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Developer Community for Visual Studio Product family. This site uses cookies for analytics, personalized content and ads. By continuing to browse this site, you agree to this use. Visual Studio for Mac supports NuGet for all of your dependency management needs. In this video, Cody Beyer will demonstrate how to add a NuGet package to your project, and how to connect Visual Studi.

Click the button to download the latest version of Visual Studio 2019 for Mac. For information on the system requirements see the see Mac System Requirementsand Mac Platform Targeting and Compatibility guides.

For instructions on installing and updating Visual Studio 2019 for Mac, see theInstall Visual Studio for Mac guide.

Developer Community for Visual Studio Product family. This site uses cookies for analytics, personalized content and ads. By continuing to browse this site, you agree to this use. In Visual Studio for Mac visual studio for mac fixed in: visual studio 2019 for mac version 8.4 preview 1 On Roadmap Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi MSFT commented 2 days ago 0 Votes.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac A free and full-featured solution for individual developers to create applications for Android, iOS, macOS, cloud and the web. Please see the Release Notes for more information. Last month, Microsoft announced the release of Visual Studio for Mac: a full-featured development environment to help developers on the Mac create apps, games, and services for mobile, cloud, and web. May 31, 2019  There is still big difference, but it is being reduced from day to day and in order to understand that one needs some history. Visual Studio for Mac is successor of Xamarin.Studio and Xamarin.Studio was a combination of open source IDE MonoDevelop.

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

What's New in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Releases

  • November 1, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.6
  • October 28, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.5
  • October 14, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.4
  • October 10, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.3
  • October 7, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.2
  • September 30, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.1
  • September 23, 2019 — Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3

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:

Release Highlights

  • Web files (JS, CSHTML, CSS, HTML etc) will now open in the new native editor.
  • We have added improved support for projects that have multi-target frameworks.
  • Package update information is now displayed for SDK style projects in the Solution pad.
  • NuGet packages can now be installed, updated or uninstalled for multiple projects in one step with the Manage NuGet packages dialog.
  • We added the ability to select the browser that is used when you run, or debug, your ASP.NET Core web application.
  • You can now select your keyboard shortcut scheme on your first run.
  • We have introduced the ability to pin document tabs.
  • Visual Studio for Mac now supports SourceLink.
  • Added support for Xcode 11 and iOS 13.
  • Added support for Android 10.
  • Rapidly iterate on your Xamarin.Forms UI with the XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms preview.
  • We've added a new constraints editor in the Xamarin Designer for iOS.
  • Publish support for .NET Core Console and .NET Standard Library projects.
  • Support for launchSettings.json om ASP.NET Core projects.
  • File Nesting support for ASP.NET Core projects.
  • Support for .NET Core 3 and C# 8.
  • Improved Android designer split-view experience.
  • Improved the Unity editing experience by adding new diagnostics and refining existing behavior for Unity projects.

Known Issues

Refer to the Known Issues section.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.6 (8.3.6.4)

released November 1, 2019

This service release addresses crashes on macOS Catalina as a result of increased memory pressure in that OS version.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.5 (8.3.5.13)

released October 28, 2019

This service release fixes the following issues:

  • Azure DevOps Git Clone Hangs.
  • iOS sign and distribute hangs or is unable to create an authentication session.
  • Some parts of the Open/Save File Dialog do not show on Catalina.
  • Missing icons on the Xamarin.iOS getting started page.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.4 (8.3.4.7)

released October 14, 2019

This release fixes issues that were causing Visual Studio for Mac to crash on Catalina. If you are experiencing crashing, please switch to the Preview channel.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.3 (8.3.3.8)

released October 10, 2019

This release adds support for Xcode 11.1.

This service release also fixes the following issues:

  • We removed the [Application Loader] command as Xcode has removed this application. Use the steps in this guide to upload it to App Store Connect.
  • Various crashes reported through telemetry.
  • The profiler does not start.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.2 (8.3.2.32)

released October 7, 2019

This service release fixes the following issues:

  • Regular Expression Replace is missing from new editor.
  • A crash when using Navigate To with certain values.
  • Unable to insert a breakpoint when running on iOS device when using Hot Reload.
  • Error when trying to open a solution with a global.json that references a preview of .Net Core that is not installed.
  • Unable to pull up the emoji selector from the new editor.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3.1 (8.3.1.18)

released September 30, 2019

Google drive for mac. This service release fixes the following issues:

  • VSMac displays the error 'Error fetching rights' window on launch.
  • Web Editors don't support files with jsx/tsx file extension.
  • A stack overflow while parsing F# files causes IDE to crash.
  • Azure functions cannot be published to Azure (dotnet closed unexpectedly).
  • When renaming page .cshtml the .cshtml.cs file disappears.
  • Moving more than 2 nested files does not work.
  • Entire IDE shell flashes blank when switching to/from a .xaml tab (even between .xaml files).

