2019Logo Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2 Release Notes

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Note

This is not the latest version of Visual Studio. To download the latest release, please visit the Visual Studio site.

What's New in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2

Support Timeframe

This version is now out of support. For more information about Visual Studio support, please review the Support Policy for Visual Studio 2019.

Refer to the latest version of the release notes or visit the Visual Studio site to download the latest supported version of Visual Studio 2019.

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2 Releases

Visual Studio 2019 Blog

The Visual Studio 2019 Blog is the official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team. You can find in-depth information about the Visual Studio 2019 releases in the following posts:

Release Notes Icon Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.5

released September 10, 2019

Top Issues Fixed in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.5

Security Advisory Notices

CVE-2019-1232 Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector Service improperly impersonates certain file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain elevated privileges. An attacker with unprivileged access to a vulnerable system could exploit this vulnerability. The security update addresses the vulnerability by ensuring the Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector Service properly impersonates file operations.

CVE-2019-1301: Denial of Service Vulnerability in .NET Core

A denial of service vulnerability exists when .NET Core improperly handles web requests. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could cause a denial of service against a .NET Core web application. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely, without authentication.

The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the .NET Core web application handles web requests.

Release Notes Icon Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.4

released September 5, 2019

Top Issues Fixed in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.4

Release Notes Icon Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.3

released August 20, 2019

Top Issues Fixed in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.3

Release Notes Icon Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.2

released August 13, 2019

Top Issues Fixed in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.2

Security Advisory Notices

CVE-2019-1211 Git for Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Git for Visual Studio when it improperly parses configuration files. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could execute code in the context of another local user. To exploit the vulnerability, an authenticated attacker would need to modify Git configuration files on a system prior to a full installation of the application. The attacker would then need to convince another user on the system to execute specific Git commands. The update addresses the issue by changing the permissions required to edit configuration files.

Release Notes Icon Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.1

released August 6, 2019

Top Issues Fixed in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.1

Release Notes Icon

released July 24, 2019

IDE

  • Hold down the Alt key + a letter indicated by an underline in the word to quickly jump to different actions in the start window and new project dialog screens for complete keyboard accessibility.
  • Take any file type including solution files and drop them on to the start window when you launch Visual Studio to load the file.
  • Resize the start window and new project dialog by dragging the edges. Visual Studio remembers changed sizes between invocations of the windows. Ability to maximize the windows by double clicking in the title bar area and minimize the windows by clicking on the task bar icon when in their launch states.
  • Access the Developer Command Prompt and Developer Power Shell by either going to “Tools > Command Line” or by searching for them via the Visual Studio Search. Accessing them from within the IDE, automatically sets their path according to the currently opened solution or folder.
  • The Preview Features tools options page has a new look that provides more information of the feature. Check this page for new features and to provide feedback on features.
  • Preview Feature: Enable the “Standard tool window layout” preview feature to improve the startup time for Visual Studio by minimizing the impact of opening tool windows.
  • Backup files are now saved to a temporary folder to avoid using unnecessary storage space in My Document folders that are synchronized with OneDrive
  • Users only have to sign in one time to access Azure resources in Visual Studio, Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell.
  • Developer PowerShell enables users to do everything available in Developer Command Prompt, but now from the familiar PowerShell interface.
  • Visual Studio retains filters for language, platform, and project type between invocations of the new project dialog for easier access generally used templates with fewer clicks.
Filters in New Project Dialog
Filters retained in New Project Dialog

Extensibility

  • LSP: Folding Range has been updated to better support large snippets
  • An extension that uses Newtonsoft.Json may take advantage of features in the new version.

C++

  • For local CMake projects configured with Clang, Code Analysis now runs clang-tidy checks, appearing as part of background code analysis as in-editor warnings (squiggles) and in the Error List.
  • Updated the <charconv> header for C++17's P0067R5 Elementary string conversions:
    • Added floating-point to_chars() overloads for chars_format::fixed and chars_format::scientific precision (chars_format::general precision is the only part not yet implemented)
    • Optimized chars_format::fixed shortest
  • Added the following C++20 Standard Library preview features:
    • Available under /std:c++latest:
    • P0020R6: atomic<floating-point>
    • P0463R1: endian enumeration
    • P0482R6: char8_t type for UTF-8 characters and strings
    • P0653R2: to_address() for converting a pointer to a raw pointer
    • Available under /std:c++17 and /std:c++latest:
    • P0600R1: [[nodiscard]] in the library
    • Available unconditionally:
    • P0754R2: <version> header
    • P0771R1: std::function move constructor should be noexcept
  • Windows SDK is no longer a dependency for the CMake for Windows and CMake for Linux components.
  • Improvements to the C++ linker to significantly improve iteration build times for the largest of input. /debug:fast and /incremental times have been improved on average by 2x, and /debug:full by 3-6x.

