Visual Studio "14" CTP

Today, we are making available a first community technology preview of the next version of Visual Studio, codenamed Visual Studio “14”.  This early build is focused on enabling feedback and testing from the Visual Studio community.  Visual Studio "14" will most likely be available sometime in 2015, with a more complete preview release and final naming available later this year.  Given that this is a very early build, please install in a test environment with no earlier versions of Visual Studio installed.

You can read about the new features and known issues in this first Visual Studio “14” CTP, and also download today.

Over the last 3 months, we've announced many exciting technologies that will be important parts of Visual Studio "14" - including the "Roslyn" .NET compiler platform, ASP.NET vNext and Apache Cordova tooling.  The Visual Studio "14" CTP 1 includes a few of these tools, as well as many additional improvements across Visual Studio, including an early look at some new C++ 11 support that will be part of Visual Studio "14".

C# and VB with the .NET Compiler Platform ("Roslyn")

In Visual Studio "14", the C# and VB compilers and IDE support are fully built on the .NET Compiler Platform ("Roslyn").  This open-source compiler as a service now sits behind dozens of developer experiences in Visual Studio "14", powering build, IntelliSense, refactoring, CodeLens, debugging and many more features developers use every day.  In most places the experiences are unchanged, but there have also been many small improvements across the entire development experience as part of the new compiler platform.

In the Visual Studio "14" preview C# refactoring support has been completely revamped including two new core refactorings: Inline Temporary Variable and Introduce Explaining Variable. Additionally, refactoring support for Visual Basic has been added for the first time.

 

Visual Studio "14" also supports APIs that come from NuGet with their own analyzers, squiggling issues in your code as you type and offering you automatic fixes, all powered by the .NET Compiler Platform.

You can read more about the new C# and VB developer experiences on the C# blog and the Visual Basic blog.

ASP.NET vNext

A few weeks ago, we announced ASP.NET vNext and plans for the future of .NET on the server.  ASP.NET vNext is designed for both cloud and server, offering SxS installation options and significantly enhanced developer productivity, through a modular and highly configurable framework and web stack.

The Visual Studio "14" CTP offers an early look at the Visual Studio tooling experience for ASP.NET vNext.  As well as the ASP.NET 4.5 Web Application templates, new templates are included for targeting ASP.NET vNext.

The next version of .NET that will be available along with Visual Studio "14" includes ASP.NET vNext as well as many additional new .NET technologies that we've previewed in recent month, including .NET Native for Windows Store apps, the next generation JIT, and the Roslyn compilers.

You can read more about ASP.NET vNext in the Visual Studio "14" CTP on the .NET Web Development and Tools blog.

C++ 11/14

We've continued to push forward on the standards conformance of the Visual C++ compiler.  The Visual Studio "14" CTP includes support for user-defined literals, noexcept, alignof and alignas, and inheriting constructors from C++11, generalized lambda capture, auto function return type deduction, and generic lambdas from C++14, as well as many more new C++ features.

This continues with the roadmap we laid out last year on the path toward C++11 and C++14 standards compliance.  The chart below is an updated view of what we know now, and the features that we're working on now for future Visual Studio "14" CTPs.

In addition, the Visual Studio "14" CTP include new features for debugging, libraries and IDE productivity.

You can read more about the C++ improvements in the Visual Studio "14" CTP on the C++ blog.

Summary

This early preview of Visual Studio "14" is an opportunity to gather feedback on the next version of Visual Studio and .NET.  For developers picking up the CTP, I encourage you to share your feedback on the Connect website, or through Send-a-Smile in the Visual Studio IDE.

Namaste!

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Great!!!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  looks excellent

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Finally :)

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  New toys! Looks awesome!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  This is really great. Better days ahead. Weldon VS Team.

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Great news!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Before I go and install this, does it include Universal VB project templates??

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Great news and good job team!  Does this preview include the new Roslyn REPL and scripting APIs?

