Visual Studio 2017 version 15.3 Release Notes

Release Date: August 18, 2017 – Visual Studio 2017 version 15.3.1

Issues Fixed in August 18, 2017 Release

These are the customer-reported issues addressed in this version:


Summary: What’s New in this Release

  • Accessibility Improvements make Visual Studio more accessible than ever.
  • Azure Function Tools are included in the Azure development workload. You can develop Azure Function applications locally and publish directly to Azure.
  • You can now build applications in Visual Studio 2017 that run on Azure Stack and government clouds, like Azure in China.
  • We improved .NET Core development support for .NET Core 2.0, and Windows Nano Server containers.
  • In Visual Studio IDE, we improved Sign In and Identity, the start page, Lightweight Solution Load, and setup CLI. We also improved refactoring, code generation and Quick Actions.
  • The Visual Studio Editor has better accessibility due to the new ‘Blue (Extra Contrast)’ theme and improved screen reader support.
  • We improved the Debugger and diagnostics experience. This includes Point and Click to Set Next Statement. We’ve also refreshed all nested values in variable window, and made Open Folder debugging improvements.
  • Xamarin has a new standalone editor for editing app entitlements.
  • The Open Folder and CMake Tooling experience is updated. You can now use CMake 3.8.
  • We made improvements to the IntelliSense engine, and to the project and the code wizards for C++ Language Services.
  • Visual C++ Toolset supports command-prompt initialization targeting.
  • We added the ability to use C# 7.1 Language features.
  • You can install TypeScript versions independent of Visual Studio updates.
  • We added support for Node 8 debugging.
  • NuGet has added support for new TFMs (netcoreapp2.0, netstandard2.0, Tizen), Semantic Versioning 2.0.0, and MSBuild integration of NuGet warnings and errors.
  • Visual Studio now offers .NET Framework 4.7 development tools to supported platforms with 4.7 runtime included.
  • We added clusters of related events to the search query results in the Application Insights Search tool.
  • We improved syntax support for SQL Server 2016 in Redgate SQL Search.
  • We enabled support for Microsoft Graph APIs in Connected Services.

Read more at https://www.visualstudio.com/en-gb/news/releasenotes/vs2017-relnotes#15.3.26730.08

 

.NET Conf, a free virtual event for developers

Are you ready to learn all about .NET? .NET Conf 19th to 21st September 2017 is a free virtual conference. #dotnetconf – http://www.dotnetconf.net/


More Details…

The .NET Conf is a free, 3 day virtual developer event co-organized by the .NET community and Microsoft. Some of the speakers lined up so far: –

Scott Hunter

Scott Hunter – Director of Program Management, .NET

Kasey Uhlenhuth

Kasey Uhlenhuth – Program Manager, .NET

Mads Torgersen

Mads Torgersen – C# Language Designer

Mikayla Hutchinson

Mikayla Hutchinson – Principal Program Manager, Xamarin

Scott Hanselman

Scott Hanselman – Principal Program Manager, .NET

What’s in store for you?

“Over the course of the three days you have a wide selection of live sessions that feature speakers from the community and .NET product teams. These are the experts in their field and it is a chance to learn, ask questions live, and get inspired for your next software project.

You will learn to build for web, mobile, desktop, games, services, libraries and more for a variety of platforms and devices all with .NET. We have sessions for everyone, no matter if you are just beginning or are a seasoned engineer. We’ll have presentations on .NET Core and ASP.NET Core, C#, F#, Roslyn, Visual Studio, Xamarin, and much more.”

Check out http://www.dotnetconf.net/ for more details…

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 on a Windows 8 Pro Dev Box

Ran into an issue today trying to install “Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4”  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=8279) on my Windows 8 Pro Dev Box.

The error given is: –

A problem occurred while installing selected Windows SDK components.

Installation of the “Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7” product has reported the following error: Please refer to Samples\Setup\HTML\ConfigDetails.htm document for further information.

Please attempt to resolve the problem and then start Windows SDK setup again. If you continue to have problems with this issue, please visit the SDKteam support page at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=130245.

