Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2.0

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.
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.
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.
- Visual Studio also supports debugging custom browser configurations using the "Browse with" option to launch the browser with custom CLI parameters (e.g. –-inprivate).
.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.
- 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
- 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.
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.
- 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!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Startup performance improvements up to 50% faster with startup tracing support with ahead-of-time compilation(Profiled AOT).
. Available to all editions of Visual Studio.
- Create Android App Bundles(.aab) with Xamarin.Android SDK MSBuild support.
- Android Asset Packaging Tool 2.0 (AAPT2) is now enabled by default for Android projects.
- Enhancements to Build and Deployment Performance.
- Android Q Beta 2 Preview Bindings.
- Use AndroidX in your Android applications with AndroidX NuGets now in Preview.
- This release includes the following Xamarin.Android SDK:
. Xamarin.Android 9.4
iOS
- This release includes the following Xamarin.iOS SDK:
. Xamarin.iOS 12.14
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 thier 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

- Fixed known issue: Cannot deploy to hololens; "could not obtain a developer license due to error 80004005"
- Fixed known issue: Stops responding when starting a new nanoFramework project from a template.
- Fixed known issue: SQL Publish Dialog is Hidden when clicking Visual Studio.
- Fixed known issue: iOS app not building and deploying.
- Fixed known issue: After running the WPF App, Visual Studio stops for a while.
- Fixed known issue: Debugger process takes a long time then crashes.
- Fixed known issue: Internal Errors in both Compiler and Linker
- Fixed known issue: Debugger process is taking a long time and then crashes.
- Fixed known issue: Can start a new nanoFramework project from a template
- Fixed known issue: SQL Publish Dialog is Hidden When Clicking Visual Studio
- Fixed known issue: .coverage files are not in the Visual Studio-generated .gitignore
- Fixed issue: Increase AndroidClientHandler timeouts
- Fixed a Live Share bug preventing indentation when entering new lines.
- Fixed a bug in the workflow designer causing it to stop responding.
- Fixed a Diagnostics Hub issue causing it to stop responding.
- Fixed a null exception error when unloading multiple projects.
- Fixed an issue preventing users from debugging their UWP tests on an Xbox or a remote device.

Visual Studio 2019 will install and run on the following operating systems (64 bit recommended):

- Windows 10 version 1703 or higher: Home, Professional, Education, and Enterprise (LTSC and S are not supported)
- Windows Server 2019: Standard and Datacenter
- Windows Server 2016: Standard and Datacenter
- Windows 8.1 (with Update 2919355): Core, Professional, and Enterprise
- Windows Server 2012 R2 (with Update 2919355): Essentials, Standard, Datacenter
- Windows 7 SP1 (with latest Windows Updates): Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate
Hardware:
- CPU:1.8 GHz or faster processor. Quad-core or better recommended
- Memory:2 GB of RAM; 8 GB of RAM recommended (2.5 GB minimum if running on a virtual machine)
- Hard disk space: Minimum of 800MB up to 210 GB of available space, depending on features installed; typical installations require 20-50 GB of free space.
- Hard disk speed: to improve performance, install Windows and Visual Studio on a solid state drive (SSD).
- GPU:Video card that supports a minimum display resolution of 720p (1280 by 720); Visual Studio will work best at a resolution of WXGA (1366 by 768) or higher.
Additional Requirements:
- Administrator rights are required to install Visual Studio.
- .NET Framework 4.5 is required to install Visual Studio. Visual Studio requires .NET Framework 4.7.2, which will be installed during setup.
- Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC edition, Windows 10 S and Windows 10 Team Edition are not supported for development. You may use Visual Studio 2019 to build apps that run on Windows 10 LTSC, Windows 10 S and Windows 10 Team Edition.
- Internet Explorer 11 or Edge is required for internet-related scenarios. Some features might not work unless these, or a later version, are installed.
- For Hyper-V emulator support, A supported 64-bit operating system is required. A processor that supports Client Hyper-V and Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) is also required.
- For Android Emulator support, a supported processor and operating system is required.
- Universal Windows app development, including designing, editing, and debugging, requires Windows 10. Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2012 R2 may be used to build Universal Windows apps from the command line.
- The Server Core and Minimal Server Interface options are not supported when running Windows Server.
- Running Visual Studio 2019 (Professional, Community, and Enterprise) in Windows containers is not supported.
- Team Foundation Server 2019 Office Integration requires Office 2016, Office 2013, or Office 2010.
- Xamarin.Android requires a 64-bit edition of Windows and the 64-bit Java Development Kit (JDK).
- PowerShell 3.0 or higher is required on Windows 7 SP1 to install the Mobile Development with C++, -JavaScript, or .NET workloads.