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.3 (8.3.0.1805)

released September 23, 2019

New Features

Web Editors

In this release, we have added support for web files to the new native code editor, which was introduced in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac 8.1

Visual Studio for Mac will now use the new native code editor for the following file types:

  • .JS
  • .TS
  • .HTML
  • .CSS
  • .CSHTML
  • .JSON
  • .LESS
  • .SCSS

The new web editors are powered by the same native editor interface as the C# and XAML editors and are powered by the shared Visual Studio language service. With the new editors, you can expect:

  • Improved IntelliSense performance
  • IntelliSense type filtering
  • Multi-caret editing
  • RTL (right-to-left) and BiDi (Bidirectional) text support
  • Native input support
  • Improved typing performance
  • Improved text rendering
  • Word wrap
  • Improved formatting
  • Improved classification

We've also addressed numerous bugs by implementing the new editors, including bugs related to performance and file support.

Multi-Targeting

In this release we have added improved support for projects that have multi-target frameworks. Some of the features and benefits are detailed below:

  • When editing a file in a multi-target framework project, the target framework can be selected to guide the intellisense in the editor:

  • The editor will show information in IntelliSense and tooltips about APIs that are not available for a particular target framework.

  • We have also added support for debugging against a specific framework:

.NET Core

This release adds the ability to select the browser that is used when you run, or debug, your ASP.NET Core web application.

Publish support for .NET Core Console and .NET Standard Library Projects

In a previous release we added the ability to publish an ASP.NET Core project to a folder.In this release we have introduced support to publish .NET Core Console and .NET Standard Library Projects. For more information on how to use this feature, see the Publish Folder documentation.

Support for launchSettings.json

When developing ASP.NET Core applications, you can configure how the application is launched for development purposes using the launchSettings.json file.For more info on this file, see the .NET Core Environments documentation.In the launchSettings file, you can configure the URL for the app to listen on as well as environment variables that are applied on run or debug.With this update, we have made it easier for you to collaborate on projects with others that may not be using Visual Studio for Mac. Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code and the dotnet CLI (Command Line Interface) all support this file.

File Nesting support

In this release we are adding automatic file nesting for ASP.NET Core projects. The auto file nesting rules applied are the same as what you find in Visual Studio.With file nesting enabled, you can focus better on the files that you edit most frequently. Generated files, and less frequently edited files will be nested under other related files.

  • For information on all .NET bugs fixed in this release, jump to the bug fixes section.

Tip

For more information on everything new with .NET Core, see the .NET Core release notes.

Unity

We've deepened the understanding that Visual Studio for Mac has for Unity projects by adding new diagnostics specific to Unity. We've also made the IDE smarter by suppressing general C# diagnostics that don't apply to Unity projects. For example, the IDE won't show a quick-fix to change an inspector variable to readonly - which would prevent you from modifying the variable in the Unity Editor.

We'll add more of these Unity-specific diagnostics as we learn best practices from developers. Let us know if there is something you'd like to see and how it would help!

New diagnostics with quick-fixes

  • UNT0001: Unity messages are called by the runtime even if they are empty, do not declare them to avoid uncesseray processing by the Unity runtime.
  • UNT0002: Tag comparison using string equality is slower than the built-in CompareTag method.
  • UNT0003: Usage of the generic form of GetComponent is preferred for type safety.
  • UNT0004: Update message is frame-rate dependent, and should use Time.deltaTime instead of Time.fixedDeltaTime.
  • UNT0005: FixedUpdate message is frame-rate independent, and should use Time.fixedDeltaTime instead of Time.deltaTime.
  • UNT0006: An incorrect method signature was detected for this Unity message.
  • UNT0007: Unity overrides the null comparison operator for Unity objects which is incompatible with null coalescing.
  • UNT0008: Unity overrides the null comparison operator for Unity objects which is incompatible with null propagation.
  • UNT0009: When applying the InitializeOnLoad attribute to a class, you need to provide a static constructor. InitializeOnLoad attribute ensures that it will be called as the editor launches.
  • UNT0010: MonoBehaviours should only be created using AddComponent(). MonoBehaviour is a component, and needs to be attached to a GameObject.
  • UNT0011: ScriptableObject should only be created using CreateInstance(). ScriptableObject needs to be created by the Unity engine to handle Unity message methods.

