Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 RC Announced

The Release Candidate (RC) of Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 has been announced. The release focuses on the feedback given by developers across the globe on RTM and Update 1 and responds to it. It also focuses on stability and also includes enhancing performance and responsiveness.

 

Here are some significant changes.

 

Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova

 

The new release includes Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova Update 5 and brings several bug fixes, command line integration for project creation, and iPhone 6s simulator support.

 

Visual C++: Compiler and IDE

 

The C++ compiler and standard library is updated with improved support for C++11 and C++14 features. Also, more than 300 compiler bugs are fixed.

 

With Update 2, new Visual Studio installations use the new database engine introduced in Update 1 by default.

 

For upgrading from Update 1 to Update 2, you’ll continue to use whatever engine you already had selected. You can select the engine via Tools, Options, Text Editor, then click C/C++ > Experimental as in the following:

.NET Framework 4.6.1 - ClickOnce Bootstrapper package

 

In the new update, the .NET Framework 4.6.1 ClickOnce Bootstrapper package for Visual Studio 2015 in Update 2 has been added.

 

Visual Studio IDE - TextMate Snippet Support

 

Now support is provided for consuming tmSnippet files by placing them into a snippet folder and accessible through the IntelliSense completion.

 

Team Explorer and Git Updates

 

Now, opening Team Explorer and browsing work item queries in Visual Studio is faster with update 2.

 

There are some Git updates also:

 

Git SCC status to the status bar have been added, including the number of modified files and unpushed commit.

 

Visual Studio is now compatible with Git repos that are configured to use Git LFS (Large File Storage).

 

The Changes page now supports staging, with simple actions—such as double-click—to stage all and view diffs for changed files.

SQL Server Data Tools

 

Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 includes the latest updates of SQL Server Data Tools. This enables support for the most recent features in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server 2016.

 

TypeScript

 

Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 includes the 1.8.1 release of TypeScript. It addresses bug fixes for publishing web applications and enhanced compiler performance.