Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 is an integrated development environment for Windows for creating, building, debugging and testing software. It brings source files, project dependencies, compilers and runtime inspection into one workspace. Its development tools cover .NET and C++ applications, alongside web development with technologies such as ASP.NET, JavaScript and TypeScript. The language tools and project types available depend on the selected development workloads.
Projects, solutions and references
Visual Studio organizes related work into projects and solutions. A project can produce an application or a reusable library, while a solution groups projects that belong together. This lets an application, its supporting libraries and its unit tests remain separate while appearing in the same workspace.
References connect those projects. When a test project references a library, Visual Studio uses that relationship to determine the build order so the library is built before the tests that use it.
Solution Explorer presents the project hierarchy and its files, while project properties hold settings for building and debugging each component. Templates provide a starting structure for new projects; existing source can also be opened as a folder without creating a solution.
Code refactoring
The editor combines code completion with suggestions for changes to existing source. In C#, light-bulb actions can move members into an interface or base class, align namespaces with the folder structure, or convert a suitable loop into a LINQ query. The developer selects the transformation at the relevant code location instead of making each corresponding edit manually.
Code Cleanup applies a chosen collection of formatting changes and code fixes. Its behavior follows the configured preferences and applicable .editorconfig rules, so cleanup can reflect a project’s coding conventions. Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 can save different collections of fixes as profiles, allowing a small set of routine corrections and a broader cleanup to be selected separately.
Building and publishing applications
Building turns source code and its dependencies into application or library output. Visual Studio 2019 keeps compilation inside the project workspace, with build configurations and project properties controlling how that work is performed. Developers can use built-in configurations or create their own, adjust warning handling and change the detail shown in build output.
Once a build succeeds, the same environment can launch it under the debugger. For supported application types, deployment tools publish application files to a local folder, network location, web server or Azure destination.
Runtime inspection
The debugger pauses execution at breakpoints and lets the developer step through the code while examining variable values. Watch expressions keep particular values in view, while the Locals and Autos windows expose values associated with the current execution context. Search within these windows helps locate an object or property inside a larger set of runtime data.
Visual Studio 2019 also offers value format specifiers, which change how a selected value is displayed during inspection. Data breakpoints in C++ and supported .NET Core applications can stop execution when watched data changes.
Unit tests
A test project contains methods that call application code and compare actual results with expected results. Test Explorer runs those tests and marks which passed or failed. Developers can group and filter tests or save playlists, making it possible to rerun a relevant subset rather than selecting individual tests again.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 supports MSTest and other testing frameworks, with .NET project templates available for NUnit and xUnit. Tests can also be run under the debugger, connecting a failed assertion with the values and execution path that produced it. Framework support depends on the language and the corresponding test components.
Git repositories
The start window can clone a repository, open an existing project or folder, or create a project. Built-in Git tools then handle commits, pushes and branches from within the IDE. Developers can bring in remote changes and resolve merge conflicts while working with the affected source files.
Visual Studio 2019 editions
Community is the free edition for individual developers, students and open-source development, subject to its license terms. Professional is a paid edition for individual developers and teams. Enterprise adds capabilities for more extensive testing and diagnosis.
For example, Enterprise’s Live Unit Testing runs supported .NET tests as code changes and shows results beside the code in the editor. Its Snapshot Debugger can capture application execution state from supported ASP.NET deployments in Azure for inspection.
