Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2022 17.11 Preview 1. This release contains features regarding pull requests, default shortcuts, debugging and the Visual Studio profiler. Additionally, the new release introduces enhancements for *.vsconfig files.
There appeared features regarding pull requests. It is possible to create pull request drafts and start descriptions with templates. A default pull request template will be used when creating a new PR for both GitHub and Azure DevOps. More information about how to add a pull request template to a repository is available in the GitHub documentation and Azure DevOps documentation.
Pull Request templates (Source: Microsoft Blog)
Microsoft also made changes to some default keyboard shortcuts. They added Ctrl+/ as an alternative shortcut to toggle line comments, which is the default in many other IDEs and code editors.
Toggle line comments shortcut (Source: Microsoft Blog)
Another new shortcut has been added for the Feature Search feature. The default keyboard shortcut is now Ctrl+Shift+P, which should be familiar to VS Code users for opening the Command Palette.
Feature Search shortcut (Source: Microsoft Blog)
Another improvement is related to the debugging experience. So far, debugging asynchronous code, especially in frameworks like ASP.NET, has been tricky due to the potential for exceptions to be thrown across asynchronous boundaries. Now, with Visual Studio Debugger it automatically breaks when an async Task method throws an exception back to the framework code. This approach facilitates the identification and diagnosis of issues in ASP.NET applications, leading to faster debugging cycles.
Improvements regarding async exceptions (Source: Microsoft Blog)
Moreover, the instrumentation tool now remembers the target selection between runs offering a benefit by enhancing the continuity of profiling sessions. This improvement maintains the specified target across multiple instrumentation runs, eliminating the need for repetitive selection tasks.
Target selection within profiling sessions (Source: Microsoft Blog)
Visual Studio profiler now provides auto-decompilation for .NET libraries when source code is unavailable. By decompiling code during source lookup, even without loaded symbols or exact file locations, it allows insights into the code's structure and performance issues. This feature is particularly beneficial for analysing and optimising non-user external code, thereby enhancing the overall development workflow.
Auto-decompilation for .NET libraries
In addition, Visual Studio 2022 version 17.11 Preview 1 introduces enhancements for *.vsconfig files. Visual Studio now detects and prompts the installation of missing local or network-hosted extensions. Additionally, notifications will reappear if the *.vsconfig file changes to include new components or extensions, rather than being suppressed after the initial prompt.
Notification about a missing component (Source: Microsoft Blog)
Further details on the new features in this preview can be found in the release notes.
