Microsoft has released the second update for its Visual Studio 2012 development environment. The new features of VS2012.2 mostly affect Windows and SharePoint developers along with the areas of agile team development and continuous delivery.
When Microsoft finished the 2012 version of the IDE late last summer, the company announced that it planned to provide important updates more rapidly and regularly in the future. With Visual Studio 2010, the RTM (Release To Manufacture) version was followed by two service packs over a period of about two and a half years. The first update to Visual Studio 2012 (VS2012.1) was released in November 2012 and, like the just released update, included bug fixes as well as various new features that could be considered important.
New features in VS2012.2 include an HTML5/JavaScript-based client for the Visual Studio LightSwitch RAD (Rapid Application Development) environment that is now an integral part of the IDE, and the ability to write apps for SharePoint 2013 and Office 365. The update has introduced a visual profiler for developers who write HTML and JavaScript applications for the Windows Store. Also included are all the new features that were introduced with the ASP.NET and Web Tools 2012.2 back in February.
The IDE’s debugger now offers a code map that visually presents the code to developers when debugging. Teams who work with the Kanban model have been supported by Microsoft since the first update, now, user-defined columns can be added to the Kanban board. Those who dislike the user interface that was first introduced with Visual Studio 2012, and which is regarded as bland by many, will be pleased to find that the developers have now supplied an optional blue UI theme.
Microsoft has also revised the environment’s in-browser test management. For example, it is now possible to edit the text for test results and individual test steps inline without the need to have the tested software installed in the IDE. Microsoft says that developers can now also clone test cases in order to reuse them. The environment’s in-browser test management component also allows tests to be suspended and then resumed later on. If the test code is changed in the meantime, the version of the test that was first started will be used when the test is resumed.
via The-H