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Good job! Microsoft is a provider of the best IDE of today. Keep it up!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  shaggygi, This CTP doesn't include the REPL. The REPL we've shown in the past was a stand-alone REPL. We're currently working on the REPL and making sure it has first-class integration into the full Visual Studio experience. It'll be back when we that work further along and better than before! The scripting APIs were previously deeply connected with the REPL experience. We've been looking at how to simplify them for other task and intend to eventually release them directly into the "Roslyn" open source repository on CodePlex (http://roslyn.codeplex.com). Regards, -ADG

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  <h1>Great</h1>

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  LMKz, It does not. Something better is on its way (can't say when) and it's just not there yet. There is no technical limitation that prevents VB devs from producing universal apps today (what's missing is some particulars of the tooling) and we're building a sample app that demonstrates this and will release it and guidance on the VB team blog as soon as we can. Regards, -ADG

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  GREAT

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Still no C99 support?

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Thanks!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  I must be doing something wrong. Tried various alternatives (adding BlockerOverride as the default value, adding BlockerOverride as a key even though it didn't specify that, etc.) If anyone has a .reg export that actually works could you please post it? Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDevDivvsServicing] @="" "BlockerOverride"=""

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  ^^^ As follow-up to my question, from the log file: [0B18:0438][2014-06-03T22:34:46]i000: Registry value not found. Key = 'SOFTWAREMicrosoftDevDivvsServicing', Value = 'BlockerOverride' Is that extra backslash at the end of the registry key causing grief? None of the other reg-key checks in the log have one. I can't get into vs_professional.exe via Orcas to examine the msi (maybe the root install isn't msi-based).

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  As a professional using VS every day I am increasingly concerned by this rapid release cycle of VS

• If I buy VS today it is now obsolete tomorrow as MS is only interested improving the next version. I may as well find another IDE that is continually improved than one that requires me to buy it again every year for new feature X.

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  New tool, more free time for fishing!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  At just the same time as this announcement, Microsoft's Paul Yuknewicz has declined the call for an updated VB6 programming language on the Microsoft UserVoice site: visualstudio.uservoice.com/.../3440221-bring-back-classic-visual-basic-an-improved-versi With some laughable 'technical' reasons why VB6 can't be updated Paul Yuknewicz now has the unenviable distinction of having twice cancelled VB6 - in 2002 with the decision to go for VB.Net and again in 2014 with the decision not to add to VB6 the same features already added to VBA. Paul Yuknewicz has also stated that it is not 'feasible' to open source VB6. Even then Paul Yuknewicz has to admit that VB6 will continue to have Microsoft support until 'at least' 2024. Microsoft has sent a clear message to developers throughout the world "Do not use Microsoft developer tools. You simply cannot trust Microsoft to protect your investment."

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Any plans to add Visual Studio 14 preview images to the Azure Gallery for VMs?  This would be a big help for us that don't have the resources or time to setup/configure.  Thx

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Look forward to it =)

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Absolutely amazing. Microsoft are the most impressive software company in the world.

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  great...!!!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Refactoring! :)

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  Did you fix the GUI? Did you bring back setup and deployment projects?

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  C++ changes sounds good - But importantly will they address the user interface dislikes of VS2013. Our developers  wont budge from VS 2008 despite having VS2013 to hand! Ok they use it for none serious work.....! Note: It VS14 in 2015 not  VS2014 in 20014. Always a problem naming a product by year version :)

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  great...

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  @shaggygi - Regarding the VM Images - yes there will be one for Dev 14 CTP available as an Azure VM. It is availabe now in the Azure VM Public Gallery actually (as of like 5 minutes ago :)) BTW - if you want to create Azure VM's you can also do this through Visual Studio now a couple ways, like Server Explorer -> Windows Azure -> Virtual Machine -> Right Click and select "Create Virtual Machine" (you'll need the latest Azure SDK 2.3).

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  @Matt Sampson.  Thx a bunch.  Looking into using now.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  WoohoO! amazing :)

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  It says it has known compatibility issues.. how about seeding a VM with VS 2014 installed to test out?

