Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 Release Candidate Now Available -- Visual Studio Magazine

Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 Release Candidate Now Available

Reliability and performance improvements rule on this release candidate, and there are a bevy of new features being tested out with Team Foundation Server 2015 U2 RC as well.

By Michael Domingo
03/04/2016

Microsoft's Visual Studio team blogged about a release candidate for Update 2 of its Visual Studio 2015 toolsuite. As is usually the case with updates, this one features mainly "reliability and performance improvements," according to John Montgomery, Director of Program Management for Visual Studio, in a blog.

This release isn't all fixes and whatnot. There are a few new features being trotted out with this release for users to check out as they become more refined in future releases:

Github SCC support: Visual Studio 2015 is debuting support for the Github Source Control Provider extension that can be extended via third-party providers for more refined source code control through git.
IntelliSense support for TextMate: Developers using the Mac GUI text editor can place TextMate snippets into a snippet folder, and IntelliSense will recognize those snippets.
Application Insights searching: A number of improvements here, including being able to jump to specific telemetry events, relates item searching, and new app data logging features.

Some of the more significant fixes includes crashes "due to null and/or invalid pointer reads" and just when opening a solution; errors when opening VS with ASP.NET after installing Update 2 CTP; and performance issues within the C/C++ runitme library.

With that update, coincidentally there has also been an Update 2 RC for Team Foundation Server 2015, which has a sizable list of new features. Of note is the ability to create and delete Team Projects via the Web and REST APIs, which, according to the release notes, was done to "help to bring more parity between Visual Studio Team Services and Team Foundation Server for project management operations."

Also new is the integration of Release Management into TFS itself, which simplifies deployment processes now that Release Management features can now be accessed "from the RELEASE hub in TFS web access without having to install a separate server or client." Release Management also supports application deployment to VMware and System Center VMs via new extensions available through the Visual Studio Marketplace.

Besides those two features, the list of features both major and minor being introduced in TFS U2 RC is fairly extensive and can be found in this release note.

About the Author

You Tell 'Em, Readers: If you've read this far, know that Michael Domingo, Visual Studio Magazine Editor in Chief, is here to serve you, dear readers, and wants to get you the information you so richly deserve. What news, content, topics, issues do you want to see covered in Visual Studio Magazine? He's listening at [email protected].

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