New diagnostic suppressors

  • USP0001 for IDE0029: Unity objects should not use null coalescing
  • USP0002 for IDE0031: Unity objects should not use null propagation
  • USP0003 for IDE0051: Unity messages are invoked by the Unity runtime
  • USP0004 for IDE0044: Fields with a SerializeField attribute should not be made readonly

We also made the following improvements for Unity developers using Visual Studio for Mac:

  • Improved the information displayed in the attach to instance dialog, including process ID
  • Added support for the hex editor when inspecting byte arrays and strings
  • Added support for pointer member access in the debugger, i.e. p->foo->bar
  • Added support for implicit conversions in array initializers, i.e. new byte[] {1,2,3,4}

Xamarin

Xamarin.Forms

XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms

You can now use the public preview of XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms in Visual Studio for Mac! XAML Hot Reload enables you to rapidly iterate on your UIs by debugging your app to an emulator, simulator, or physical device, changing your XAML, and hitting save to see those changes immediately reflected on the running app.

To enable XAML Hot Reload check the Enable Xamarin Hot Reload checkbox at Visual Studio > Preferences > Projects > Xamarin Hot Reload.

For more info, see the XAML Hot Reload documentation.

Visual Material Design in the XAML Previewer

Material design using Xamarin.Forms Visual now previews for both iOS and Android in the Xamarin.Forms XAML Previewer. For more information on the XAML Previewer, see the XAML Previewer documentation.

Tip

For more information on everything new with Xamarin.Forms, see the Xamarin.Forms release notes.

Xamarin.Android

Added Android 10 support for Xamarin

You can now use Android 10 APIs within Xamarin.Android. You can get started with the Android 10 by setting Compile using Android version: (Target Framework) to Android 10.0 (Q) under the Build > General tab of the Visual Studio for Mac project property pages. Features new to Android 10 include:

  • Support a Dark Theme to ensure a consistent experience for users who enable system-wide dark theme.
  • Support Gesture Navigation in your app by going edge-to-edge and making sure your custom gestures are complementary to the system navigation gestures.
  • Optimize for foldables: Deliver seamless, edge-to-edge experiences on today’s innovative foldable devices.
  • More interactive notifications by enabling suggested replies and actions in your notifications to engage with your users.
  • Better Networking APIs for Wi-Fi network requests and connectivity.

To learn more about Android 10, see our documentation.

Improved Android designer split-view experience

We have made a number of improvements to the split-view experience when editing Android layouts:

  • Caret synchronization: items will automatically be selected when moving the caret in the source editor.
  • Toolbox elements can now be drag & dropped to both the design surface and the source editor.
  • The 'Toggle Comment' command is now supported.

Tip

For more information on everything new with Xamarin.Android, see the Xamarin.Android release notes.

Xamarin.iOS

Xcode 11 and iOS 13 Support

This release adds support for Xcode 11 to build and debug apps for iOS 13, tvOS 13, and watchOS 6. See our Introduction to iOS 13 for more details on the new features available.

Upload to App Store Connect

You can upload to App Store Connect using the publishing wizard in Visual Studio for Mac now that the Application Loader tool is no longer included with Xcode. Our Publishing Xamarin.iOS apps to the App Store documentation page details this new workflow.

Constraints Editor

The Xamarin Designer for iOS is introducing a new way to work with constraints. When you select a constrainable view, an ellipsis will now appear in the toolbar next to the Constraints Pinning Mode selector. Click the ellipsis to display a popover for editing constraints on the selected view:

Tip

For more information on everything new with Xamarin.iOS, see the Xamarin.iOS release notes.

New Manage NuGet packages dialog

NuGet packages can now be installed, updated, or uninstalled for multiple projects in one step with the Manage NuGet Packages dialog:

The old Add Packages dialog has been replaced with a new Manage NuGet Packages dialog that has four tabs, giving you more control over NuGets:

  • Browse - shows packages available from the selected package source.
  • Installed - shows packages installed in the solution, or project if managing packages for a single project.
  • Updates - shows package updates available for the solution, or project if managing packages for a single project.
  • Consolidate - shows packages that have different versions across the solution.

