News
Visual Studio 2017 Preview 15.2 Loads Up on Workloads
Among the highlights in this early and raw preview include additional workloads for data science, Python, and gaming, and a slew of fixes that correct one particularly vexing installation issue and errors that have cropped up in Team Explorer.
- By Michael Domingo
- 04/18/2017
When does the Visual Studio team rest? Never it seems. It was just a few weeks ago that they released VS 2017, and now they've already got a Preview out the door. Highlights of this VS 2017 Preview 15.2 release include additional workloads for data science, Python, and gaming, and a slew of fixes that correct one particularly vexing installation issue as well as errors that have cropped up in Team Explorer.
Among the fixes in this version was a particularly nasty one that some developers reported when trying to launch VS 2017 on a Windows 10 system if the machine also had a version of VS older than the 2005 releases.
"After clean installation, while starting VS 2017, I get multiple errors saying "The '_' package did not load correctly". I tried repairing installation, didn't help," wrote a developer by the alias Uros, who was the first to post about the issue in this conversation in the Developer Community Forum. The workaround offered before the fix was rolled into 15.2 was to use the Global Assembly Cache Tool after taking over the machine as an admin to make sure the correct assembly for the version of VS is being used.
Other highlights of the Preview:
- Workloads: Addition of several new workloads, including some for data science and analytical application, including ones for Python, R, and F#. The Python workload is also localized as well. There's also an update to the Game Development with Unity workload, so that it now recognizes Unity 5.6 upon installation.
- Team Explorer: Fixes to Git history viewing, Git Blame, using Git commands on folders with special characters, and Git Compare with Unmodified, among others.
- F# improvements: Basic autocomplete support; tooltip now has a clickable Go to Definition option; colorization improved in mutable values and other semantics.
- TypeScript: Can now use version 2.1 and 2.2 from within VS 2017, with 2.2 automatically loaded with specific workloads, and 2.1 being a selectable option.
The full release notes on the preview is here.
The preview is not meant for production use, and is only for testing and for helping Microsoft make improvements to it. As such, it can be installed side-by-side with a production install of VS 2017, as well as older versions. General advice on using a VS Preview is here.
About the Author
Michael Domingo is a long-time software publishing veteran, having started up and managed several developer publications for the Clipper compiler, Microsoft Access, and Visual Basic. He's also managed IT pubs for 1105 Media, including Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and Virtualization Review before landing his current gig as Visual Studio Magazine Editor in Chief. Besides his publishing life, he's a professional photographer, whose work can be found by Googling domingophoto.