Click the View Log button to review the installation log.
To exit, click Finish.

and looks like: –

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 error message on Windows 8 Pro system

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 error message on Windows 8 Pro system

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable

Before it tries to install it warns you that the “Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable – 10.0.40219” is installed, is newer than the one included and so will not be updated… however this is the cause of the failed install…

Before installing you need to remove all C++ 2010 components.

Note that this issue is not unique to Windows 8, also affects Windows 7 and probably Windows XP too, though not tried it there.

You can also install OK, if during the component selection process you de-select “Microsoft Visual C++ 2010” under  “Redistributable Packages” and “Visual C++ Compilers” under “Windows Native Code Development“: –

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Component Selection

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 – de-select C++ bits…

Meet the new ASP.NET and Web Tools 2012.2 release…

ASP.NET tooling gets a little better, with updates to Page Inspector, IntelliSense, Publishing and the Editor; Along with a batch of updated project Templates. See: –

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Introduction-to-the-ASPNET-and-Web-Tools-20122-Release

for a short-ish (~25min) video on the details.

You can get the ASP.NET and Web Tools 2012.2 installer at: –

http://asp.net/vnext

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Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) – Visual Studio 2012 Update 1

For anyone who has missed it and would like play, or would like the updated version the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Virtual Machine and Hands-on-Labs from the ALM team at Microsoft, who originally published the VM at the tail end of 2011 for VS 2010. They have updated it to Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 in Dec 2012…

Free download, and well worth looking at… really need to find more time myself to have a dig into this one 🙂

NOTE: you need access to Hyper-V to use this VM, it is x64 and a Hyper-V image so will not run under Microsoft Virtual Machine, as that is x86 only; will probably run under VM Virtualbox or others that support x64. See the ALM blog for full details…

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/briankel/archive/2011/09/16/visual-studio-11-application-lifecycle-management-virtual-machine-and-hands-on-labs-demo-scripts.aspx

Hands On LabsThis virtual machine and corresponding hands-on-labs / demo scripts have been upgraded to use Visual Studio 2012 Update 1. One new lab was added, focusing on diagnosing and testing SharePoint 2010 applications with the new ALM tools available in Visual Studio 2012 Update 1. All other labs were revised slightly based on Update 1, with two labs gaining new exercises which demonstrate Update 1 capabilities. New and updated labs are listed in the table below

New features in Visual Studio 2012:

  • Agile Project Management in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012
  • Building the Right Software – Generating Storyboards and Collecting Stakeholder Feedback with Visual Studio 2012
  • Diagnosing Issues in Production with IntelliTrace and Visual Studio 2012
  • Unit Testing, Code Coverage, and Code Clone Analysis with Visual Studio 2012 UPDATED for Update 1
  • Making Developers More Productive with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012
  • Exploratory Testing and Other Enhancements in Microsoft Test Manager 2012
  • Introduction to PreEmptive Analytics
  • Lab Management Improvements in Visual Studio 2012
  • Testing and Debugging SharePoint 2010 Applications with Visual Studio 2012 NEW for Update 1
  
Labs upgraded from Visual Studio 2010:
  • Authoring and Running Manual Tests using Microsoft Test Manager 2012
  • Introduction to Test Planning with Microsoft Test Manager 2012
  • Introduction to Test Case Management with Microsoft Test Manager 2012
  • Introduction to Platform Testing with Microsoft Test Manager 2012
  • Introduction to Coded UI Tests with Visual Studio Ultimate 2012
  • Branching and Merging Visualization with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012
  • Debugging with IntelliTrace using Visual Studio Ultimate 2012
  • Using Code Analysis with Visual Studio 2012 to Improve Code Quality
  • Understanding Class Coupling with Visual Studio Ultimate 2012
  • Code Discovery using the Architecture Tools in Visual Studio Ultimate 2012 UPDATED for Update 1
  • Using the Architecture Explorer in Visual Studio Ultimate 2012 to Analyze Your Code
  • Introduction to Web Performance and Load Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate 2012

Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP

Some nice ALM goodies coming up in the Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 – the “HTML and JavaScript Visual Profiler” looks good – the February CTP is available now for those interested in an advance peek.

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http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2013/02/11/february-ctp-for-visual-studio-update-2.aspx