To open the Manage NuGet Packages dialog for the solution, do the following:

  1. Make sure the solution is selected in the Solution window.
  2. Right click the solution and select Manage NuGet Packages OR select Manage NuGet Packages from the Project menu.

The tabs can be used in the following ways:

Install / Uninstall

To install a package into multiple projects, do the following:

  1. Select the package in the Browse tab.
  2. Click the Add Package button.
  3. Check the projects in the Select Projects dialog and click OK, as illustrated below:

To uninstall a package from multiple projects:

  1. Select the Installed tab.
  2. Select the package you want to uninstall.
  3. Click the Uninstall Package button.
  4. Check the projects you want the package to be uninstalled from and click OK.

Updates

To update a package in multiple projects:

  1. Select the package in the Updates tab.
  2. Click the Update Package button.
  3. Check the projects in the Select Projects dialog and click OK.

Consolidate

To consolidate package in multiple projects:

  1. Select the Consolidate tab.

  2. Select the package you want to consolidate.

  3. Check or uncheck projects in the projects list. By default projects that contain the selected NuGet package will be checked.

  4. Select the package version to consolidate to. By default the latest package version will be selected.

  5. Click the Consolidate button:

To manage NuGet packages for a single project:

  1. Select the project in the Solution pad.
  2. Right click the project and select Manage NuGet Packages, and follow the steps you need above. Note that the Consolidate tab will not be displayed but the Browse, Installed, and Updates tabs will be available

Pinned Documents

In this release we have introduced the ability to pin document tabs allowing you to pin your favorite file-tabs to keep them always open and visible:

To pin a tab, use the Pin icon, document context menu, or the Pin/Unpin Tab command (⌥⌘P). You can also rearrange pinned tabs by dragging in the workspace.

Welcome Screen – Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts

If you're a new Visual Studio for Mac user, you will be asked to select your favorite Keyboard Shortcut Scheme as part of the first run experience, as illustrated below. Of course, you can also select a scheme or build your own from scratch later under Visual Studio > Preferences.

Source Link

Visual Studio for Mac now supports Source Link. This allows you to debug into source code from NuGet packages that ship .PDBs with links to source files.Visual Studio for Mac will detect that source files are available and offer to download the source file allowing you to step through package code.Source Link also works with Mono BCL code allowing you to step into .NET Framework code as well.

New Package update information

Package update information is now displayed for SDK style projects in the Solution pad.

The way the information is displayed for SDK style and non-SDK projects has been made consistent. An update icon is now displayed with a tooltip showing the updated NuGet package version. The installed version is now displayed next to the NuGet package id for all projects types:

Installer

The following improvements were made in the installer:

  • We added some some additional verification to make downloading packages much faster.
  • If download fails or gets interrupted for some reason, the installer will resume from the failure point rather than from the start. If for any reason cache file gets corrupted, product will be re-downloaded again.
  • The Installer now displays much more accurate progress for each package.
  • We also added additional UI improvements during installation. We now accurately show how many packages you have to install and how many are left.
  • We'll always try to install the recommended released versions of Xamarin, .NET Core and Mono. Sometimes this will mean downgrading your versions to get you into a supported state.
  • We fixed issues with authorization. The password prompt should only shown once per every 5 minutes during installation.
  • We now hide the ‘location’ button if there is no actions to do.

Bug Fixes

Installation

We fixed the following top issues in the Installer:

  • Bug fixes for Catalina.
  • Fixed percentage increment bug resulted by number separator configuration when used with localized languages
  • Fix to display correct size when VSFMac is the only item to install.

Web and Azure

We fixed the following top issues with .NET Core and ASP.NET Core support and tooling:

  • .NET Core SDK 3.0.100 still appears in the updater after installing updates.
  • Incorrect command is suggested for trusting development certificate.
  • JavaScript File Type template is not under Add > New File > Web.
  • Visual Studio for Mac saves new JSON file as UTF-8 BOM.
  • When removing a file that has a child, one file is not removed.
  • The Web app URL reverts back to 5001 after the IDE is restarted.
  • Environment variables are not getting picked up when a user chooses to 'Start without Debugging'.
  • 'Include in Project' context menu appears when it shouldn't.

