Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1 Release Notes

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Developer Community | System Requirements | Compatibility | Distributable Code | Documentation | Blogs | Servicing

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Download

For information on the system requirements see the see Mac System Requirements and Mac Platform Targeting and Compatibility guides.

To learn more about other related downloads, see the Downloads page.

Important

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac (version 8 and higher) is not supported on Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) or lower. If you have Visual Studio 2017 for Mac (version 7), you will not be shown an update to Visual Studio 2019 for Mac. Installation will also be blocked. To resolve this issue, update to macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or higher

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What's New in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1 Releases

• July 9, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.5
• July 2, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.4
• June 27, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.3
• June 25, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.2
• June 20, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.1
• June 13, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Blog Posts

The Visual Studio 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 for Mac releases in the following posts:

• Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1 now available

Release Highlights

This release contains the following highlights:

• The new C# editor is enabled by default. It features an updated, fully native UI, built on top of the reliable Visual Studio foundation.
• Support for .NET Core 3 Preview 3, 4, and 5. For Preview 6 support, check out the next Preview.
• Three new ASP.NET Core templates for Single Page Apps. These are the same templates provided by the dotnet command line tool and Visual Studio on Windows.

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Known Issues

Important

If you were previously using .NET Core v2.2.1xx with Visual Studio for Mac 8.0, you'll need to manually update to a supported version of .NET Core, as listed in the .NET Core Support guide. We recommend either 2.1.700 or 2.2.300.

Refer to the Known Issues section for all known issues.

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Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.5 (8.1.5.9)

released July 9, 2019

This release addresses the following issues:

• Error MSB4022 is thrown while building docker-compose project
• F# coloring of functions is inconsistent
• "Go to Task" is broken in Tasks panel
• Diff Option in Version Control not working as expected.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.4 (8.1.4.5)

released July 2, 2019

This release addresses the following issues:

• Japanese input is abnormally slow.
• Chinese input repeats in the new C# editor.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.3 (8.1.3.19)

released June 27, 2019

This release addresses the following issues:

• AXML files are still not saving.
• The "Publish in version control" option is always disabled.
• Adding Docker Compose support to an HTTPS enabled .NET Core project fails with a Kestrel exception regarding the self-signed dev certificate not being trusted/found.
• "The application exited with code: 255" displays in 'Application Output' window after debugging a docker-compose project then debugging the web application.
• Cannot debug a normal console application on macOS Catalina.
• Visual Studuo for Mac crashes on macOS Catalina when you try to open a solution.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.2 (8.1.2.2)

released June 23, 2019

This release addresses an issue where a missing XAML file breaks IntelliSense.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1.1 (8.1.1.27)

released June 20, 2019

This release addresses the following issues:

• We fixed an issue where the 'Ok' and 'Cancel' buttons don't work properly on the 'Extract Interface' dialog.
• We fixed an issue on Mojave that affected how dialogs were shown which addresses the following community feedback items:
  • Cannot change visual style when in full screen mode..
  • Selecting iOS Version Window Box on Visual Studio Mac Does Not Overlay.
  • Settings' drop down lists issue in full screen mode.
  • Preferences ComboBox display issues in full screen mode.
  • Cannot change function access rights for new function.
  • Unable to select any drop-down value in preferences.
  • Dropdowns are not working.
  • Dropdown menus in preferences not working.
  • Theme Settings and Language Settings drop-down boxes sometimes cannot be selected.
  • Popup buttons in VS preferences don't work.
  • Visual Studio for Mac 2019 freeze when renaming or removing project configurations.
  • Visual Studio for Mac hangs on add package source.
• We fixed an issue where it is not possible to search in open files if the assembly browser open.
• We fixed an issue where the Difference option in Version control is not showing.
• We fixed an issue where .AXML changes are not saving to file or triggering a "Updating Resources..." action.
• We fixed an issue where .AXML changes do not persist when saving in latest preview version 8.1.0.2697.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1 (8.1.0.2742)

released June 13, 2019

Installer

• We moved the Android permissions fixes to install-time.
• We've improved both the design and logic of the Visual Studio for Mac installer in this release. This presents all available options in a much clearer way, allowing you to make an informed decision on exactly what you want to install.

