Microsoft has fixed a number of persistent bugs with version 17.13 of the development platform Visual Studio 2022 and the C# DevKit extension for Visual Studio Code (VSC). There are also new features, such as integration with Copilot for Visual Studio.
In the long-awaited 17.13 update to Visual Studio 2022, Microsoft has fixed a bug surrounding default text files. Many users experience problems when they inadvertently save a text file with a so-called byte order mark (BOM). Files saved as UTF-8 automatically added a BOM header.
When this file is used outside Visual Studio, it can cause problems with JSON and PHP files, among others. This problem was first reported in 2017. Workarounds are possible, but they are cumbersome and time-consuming.
With the recent update, this issue has been fixed, and standard text files can now be encoded to UTF-8 without a BOM. Developers can now also set other default encodings for text files themselves.
GitHub accounts and Copilot integration.
Another major improvement is that Visual Studio 2022 users can now use multiple GitHub accounts without constantly switching and logging in and out each time. This resolves a request from 2022.
Via “Add another account,” developers can add multiple GitHub accounts and easily switch between them.
In addition, Copilot, specifically GitHub Copilot, is now integrated within Visual Studio to simplify developers’ jobs. With this integration, they can now access “AI-enhanced feature search,” which helps understand the intent behind searches rather than just searching for exact terms.
Other features within the Copilot integration include editing multiple files via chat and code references for Copilot completions, sourced from public code repositories.
Updates C# DevKit extension
In addition to the update for Visual Studio 2022, Microsoft also released a new version of the C# DevKit extension for VSC. .NET developers primarily use this extension on platforms other than Windows.
Major changes and improvements include support for workspaces without solution files. Another update, still in preview, allows you to add .NET Aspire orchestration to a project via the VS Code command palette.