We fixed the following top issues with with Azure:

  • Publishing to Azure Functions fails with the error: Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.Script.ExtensionsMetadataGenerator.targets(33,5): error : Metadata generation failed.
  • You cannot Publish to Azure as the dialog displays 'No subscriptions found', even if the account has active subscriptions.
  • Blog trigger functions are not being published to the Azure portal with the Storage Account correctly.Visual Studio for Mac does not allow adding a new Azure Function from nodes other than the project node in an Azure Functions project.

Shell and Tools

We fixed the following top issues with the IDE:

  • Missing Italian translations for Add and Cancel buttons in the new folder dialog.
  • Update message erroneously shows for Frameworks in the Solution Pad.
  • Visual Studio for Mac crashes randomly.
  • Visual Studio Reports Edition on the Menu Bar.
  • Global search takes long time to show results in solutions with a lot of projects + files.
  • Problem description should be used as title of problem when reporting problem.
  • Cannot drag new controls into designer after adding a control.
  • Authentication fails due to SSL error with no user-visible message.
  • GTK# toolbox is empty on Visual Studio Community 2019 on the Mac.
  • Adding a new PackageReference does not consider conditions.
  • Application output window is bigger than the screen.
  • When creating a Gtk#2.0 project on Mac OS X, the toolbox fails to populate for the Designer.
  • Start Window cannot open solutions via 'open' button.
  • Unable to open Edit References dialog for new project.
  • Some Alerts don't appear properly.

Source Code Editing

We fixed the following top issues with editing source code:

  • Various UX issues with the JSON schema selector dropdown.
  • F# 4.6 language features don't work.
  • Shift + Tab fails to un-indent selected code.
  • Font thickness persists when clicking through colour themes.
  • Next error keybinding does not work in new editor.
  • Bold text is used by default in web files when using the 'Visual Studio' theme.
  • We fixed numerous issues, reported through telemetry, that were causing the editor to crash or hang.
  • Nullable feature of C# 8 is not working as expected.
  • Invisible control characters should show up somehow to avoid confusing errors.
  • Intellisense and other language service features stop working with new editor.
  • We fixed numerous issues, reported through telemetry, that were causing the editor to crash or hang.
  • Severity is not saved in C# Source Analysis.
  • Ctrl + Click unselects text.
  • Selected option in autocomplete is blank.
  • Format document doesn't work from Navigate To when using the new editor.
  • Ctrl+Space completion list - up/down keys slow for many items.
  • RegEx Completion inserts return instead of expected characters.
  • F#: Crash when opening files with long lines.
  • The Document Outline does not refresh anymore.
  • We fixed support for Use Selection for Find/Replace and Find Next/Previous Like Selection commands
  • The editor breaks on some custom themes.
  • Task highlights in comments (C#) stopped working.
  • The inline lightbulb does not work for certain kinds of fixups.
  • Shrink/Contract Selection doesn't work in the new editor.
  • “Show completion list after a character is typed” could not be disabled.
  • You are unable to print code when using the dark theme.
  • The join or sort lines commands are permanently disabled.-Editor goes blank if solution pad is used to move an unsaved file to another folder.
  • Breakpoint adornments are not available in CSHTML files.
  • Error casting DocumentContext to RoslynDocumentContext.
  • LanguageService exception causes project not to parse.
  • Navigate Back in the code editor window just moves the cursor to the top of the file.
  • On json file, schema address box is missing.

Version Control

We fixed the following top issues with Version Control:

  • The IDE hangs in version control when opening a Storyboard in Xcode Interface Builder.
  • Visual Studio 2019 for Mac freezes when switching branch.
  • Renaming files under Git version control make IntelliSense disappear.
  • Version control tabs do not appear when opening solutions with previously open C# files.
  • The App bundle contains files it shouldn't when using Git.
  • The IDE crashes when publishing to GitHub.
  • Popping a git stash that has conflicts gives invalid warning and no further logs.
  • Cloning project with sub-modules stops with error 'Version control operation filed'.
  • Visual Studio crashes/exists when attempting to commit to Git.
  • The 'Changes' tab is not refreshed.
  • Diff/View commands are broken in Solution Pad.
  • 'Create Patch' command is broken.
  • Very slow revision loading in Diff/Comparison view.
  • VS for Mac freezes on git revert.
  • Version control document views are missing with the new editor.
  • Checking out a repository with a username and password would not preserve the username.
  • It is not possible to use Subversion over svn+ssh without a port.
  • Switching branches doesn't respect target framework changes.
  • SIGABRT when attempting to fetch a branch from Azure DevOps Git.