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  @warrens:  That's right.  The templates in the CTP are placeholders.  The console app template will be for .NET vNEXT generally.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  @Awesome:  This is something we're definitely thinking about for future Visual Studio "14" CTPs.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  @markmnl - Updates for Visual Studio 2013 continue to be a big focus for the team - both Update 2 and Update 3 CTP1 were just released recently.  We're investing in both updates for Visual Studio 2013, as well as the next version.  This is also a very early preview of Visual Studio "14" to get feedback.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  Grt ;)

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  Will you be able to make us to have hybrid projects (VB / C#)? There are some features that make me appreciate VB (methods with different names that implement methods with the same signature from different interfaces, continuous/exit for/do/while permit to continue/exit not the innser loop, easier highlighting of event handled methods by Handler signature - very often I use the same routine to handle different objects or different events in the same object) and other features that I do appreciate C# (unsafe code allowing the use of pointers, operators, increment / decrement, more flexible loops, partially abstract classes). So I have several solutions with both VB and C# projects. About VB: I would also like cycle management would even be more flexible (for example, using Exit For Var, and associating a name to a Do/Loop cycle, to have an Exit Do Name capability)

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  Great! I have LNK1104: cannot open file 'kernel32.lib'. Seems that the Windows Kits are not installed correctly. Do I have to install them separately?

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  If it's "Visual Studio 2015", please make it VC++15 too. Those numbers being mismatched causes constant low-level confusion, especially for organisations that try to keep pace with Microsoft development tools and thus can't skip versions.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2014
  @Awesome:  There's an Azure VM image with the Visual Studio "14" CTP available now in the VM gallery.  See blogs.msdn.com/.../visual-studio-14-ctp-now-available-in-the-virtual-machine-azure-gallery.aspx fo details.

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  According to the VC++ blog, unrestricted unions are in the VS14 CTP, but the chart graphic here shows them still to be completed.

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  @S.Colcord - Good catch, this is updated in the chart now.

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  I am experiencing the same problem specified here stackoverflow.com/.../no-c-sharp-6-0-in-visual-studio-2014-ctp . Tried the Roslyn syntax on downloaded and installed VS '14' CTP and instance of VM available in Azure. I added I added <LangVersion>Experimental<LangVersion> to csproj file as well but with no luck... What am I doing wrong here...I believe I do not have to install Roslyn preview since VS '14' comes with Roslyn by default

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  Great work team. As usual, a big pat on the back for the VS team!

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  Awesome news. Great to hear!! Can't wait to try my hand on this new CTP Regards, Jalpesh Vadgama http://www.dotnetjalps.com

• Anonymous
  June 05, 2014
  Thanks to Anthony D. Green, to get roslyn stuff to work with CTP the entry project file should be <LangVersion>experimental</LangVersion> it is case sensitive for the time being and will be fixed according to Anthony. Awesome editor experience with C# and VB... Way to go !!!

• Anonymous
  June 06, 2014
  Good!

• Anonymous
  June 06, 2014
  Are we getting a new version every year now?

• Anonymous
  June 08, 2014
  @ CraigAJohnson Sorry this isn't working for you. We're updating the Release Notes. See Connect for more details connect.microsoft.com/.../install-error-of-visual-studio-14. Robert

• Anonymous
  June 08, 2014
  Long awaited. Microsoft Rocks!!

• Anonymous
  June 09, 2014
  @CraigAJohnson - there was indeed an error in the article about the BlockerOverride reg key. We have updated the KB article (support.microsoft.com/.../2967191) to add instructions for 64-bit Windows. Here's the relevant section: "There is an installation block in this Visual Studio "14" CTP that will prevent installation on a computer where an earlier version of Visual Studio is already installed. To disable the block that will put the computer in an un-recommended state, add a new value to the registry at the "HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftDevDivvsServicing" location ("HKLMSOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftDevDivvsServicing" on a 64-bit Windows). The value name should be BlockerOverride, and the value type and value data can be anything."

• Anonymous
  June 09, 2014
  Refactoring for vb <3!

• Anonymous
  June 10, 2014
  Great! I like the C++ improvements - can't wait for them to be integrated in a release version. Keep up the good work. Sadly for automatically building our C# projects, we can't use environment variables in the C# project editor directly, but have to edit the project files via notepad. Using mainly C++ with up to 300 different solutions it's stil a [.....] to configure the few C# solutions to use a environment variable in the output path.

