting.
Improving performance of the IDE
One of the top reported bugs in previous releases has been performance issues in the editor. Having a fast and reliable code editor is a fundamental part of any IDE and an important part of any developer’s workflow, so we’ve made some improvements in this area:
- We improved tag-based classification for C# with PR #4740 by reusing existing Visual Studio for Windows code, which should improve typing performance in the editor.
- We now support no-op restore of NuGet packages when opening a solution. This change speeds up NuGet restores on solution load.
We’ve also added many more small fixes that improve startup time and reduce memory consumption of the IDE.
Richer support for Azure Functions
Azure functions are a great way to quickly get up and running with a serverless function in just a few minutes. With this release, we have introduced new templates for you to choose from when creating your Azure Functions project:
These new templates allow you to configure access rights, connection strings, and any other binding properties that are required to configure the function. For information on selecting a template, refer to the Available function templates guide.
![C++ C++](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126426279/806056963.png)
Another major part of the Azure functions workflow that we are introducing with this release is publishing of functions from Visual Studio for Mac to the Azure Portal. To publish a function, simply right-click on the project name and select Publish > Publish to Azure. You’ll then be able to publish to an existing Azure App Service or use the publishing wizard to create a new one:
For information on publishing to Azure from Visual Studio for Mac, see the Publishing to Azure guide.
Share your Feedback
Addressing reliability and performance issues in Visual Studio for Mac remains our top priority. Your feedback is extremely important to us and helps us prioritize the issues that are most impacting your workflow. There are several ways that you can reach out to us:
- Use the Report a Problem tool in Visual Studio for Mac.
- We are enhancing the Report a Problem experience by allowing you to report a problem without leaving the IDE. You’ll have the ability to automatically include additional information, such as crash logs, that will help our Engineering team narrow down the root cause of your report more effectively. This will be introduced in an upcoming servicing release to 7.6 that will be available in the Stable channel within the next few weeks.
- You can track your issues on the Visual Studio Developer Community portal where you can ask questions and find answers.
- In addition to filing issues, you can also add your vote or comment on existing issues. This helps us assess the impact of the issue.
The Visual Studio editor provides many features that make it easier for you to write and manage your code and text. You can expand and collapse different blocks of code by using outlining. You can learn more about the code by using IntelliSense, the Object Browser, and the Call Hierarchy. You can find code by using features such as Go To, Go To Definition, and Find All References. You can insert blocks of code with code snippets, and you can generate code by using features such as Generate From Usage. If you have never used the Visual Studio editor before, see Edit your code for a quick overview.
Note
This topic applies to Visual Studio on Windows. For Visual Studio for Mac, see Source editor (Visual Studio for Mac).
You can view your code in a number of different ways. By default, Solution Explorer shows your code organized by files. You can click on the Class View tab at the bottom of the window to view your code organized by classes.
You can search and replace text in single or multiple files. For more information, see Find and replace text. You can use regular expressions to find and replace text. For more information, see Use regular expressions in Visual Studio.
The different Visual Studio languages offer different sets of features, and in some cases the features behave differently in different languages. Many of these differences are specified in the descriptions of the features, but for more information you can see the sections on specific Visual Studio languages.
Editor features
Syntax Coloring | Some syntax elements of code and markup files are colored differently to distinguish them. For example, keywords (such as using in C# and Imports in Visual Basic) are one color, but types (such as Console and Uri ) are another color. Other syntax elements are also colorized, such as string literals and comments. C++ uses color to differentiate among types, enumerations, and macros, among other tokens.You can see the default color for each type, and you can change the color for any specific syntax element in the Fonts and Colors, Environment, Options dialog box, which you can open from the Tools menu. |
Error and Warning Marks | As you add code and build your solution, you may see (a) different-colored wavy underlines (known as squiggles) or (b) light bulbs appearing in your code. Red squiggles denote syntax errors, blue denotes compiler errors, green denotes warnings, and purple denotes other types of errors. Quick Actions suggest fixes for problems and make it easy to apply the fix. You can see the default color for each error and warning squiggle in the Tools > Options > Environment > Fonts and Colors dialog box. Look for Syntax Error, Compiler Error, Warning, and Other Error. |
Brace Matching | When the insertion point is placed on an open brace in a code file, both it and the closing brace are highlighted. This feature gives you immediate feedback on misplaced or missing braces. You can turn brace matching on or off with the Automatic Delimiter Highlighting setting (Tools > Options > Text Editor). You can change the highlight color in the Fonts and Colors setting (Tools > Options > Environment). Look for Brace Matching (Highlight) or Brace Matching (Rectangle). |
Structure Visualizer | Dotted lines connect matching braces in code files, making it easier to see opening and closing brace pairs. This can help you find code in your codebase more quickly. You can turn these lines on or off with the Show structure guidelines in the Display section of the Tools > Options > Text Editor > General page. |
Line Numbers | Line numbers can be displayed in the left margin of the code window. They are not displayed by default. You can turn this option on in the Text Editor All Languages settings (Tools > Options > Text Editor > All Languages). You can display line numbers for individual programming languages by changing the settings for those languages (Tools > Options > Text Editor > <language>). For line numbers to print, you must select Include line numbers in the Print dialog box. |