Testing Tools

We fixed the following issue with testing:

  • It is not possible to execute single tests defined in MonoDevelop.VersionControl.Git.Test from the IDE, because it fails to load the LibGit2Sharp assembly.

Project System

We fixed the following issues with Projects:

  • Delete context menu for project and Remove context menu for file.
  • Renaming a file in the solution pad does not re-apply nesting rules.
  • You are unable to add references with multi-target framework project.
  • ProjectFile.OnPathChanged computes values that are not used.
  • Changing project output path of a .NetStandard 2.0 project results in a duplicate folder.
  • Moving nested file in ASP.NET Core project does not move child files

NuGet

We fixed the following issue with NuGet:

  • NuGet package display is inconsistent in different projects within the same solution.

Known Issues

  • XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms is not functional on iOS devices, and displays an Info Bar after a couple minutes asking you to report an issue. This will be fixed in an upcoming release.
  • Shared Code option is missing when creating a Xamarin Multi-platform app.

Important

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac can be installed on macOS Catalina Beta, but may not work as expected with a preview OS. Please use Report a Problem to inform us of any issues you discover while using Visual Studio for Mac and Catalina.

Feedback

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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Get the Preview

Important

Get the Preview of Visual Studio 2019 for Mac by updating to the Preview channel.

This release is not 'go-live' and not intended for use on production computers or for creating production code.

To learn more about Visual Studio for Mac, see Mac System Requirementsand Mac Platform Targeting and Compatibility.

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

What's New in 8.4 Preview

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.4 Preview Releases

  • November 4, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.4 Preview 2
  • October 17, 2019 – Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.4 Preview 1

Release Highlights

  • This release focuses on improving the overall accessibility in Visual Studio for Mac.
  • This release adds support for .NET Core 3.1 SDK Preview 2.

Known Issues

Refer to the Known Issues section.

Feedback

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.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.4 Preview 2 (8.4.0.2350)

released November 4, 2019

Accessibility

  • We made improvements to focus order in a number of areas.
  • We continued to make improvements in VoiceOver and keyboard navigation.
  • We improved contrast ratios in tooltips and in other UI areas.
  • We reduced the number of steps needed to move between certain elements on the Start Page while using VoiceOver.
  • The 'Pin button' on the Start Page can now be accessed with VoiceOver.
  • We made changes to improve VoiceOver feedback in the following areas:
    • Recently used templates page
    • Font picker
    • Document view tabs
    • Global Search Results
    • Code editor
    • Code snippets
    • Updater
    • Version control
    • Project options
  • We mitigated keyboard traps in Xamarin designer property panels and made previously inaccessible areas in those property panels accessible.

Debugger

  • We have continued improving the new native tooltips, locals, and watch pads. There are still issues on Catalina that we are looking in to.

Web and Azure

  • We added support for editing .razor files.
  • We added support for provisioning Azure SignalR Service for Blazor Server projects during publish to Azure App Service.
  • We added support to Pack .NET Standard library projects.

Bug Fixes

Debugger

  • We fixed an issue where pinning properties in debug doesn't work.

Editor

  • We improved support for .csx files.
  • We fixed an issue where commenting commands did not work in .js/.ts files.
  • We fixed an issue where code formatting in .js/.ts files could delete user code unexpectedly.
  • The insert line command (shift+enter) should now work again.
  • The 'Show quick info' and 'Focus Document' commands should now work again.
  • We removed some obsolete refactorings.
  • We fixed an issue where font weight was being ignored.
  • More msbuild files (such as .props) are now syntax-highlighted.

Xamarin

  • We improved an unhelpful error message when signing archive for distribution.
  • We fixed an issue where document outlines in storyboards are empty.

Shell

  • We fixed an issue where extension manager cannot be closed once opened.

Project System

  • We fixed an issue where Define constants would not be defined correctly when defined in imported projects.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.4 Preview 1 (8.4.0.1935)

released October 17, 2019

Accessibility

We made a number of changes to address accessibility in this release including:

  • Increasing contrast in a number of areas with low contrast.
  • Issues with VoiceOver in the debugging experience.
  • Improving keyboard navigation and shortcuts.
  • Improving VoiceOver throughout the IDE.

We will continue to improve accessibility throughout this series of previews.

Editor

  • All files should open in the new editor unless legacy editor is explicitly needed.
  • Fixed some performance leaks in the editor.
  • Update to latest FSharp.CompilerService.

