Microsoft recently announced the second preview of Visual Studio 2022 17.1. This release includes new features that align with themes of Visual Studio 2022, such as productivity. 

New Git productivity features will make day-to-day work much easier, according to Microsoft. Developers will now be able to compare the current branch in a repository with other branches. This is useful when preparing for a pull request or before deleting a branch.

Another new Git feature is enhanced detached head support, which allows developers to check out a commit and go back to a previous point in history to run or test code. Developers will also be able to quickly review pull requests and evaluate updates by checking the tip of a remote branch. 

Multi-repo support is also enhanced in this preview release through improvements to the inner loop branching experience. According to Microsoft, developers can now use branch pickers on the status bar or Git changes tool window to checkout branches or do certain branch management tasks.

Other Git improvements include the ability to create branches across all active repositories at the same time and Line-staging preview functionality. 

Visual Studio 2022 17.1 Preview 2 also introduces customizable Code Cleanup profiles. These run automatically whenever a file is saved and will help minimize stylistic violations within PRs. 

Another new feature is the ability to save whenever you switch to a different application and the Visual Studio application loses focus. Microsoft is also considering alternatives to trigger autosaves and is interested in feedback from the Visual Studio community. 

This preview also adds a number of .NET updates, including:

  • The ability to navigate to original source files that declare a target symbol
  • Displayed stack traces in the Stack Track Explorer Window, which allows developers to click and navigate directly to related code
  • The ability to enforce consistent naming styles in code 

This release also introduces additional views for interacting with peripheral registers on microcontrollers and real time operating systems objects, added support for macOS development, and the ability to personalize color tabs by project and file extension. 

A complete list of new features is available here.