What's New in Visual Assist

General Release Build 2023.5 (2502)

Requires active software maintenance through general release date: 2023.09.07

NEW Support for custom precompiled header files to new intelligent Add Include logic.

Summary:

VA 2023.4 is now available for public download! This release follows the cadence of alternating between big and small releases—largely influenced by the timing of important bug fixes or highly sought after requests.

This release’s highlights are two major bug fixes affecting Visual Studio’s solution startups and code inspections. In fact, this release has been expedited specifically to address these two issues. One was a regression in Visual Studio 2008 and 2005, and the second was introduced by a recent Visual Studio update—2022.17.7. Last time an issue was introduced with a point release of Visual Studio we were slower to react; we are specifically noting that we have a policy of swift resolution to these sorts of issues and this release is an example.

And a new feature has also been added: users can now set custom precompiled header files For added context, new projects in Visual Studio can come with precompiled header files. The main purpose of which is to prevent bottlenecks associated with having to compile with too many includes, especially in large projects.

Precompiled header files should be included first, and Visual Assist’s recently-added intelligent Add Include logic will now take that into account.

Overall, another compact release but should be beneficial to those who are power users of the aforementioned features.

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed crash on solution load in Visual Studio 2008 and 2005.
  • Fixed issue where Code Inspections would not function correctly in Visual Studio 2022 17.7+

General Release Build 2023.4 (2500)

Requires active software maintenance through general release date: 2023.08.25

NEW Start of official support for the Unity game engine
NEW Support for Unity engine shader files
NEW Support for CUDA source files for C/C++ development
NEW Parser support for template functions with auto / trailing return type and for std::tuple autocompletes
UPDATE Shader support is now enabled by default (beta finished).
UPDATE Improved add include logic (intelligent selection of Add Include placement.)
UPDATE Streamlined Game Development tab of our options dialog in preparation for upcoming additions.
UPDATE New icons for check / uncheck all in implement methods context menu
Added notice of combined Visual Studio 2022-2010 marketplace listing.
Added vector tomato art to FSIS and OFIS.
Removed phone number requirement to start a new trial

Summary:

VA 2023.4 is now published and is now available to download!

This release marks a major milestone in Visual Assist’s history as it starts its official support for Unity engine development. Starting from the upcoming release, Visual Assist will expand its focus to C# game development as well starting with shader support. Later on, users can expect VA staples such as refined navigation, intelligent autocomplete, code refactoring, and the like to work its way into C# development.

Equally significant is the start of official support for CUDA C/C++ development. Visual Assist’s can now parse and analyze CUDA related syntax, libraries, and APIs so you can have IntelliSense-like features, navigation, and highlighting for CUDA (.cu) files.

We also have a couple of parser improvements for the more complex C++ features. Furthermore, the logic and UI for VA’s features have also been revisited and improved based on user feedback.

It is highly recommended to read through the complete announcement blog post to know more about the changes included in this release.


General Release Build 2023.3 (2491)

Requires active software maintenance through general release date: 2023.05.24

NEW Added parser support for “is” operators in C#.
UPDATE Code inspection engine updated to LLVM/Clang version 16.

Summary:

VA 2023.3 is now available for download! This small release highlights the added support for “is” operators in C#. The is operator is used to check if the run-time type of an object is compatible with the given type or not.

This release also updates the underlying engine responsible for code inspections. As of VA 2023.3, the plugin now uses LLVM/Clang version 16.

There are other tweaks and additions tailored for new users. Overall, a compact release but hopefully helpful to the many users who requested it.