Xamarin

  • You can now use the Properties panel to change your control's attributes when editing Xamarin.Forms XAML. To open it, go to View > Pads > Properties.

Shell

  • We have added a native and fully accessible (keyboard and VoiceOver) property pad control from the Android designer to the shelland enabled it by default for all solution items. In upcoming previews we will successively enable it in other areas (preferences, project options, etc.).

Debugger

  • We have implemented native controls for the debugger tooltips, locals pad and watch pads, and the exception caught dialog.These new controls allow us to re-enable pinned watches in the editor. There are a few known issues, with pinned watches in particular that we intend to fix in the preview.

For more details on the known issues please refer to the known issues at the bottom of this document.

Bug Fixes

Web and Azure

We fixed the following issues with .NET Core support:

  • The Blazor template has been added to the New Project dialog.
  • Razor component and Worker Service templates added to New Item dialog.
  • Launch settings generated with https but project doesn't support https.
  • When creating a new ASP.NET Core project the port number should be unique.

We fixed the following issues with Azure Functions support:

  • Azure Functions Template is Missing AzureFunctionsVersion, v2.

Xamarin

We fixed the following issues with the Xamarin support:

  • Visual Studio for Mac reporting iOS specific classes, methods and enums unavailable in iOS.

Shell and Tools

We fixed the following issues with the IDE:

  • We added notarization support for macOS Catalina.
  • Dialog locations are inconsistent.
  • The accounts Window is always on top, even when leaving Visual Studio for Mac.
  • The IDE opens in the wrong Desktop if the Start Window is dragged to a new desktop.
  • Startup dialog 'New' text is cut off at the bottom in some languages.
  • If you choose not to sign in on first run, you'll continually get prompted through the first run experience.
  • Hitting return in a search field doesn't search.
  • Tab key to change between views seems to be broken.
  • Visual Studio Community lacks UTF-8 (no signature) format.
  • Preferences menu item does not open.

Source Code Editing

We fixed the following issues with editing source code:

  • When creating a Breakpoint it should auto-fill the line I selected.
  • When copy/pasting a 'word wrapped' line, it only copies the first line.
  • Unable to pull up the emoji selector.

Version Control

We fixed the following issues with Version Control:

  • Cancelling an SVN checkout can accidentally delete user files.

Project System

We fixed the following issues with Projects:

  • Manually adding DefaultTargets to csproj gets overridden when VS modifies the project.
  • Inconsistent naming for removal on files and projects.
  • Project context menu is missing 'Add Reference'.
  • Renaming a file in the solution pad does not re-apply nesting rules.
  • Change title of window from 'Edit References' to 'References'.
  • Project model reports wrong references for certain projects.

Debugging

We fixed the following issues with Debugging:

  • We added a missing 'Debug All Tests' command.
  • Hovering over an expression may change the value of variables in .net core debugger.
  • Opening the Exception Caught dialog makes the IDE hang.
  • Debugger does not remember watch expressions between debugging sessions.
  • Debug tooltips are not shown.
  • Columns in watch and locals pad should fill all available space.
  • The spinner shown when evaluating an expression is not animated.

Testing

We fixed the following issues with Testing:

  • 'Show Test Source Code' does nothing if you right click a test class name.
  • 'Run Test' does not run the test if a compile is required.
  • 'Show Test Source Code' menu option should be disabled when the sourceCodeLocation is null.

Updater

Visual Studio For Mac Vs Windows

We fixed the following issues with the updater:

  • Progress indicator empty after unsuccessful download.
  • Updater does not wait for IDE to exit before installing updates.

Visual Studio For Mac Free

Known Issues

Visual Studio For Mac Reddit

  • After adding a new file using the Razor Component file template, the project may fail to build. The issue is caused by some unneeded elements in the project file (.csproj file), remove elements referencing the new file from the project file, and the project should build successfully.
  • When developing ASP.NET Core projects, if .NET Core SDK 3.1 Preview is installed, https connections may be refused. The browser may not launch, or when using docker, certificate errors are shown. To workaround this, run the following commands in the terminal; dotnet dev-certs https —clean and then dotnet dev-certs https —trust.
  • Pinned watches are not scrollable. A pinned watch whose contents needs to be scrolled won't scroll as the scrolling is taken over by the editor window.
  • Pressing backspace does not delete a watch from the Watches pad.
  • There is no auto completion for the Watches pad.

Visual Studio For Mac Extensions

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