New Component Selection Screen

New C# Editor

When we released Visual Studio 2019 for Mac in April, we offered an entirely new C# editor as an opt-in experience. We wanted to ensure that the new editor meets our standards of performance and reliability before promoting it to the default editor within Visual Studio 2019 for Mac. Additionally, we wanted to ensure no major gaps existed in behavior or functionality between the legacy editor and the new editor.

After a lot of testing, bug fixing, and many conversations with our community, we believe the editor is now at a point where it can be the default experience.

The new editor features an updated, fully native UI built on top of the reliable Visual Studio foundation. You’ll find several additional features that close the gap between the old and new editor in addition to some that were explicitly requested by the Visual Studio for Mac user community.

New editor features in Visual Studio for Mac

The new Visual Studio for Mac editor brings the following features:

• Native macOS (Cocoa-based) user interface (tooltips, editor surface, margin adornments, text rendering, IntelliSense)
• Support for native text inputs
• RTL/BiDi language support
• Common Visual Studio Platform core
• Roslyn 3
• Multi-caret support
• Word Wrap
• Update IntelliSense UI
• Improved Find/Replace

Snippet Support in Editor

You can now use Snippets in the new editor, by using [TAB]-[TAB] when a snippet is selected in the completion window.

Code Snippets

Format Selection

You can now Format Selection when a selection is highlighted and you use either the Format hotkey or the Format menu command.

Format Selection

Error marker margin in scrollbar

Errors and messages will now be marked in your scroll bar so you can quickly navigate between these within your code. Clicking on the marker will navigate your caret to the location of the error or message.

Inline Lightbulbs

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac now supports inline lightbulbs for suggestion fixes to your code. When an underline appears, hover over the code and click the lightbulb that appears to select from a list of suggested fixes.

Inline lightbulbs

Multiple Carets

See the new Edit > Multiple Carets menu for improved support for multiple carets with advanced caret manipulation commands as already available in Visual Studio on Windows. Key bindings for caret manipulation have the same defaults as on Windows and can be customized in preferences.

Multiple Carets

• The Go To Base navigation command and menu item has been added.
• The Go To Line Number navigation command was added.

ASP.NET Core templates for Single Page Apps (SPAs)

In this release, we’re including three new templates in Visual Studio for Mac, the same templates provided by the dotnet command line tool and Visual Studio on Windows:

• Angular
• React.js
• React.js and Redux

These templates provide a starting point with a sample client-side application written using each of the technologies above. The application consumes data provided by an ASP.NET Core API backend. The project files generated by these templates are setup to build the TypeScript and JavaScript assets when you run your application, so that you can stay focused on building your app without leaving the IDE.   We’ve also added a new Razor Class Library template to make it easier to package and reuse your Razor views, pages, controllers, page models, view components, and data models. You can learn more about this in the ASP.NET Core Razor Pages documentation.

.NET Core

• You can now build .NET Core apps targeting the latest .NET Core 3 Preview 4 and Preview 5 SDKs. For full information on .NET Core support in Visual Studio for Mac, see the .NET Core Support guide.

• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac 2019 Preview does not work with project file SDK's like MSBuild.Sdk.Extras.

ASP.NET Core

• We fixed an issue where application output is not output to an external console, even if Run on external console is checked.

Unity

• We optimized performance of the debugger when attaching to Unity projects. You can also enable the Preferences > Source Analysis > Enable source analysis of whole solution feature in Visual Studio for Mac to make attaching even faster.

Debugger

• You can now move the instruction pointer around while debugging .NET Core projects using "Set Next Statement"

Set Next Statement

• We fixed an issue where the debugger on breakpoint won't show Local or Watch varaibles.
• The debugger pads should now reflect changes made to an object via the other debugger pads (Immediate, Locals, Watch).
• We fixed an issue where it is not possible to step into other open (.NET Core) projects when debugging.
• We fixed an issue where only System.Exception is listed for adding an exception catchpoint.
• We added support for .NET Core breakpoints breaking on Hit Count.
• We fixed an issue where debugging unit tests are not working.

Shell

• It is now possible to close all tabs to the right of the selected tab using the tab bar context menu.

Close to the right

• We fixed an issue where mouse clicks are way off (down) in latest update.
• We fixed an issue where Application Output is hanging.
• We fixed an issue where Find in files - open files - returns no results on re-opening the solution.
• We fixed an issue where the main toolbar shows "stop" button when the app run with debugger has stopped.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac usually consumes an entire CPU core when idle, killing battery life (and making my lap hot).
• We fixed an issue where Go to line jumps to wrong line or crashes.
• We fixed an issue where 'Find in files' fails to find in a XAML page that has not been saved.
• We fixed an issue where text result in search pane are truncated too short.
• We fixed an issue where menus are shown on incorrect folders in Solution pad.
• We fixed an issue where the Help | Search command would not be available as expected.