Change Tracking | The color of the left margin allows you to keep track of the changes you have made in a file. Changes you have made since the file was opened but not saved are denoted by a yellow bar on the left margin (known as the selection margin). After you have saved the changes (but before closing the file), the bar turns green. If you undo a change after you have saved the file, the bar turns orange. To turn this feature off and on, change the Track changes option in the Text Editor settings (Tools > Options > Text Editor). |
Selecting Code and Text | You can select text either in the standard continuous stream mode or in box mode, in which you select a rectangular portion of text instead of a set of lines. To make a selection in box mode, press Alt as you drag the mouse over the selection (or press Alt+Shift+<arrow key>). The selection includes all of the characters within the rectangle defined by the first character and the last character in the selection. Anything typed or pasted into the selected area is inserted at the same point on each line. |
Zoom | You can zoom in or out in any code window by pressing and holding the Ctrl key and moving the scroll wheel on the mouse (or Ctrl+Shift+. to increase and Ctrl+Shift+, to decrease). You can also use the Zoom box in the lower left corner of the code window to set a specific zoom percentage. The zoom feature does not work in tool windows. |
Virtual Space | By default, lines in Visual Studio editors end after the last character, so that the Right Arrow key at the end of a line moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line. In some other editors a line does not end after the last character, and you can place your cursor anywhere on the line. You can enable virtual space in the editor in the Tools > Options > Text Editor > All Languages settings. Note that you can enable either Virtual Space or Word Wrap, but not both. |
Printing | You can use the options in the Print dialog box to include line numbers or hide collapsed regions of code when you print a file. In the Page Setup dialog box, you can also choose to print the full path and the name of the file by choosing Page header. You can set color printing options in the Tools > Options > Environment > Fonts and Colors dialog box. Choose Printer in the Show settings for list to customize color printing. You can specify different colors for printing a file than for editing a file. |
Global Undo and Redo | The Undo Last Global Action and Redo Last Global Action commands on the Edit menu undo or redo global actions that affect multiple files. Global actions include renaming a class or namespace, performing a find-and-replace operation across a solution, refactoring a database, or any other action that changes multiple files. You can apply the global undo and redo commands to actions in the current Visual Studio session, even after you close the solution in which an action was applied. |
![Visual studio for mac Visual studio for mac](https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~mcs171/Sp14/extras/xCode_Instructions/image006.jpg)
Advanced editing features
You can find a number of advanced features on the Edit > Advanced menu on the toolbar. Not all of these features are available for all types of code files.
Format Document | Sets the proper indentation of lines of code and moves curly braces to separate lines in the document. |
Format Selection | Sets the proper indentation of lines of code and moves curly braces to separate lines in the selection. |
Tabify Selected Lines | Changes leading spaces to tabs where appropriate. |
Untabify Selected Lines | Changes leading tabs to spaces. If you want to convert all the spaces in your file to tabs (or all the tabs to spaces), you can use the Edit.ConvertSpacesToTabs and Edit.ConvertTabsToSpaces commands. These commands do not appear in Visual Studio menus, but you can call them from the Quick Access window or the command window. |
Make Uppercase | Changes all characters in the selection to uppercase, or if there is no selection, changes the character at the insertion point to uppercase. Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+U. |
Make Lowercase | Changes all characters in the selection to lowercase, or if there is no selection, changes the character at the insertion point to lowercase. Shortcut: Ctrl+U. |
Move selected Lines Up | Moves the selected line up one line. Shortcut: Alt+Up Arrow. |
Move Selected Lines Down | Moves the selected line down one line. Shortcut: Alt+Down Arrow. |
Delete Horizontal White Space | Deletes tabs or spaces at the end of the current line. Shortcut: Ctrl+K, Ctrl+ |
View White Space | Displays spaces as raised dots, and tabs as arrows. The end of a file is displayed as a rectangular glyph. If Tools > Options > Text Editor > All Languages > Word Wrap > Show visible glyphs for word wrap is selected, that glyph is also displayed. |
Word Wrap | Causes all the lines in a document to be visible in the code window. You can turn word wrap off and on in the Text Editor All Languages settings (Tools > Options > Text Editor > All Languages). |
Comment Selection | Adds comment characters to the selection or the current line. Shortcut: Ctrl+K, Ctrl+C |
Uncomment Selection | Removes comment characters from the selection or the current line. Shortcut: Ctrl+K, Ctrl+U |
Increase Line Indent | Adds a tab (or the equivalent spaces) to the selected lines or the current line. |
Decrease Line Indent | Removes a tab (or the equivalent spaces) from the selected lines or the current line. |
Select Tag | In a document that contains tags (for example, XML or HTML), selects the tag. |
Select Tag Content | In a document that contains tags (for example, XML or HTML), selects the content. |
Navigate and find code
Visual Studio Editor For Mac
You can move around in the code editor in several different ways, including navigating backwards and forwards to previous insertion points, viewing the definition of a type or member, and jumping to a specific method using the navigation bar. For more information see Navigate code.
Find references in your code base
Visual Studio Professional For Mac
To find where particular code elements are referenced throughout your codebase, you can use the Find All References command or press Shift+F12. Also, when you click on a type or member, the reference highlighting feature automatically highlights all references to that type or member. For more information, see Find references in your code.
Visual Studio Online Code Editor
Customize the editor
You can share your Visual Studio settings with another developer, have your settings conform to a standard, or return to Visual Studio default settings by using the Import and Export Settings Wizard command on the Tools menu. In the Import and Export Settings Wizard, you can change selected general settings or language and project-specific settings.
To define new hotkeys or redefine existing hotkeys, go to Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard. For more information about hotkeys, see Default keyboard shortcuts.
For JavaScript-specific editor options, see JavaScript editor options.