Visual Studio Installer support

  • The Visual Studio Installer now handles improved size space detection based on what a user already has installed. If the required amount of space is significantly larger than what is available, the previous warning is now converted to an error and blocks installations.
Insufficient Space Error Example
Insufficient Space Error Example

Microsoft Edge Insider support

  • Visual Studio now enables debugging JavaScript in the new Microsoft Edge Insider browser for ASP.NET and ASP.NET core projects.
  • Install the browser, set a breakpoint in application JavaScript and start a debug session using Edge Insider browser. Visual Studio will launch a new browser window with debugging enabled allowing developers to step through application JavaScript within Visual Studio.
Edge Insiders debugging in Visual Studio
Debugging using Edge Insiders
  • Visual Studio also supports debugging custom browser configurations using the "Browse with" option to launch the browser with custom CLI parameters (e.g. ---inprivate).
Edge Insiders with custom CLI params
Custom CLI params support

.NET

  • Users requested bringing back the Sort Usings command separate from the Remove Usings command. The Sort Usings command in now available under Edit > IntelliSense.
Sort Usings
Sort Usings
  • Users can now convert a switch statement to a switch expression. Under project file, verify the language version is set to preview as switch expressions are a new C# 8.0 feature. Place your cursor in the switch keyword, type (Ctrl+.) to open the Quick Actions and Refactorings menu, and select Convert switch statement to expression.
Convert Switch Statement to Switch Expression
Convert Switch Statement to Switch Expression
  • Developers can now generate a parameter with a code fix. Place the cursor in the variable name and type (Ctrl+.) to open the Quick Actions and Refactorings menu. Select the option to Generate a variable to generate a new parameter.
Generate Parameter Code Fix
Generate Parameter Code Fix

WPF/UWP Tooling

Customers building WPF/UWP applications will see the following improvements in Visual Studio XAML tooling:

XAML Debugging Tools:

  • XAML C# Edit & Continue is now known as XAML Hot Reload: XAML C# edit & continue for WPF/UWP customers is now known as XAML Hot Reload, this new name is intended to be better aligned with how the feature actually works (since no pause is required after a XAML edit is made) and match the similar functionality in Xamarin.Forms.
  • XAML Hot Reload available/unavailable: The in-app toolbar has been updated to indicate if XAML Hot Reload is available/unavailable and link to the related documentation. Before this improvement customers had no way to know if XAML Hot Reload was working without trying to first use the feature, which was leading to confusion.
  • In-app toolbar now themed: The in-app toolbar is now styled according to the Visual Studio selected theme colors.
In-app toolbar themed
In-app toolbar themed
  • In-app toolbar element selection behavior changes: We’ve updated the behavior of the in-app toolbar feature “Enable selection” for selecting elements within the running app. With this change the selector will stop selecting elements after you have selected your first element. This brings it in line with similar tools such as F12 browser tools and is based on customer feedback.

Test Explorer

The Test Explorer now has significant UI improvements including better handling of large test sets, more natural filtering, discoverable commands, and the addition of customizable columns that let the user fine-tune what test information is displayed.

Updated Test Explorer UI
Updated Test Explorer UI
  • Significant reduction in memory consumed by the Visual Studio process and faster test discovery for solutions which have a large number of tests.
  • New filter buttons allow users to filter the view by test outcome easily. Failing tests show with a single click!
New filter buttons on Test Outcome
New filter buttons on Test Outcome
  • Additional buttons for ‘Run Failed Tests’ and ‘Run Previous Test Run’ make it easier to discover some of the most popular test-related keyboard shortcuts.
Run Failed Tests and Run Previous Test Run buttons
Run Failed Tests and Run Previous Test Run buttons
  • Users can customize what information is displayed by tests at a glance by selecting what columns are displayed! The Duration column can be displayed when investigating performance and use the Message column when comparing results. This table layout mimics the Error List table in its customizability. The columns can also be filtered using the filter icon that appears when hovering over the column header.
Right-click to select what columns are displayed
Right-click to select what columns are displayed
Filterable columns
Filterable columns
  • Users can specify what is displayed in each tier of the test hierarchy. The default tiers are Project, Namespace, and then Class, but additional options include Outcome or Duration groupings.
Customize test hierarchy with Group by
Customize test hierarchy with Group by
  • The test status window (the pane below the test list that displays the messages, output, etc.) is much more usable. Users can copy substrings of text, and the font-width is fixed for more readable output.
  • Playlists can be displayed in multiple tabs and are much easier to create and discard as needed.
Open playlists in separate tabs
Open playlists in separate tabs
  • Live Unit Testing now has its view in the Test Explorer. It displays all tests currently included in Live Unit Testing (aka. the live test set), so testers can easily keep track of Live Unit Testing results separate from the manually run test results.
  • There is a target framework column that can display multi-targeted test results.
Android
iOS

Deprecated items

  • The project creation wizard for creating new Azure DevOps Server (TFS) projects has been removed from the Team Explorer. Users who want to create a new project can still go to their Azure DevOps Server instance and create a project through the web UI.
  • The Sharepoint integration tab has been removed from Team Explorer when connecting to Azure DevOps Server (TFS) projects. The Azure DevOps / Sharepoint integration was deprecated in TFS 2018.

Top Issues Fixed in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2

Known Issues

See all issues and available workarounds in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2 by following the below link.

Visual Studio 2019 Known Issues

Feedback and suggestions

We would love to hear from you! For issues, let us know through the Report a Problem option in the upper right-hand corner of either the installer or the Visual Studio IDE itself. The Feedback Icon icon is located in the upper right-hand corner. You can make a product suggestion or track your issues in the Visual Studio Developer Community, where you can ask questions, find answers, and propose new features. You can also get free installation help through our Live Chat support.

Blogs

Take advantage of the insights and recommendations available in the Developer Tools Blogs site to keep you up-to-date on all new releases and include deep dive posts on a broad range of features.

Visual Studio 2019 Release Notes History

For more information relating to past versions of Visual Studio 2019, see the Visual Studio 2019 Release Notes History page.

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