Start Window

• You can now drag and drop your .sln file to the start window to open it.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac can crash on trying to open solution from the start window.

Web Tools

• We fixed an issue where docker-compose fails to build.
• We fixed an issue where Azure Functions projects could not be debugged.

Assembly Browser

• We fixed an issue where the Assembly browser back/forward navigation opens a new Assembly Browser window.
• We fixed an issue where navigating to definition is causing an application crash.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac assembly browser is duplicating libraries and failing to retrieve data.
• We fixed an issue where it is not possible to drill down additional levels in the assembly browser.

Project System

• We fixed an issue where NUnit tests are executed in a 32-bit process.
• We fixed an issue where a dialogue about mono-sgen32 not being optimised for the Mac was displayed.
• We fixed an issue where XAML files are not added correctly.
• We fixed an issue where a build error occurs when using the Multiplatform Library template if Xamarin.Android code is used in the Android project.
• We fixed an issue where the Find in Files file mask is not correct.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac is duplicating files in solution explorer when files are found in two item groups (even if item group is excluded by conditions).

Version Control

• We fixed an issue where committing with unsaved files open causes problems.
• We fixed an issue where the "manage branches and remotes" tool shows the wrong checked-out branch.
• We fixed an issue with copying text from the "Changes" window.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac incorrectly marks Git conflicts resolved.

NuGet

• We fixed an issue where the .NET Core project extension should ignore framework changes for other projects.
• We fixed an issue where NuGet would fail to restore when the Android SDK was not found.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac package restore function is not the same as CLI when restoring CLI tool references.

Xamarin

• We fixed an issue where, when a closing tag already has '</' present, choosing the closing element, the completion window enters an invalid closing tag such as '<//ContentView>'.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac does not show any warnings when building Xamarin projects in solutions with "Project > Active Runtime" set to an old version.
• We fixed an issue where the XAML editor font zoom in/out is not working.

iOS Designer

• This release adds support for Xcode 10.2.1
• We fixed an issue with setting tint color on template images from asset catalogs.
• we fixed an issue that affected working with UICollectionViewCell on the design surface.
• We fixed an issue loading native dynamic libraries and frameworks that depend on other native libraries or frameworks in the app bundle.

Android Designer

You can now edit Android layout files side-by-side with a real-time designer view. This experience allows you to see changes you make to an Android layout file on the fly as you are editing, greatly improving the efficiency while editing these files.

Android Designer split-view

Forms Designer

• Accessibility and formatting updates to the previewer controls.
• Enabled support for Visual="Material" in the iOS renderer.

Xamarin.iOS

• Added support for arm64_32 for watchOS apps.
• We fixed an issue where an incorrect warning, 'Duplicate Version Code' for an iOS release build.

Xamarin.Android

• You can now select between dx/d8 as your default Dev compiler and ProGuard/r8 as your default code shrinker.
• We implemented the suggestion to start emulator immediately when starting to build.
• We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac is not launching the Android emulator.

Other fixes

• We added support for launching multiple application URLs.
• We fixed an issue where changes made to launchSettings.json in Visual Studio for mac do not take effect.
• We fixed an issue where ASP.NET Core 2.2 web app template could not start on https when running on macOS Mojave.

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Feedback and Suggestions

We would love to hear from you! You can report a problem through the Report a Problem option in Visual Studio for Mac IDE. You can track your feedback, including suggestions, in the Developer Community portal.

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Known Issues

The following is a list of all existing known issues in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.1:

• This release does not support .NET Core v2.2.1xx. For information on .NET Core support in Visual Studio for Mac, see the .NET Core Support guide.
• .NET Core 3 Preview 6 SDK is not supported at this moment. For information on .NET Core support in Visual Studio for Mac, see the .NET Core Support guide.
• Pads can only be resized if mousing left to right over edge.
• While debugging, variables/data tips cannot be pinned.

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Visual Studio for Mac Release Notes History

You can view prior versions of Visual Studio for Mac release notes on the Release notes history page.

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