With Visual Studio 2022 17.12, Microsoft has added additional diagnostic and debugging features that improve code analysis and debugging. Among these changes are improvements related to the incorporation of Copilot AI, which aims to streamline development processes. One of the most sought-after features has been the online display of function return values, which has been implemented. Hovering over these numbers, which are grayed out below the relevant return instructions, displays a Copilot icon and more information. When you click this icon, the expression is analyzed by AI to reveal any errors.
Parsing the values of variables in the “Auto” and “Locals” windows is another way Copilot extends its capability to the debug windows. Additional error analysis is provided via an AI icon adjacent to the variable previews. Although a dedicated AI assistant for the tool is still in the development phase, the IEnumerable Visualizer tool has also been improved, integrating IntelliSense with syntax highlighting for LINQ queries.
To ensure uniform management of breakpoints across all projects, the debugger now allows you to import and export groups of breakpoints with their options. Snapshots can now be taken with the diagnostic tool to compare memory states. When developers take two snapshots in the "Memory" tab, they can see the changes by choosing "Show Differences." Additionally, the diagnostic window now displays histogram data.
This release adds AI-powered features, particularly for debugging and code repair, and integrates .NET 9. Users can now copy files to Visual Studio instances and launch multiple program settings based on project requirements using the user interface. Commit messages generated by Copilot can be further customized by developers, who can even create local repositories and manage multiple GitHub accounts. In addition to HTTP files supporting query variables to reuse responses in subsequent requests, Linux users can also publish WebJobs to Azure. Command line parameters can be set directly in the C++ Developer Toolbar.
These improvements are described in detail in Microsoft's blog post, and a full overview of all upgrades is given in the release notes.
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