• Anonymous
  June 11, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 11, 2014
  Lol Cat: Can I haz thread-safe static initialization in C++? See "magic statics" in this entry blogs.msdn.com/.../visual-studio-14-ctp.aspx

• Anonymous
  June 11, 2014
  "BlockerOverride"="-1"   (type as REG_SZ) in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftDevDivvsServicing is running for side by side Installation

• Anonymous
  June 13, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 16, 2014
  Great, I m waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2014
  But the question remains...... can we evaluate LINQ expressions in the watch or immediate window ?! That's what we really want!!

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2014
  Hey Graham, We're working on it. It's important to remember that this CTP is just an early preview of some of the functionality coming in Visual Studio "14" but not all. The Visual Basic and C# team, the Visual Studio Debugger team, and the CLR team are collaborating on many exciting investments in improving the VS debugging experience for both VB and C# customers in this release that you can expect to see announced on our team blogs (blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq and blogs.msdn.com/vbteam) in conjunction with future previews. We know how exciting supporting this scenario is to the community and I promise you, when it's ready it'll be really hard to miss the announcement! :D Regards, -Anthony D. Green, Program Manager, Visual Basic & C# Languages Team

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2014
  Is = default supported on move constructors and assignment operators now?

• Anonymous
  June 24, 2014
  Please make it Touch-Friendly (I'm aiming for surface 3, wouldn't be nice if mouse is still needed on go)

• Anonymous
  June 25, 2014
  Great Work

• Anonymous
  June 29, 2014
  Does anyone know if VS 2014 CTP work with the current Visual Studio online for TFS?

• Anonymous
  June 29, 2014
  Excellent! I've been waiting for this.

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2014
  Any update about Silver Twist. I hope we should have a Silverlight to HTML 5 Conversion in VS14

• Anonymous
  July 04, 2014
  (y)

• Anonymous
  July 05, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 06, 2014
  GypsyPrince -- We'd like to investigate why the compiler is slow on your system. We would appreciate if you could share any more information about your system - e.g. machine specs, solution size etc. Please feel free to send me mail directly at Devic@microsoft.com

• Anonymous
  July 06, 2014
  loved it :)

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2014
  The UI theme still follows VS2012/13 flat style? that's too ugly.

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2014
  Wow! this is huge, thank you.

• Anonymous
  July 19, 2014
  Wow , Great !

• Anonymous
  July 28, 2014
  Good to know about vNext :)

• Anonymous
  July 28, 2014
  The pace of updates is pretty impressive. I hope by the end of the year I will be able to use most of C++14 features in VS 2014 :)

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2014
  Great! (Test time)

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2014
  Just so long as we don't lose real winform support. My only other problem is that netmf and the gadgeteer  will be even further behind when this gets released as it still doesn't support v2013 officially.

• Anonymous
  October 19, 2014
  Tested with a machine, with the following config: VS2010 VS2012 VS14 A web site, contains subcode files, VS14 IDE intellsense failed to display the subcode class Besides When the web site using VS2010 / VS2012 to view back, normal, but when pressing F5 debug, the following error show: System.InvalidOperationException: Failed to map the path '/aspnet_client/system_web/4_5_19/WebUIValidation.js'. at  System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.MapPathActual(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean permitNull) at System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.MapPathInternal(VirtualPath virtualPath) at System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.MapPath(VirtualPath virtualPath) at System.Web.VirtualPath.MapPath() at System.Web.Handlers.AssemblyResourceLoader.GetDiskResourcePath(String resourceName) at System.Web.Handlers.AssemblyResourceLoader.GetWebResourceUrl(Type type, String resourceName, Boolean htmlEncoded, IScriptManager scriptManager, Boolean enableCdn) at System.Web.UI.ClientScriptManager.GetWebResourceUrl(Page owner, Type type, String resourceName, Boolean htmlEncoded, IScriptManager scriptManager, Boolean enableCdn) at System.Web.UI.ClientScriptManager.RegisterClientScriptResource(Type type, String resourceName) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseValidator.RegisterValidatorCommonScript() at System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseValidator.OnPreRender(EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) Might anyone help me? I try to system restore but the check point disappear