Microsoft has released version 16.5 of its Visual Studio 2019 IDE, with enhancements for mobile development, debugging, and C++. Released March 16, the new version of Visual Studio 2019 is available from the Visual Studio website.
Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 brings a number of debugging improvements. The Pinnable Properties tool for managing debugging is now available in C++ for Data Tips and the Autos, Locals, and Watch windows. Another new capability eases debugging of multithreaded applications, by allowing users to view which managed thread is holding a .NET object lock in the Call Stack Window, Parallel Stacks Window, and the location column of the Threads window.
The ability to debug processes running in Docker Windows containers has also been added. Previously, this was limited to Docker Linux containers.
Improvements for .NET mobile development include XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms, which speeds up development and makes it simpler to iterate over an app’s user interface. The application does not need to be rebuilt with each tweak, as changes to the XAML file instantly show up in the running app.
Other new capabilities in Visual Studio 2019 16.5 include:
- For C++ and CMake cross-platform development, developers can interact with stored remote connections over the command line. It is also easier to work with CMake projects, with developers able to add, remove, and rename source files and targets in CMake projects from the IDE without manually editing CMake scripts.
- Developers can convert
ifstatements toswitchstatements orswitchexpressions. - IntelliSense now supports completion for unimported extension methods.
- String interpolation refactoring can be simplified, to make more concise and legible.
- The .NET Object Allocation tool has been updated to help visualize date more easily and reduce time needed for memory investigations.
- .NET Core tests now can be profiled.
- Debugging support has been added for the Open Enclave SDK for trusted execution environments.