There isn’t a perfect application ever released, and the same is true for Visual Studio 2019. There are a lot of great features in VS2019, but there are many issues too, especially when it comes to .NET Core projects. So I decided to create a running list of the issues that I find or find frustrating. If any of these issues are fixed or improved, I will update this post.

Most of these issues/ suggestions I have posted in the Visual Studio Developer Community. Some of them have been moved to GitHub by the Visual Studio team. I hope you will go to the links to vote to ensure the team works on them sooner than later!

Code Analysis

• Code generators do not pass Visual Studio’s own analytics tools. Also, I can’t find a way to ignore these files. For example the AssemblyAttributes.cs (auto-generated) that causes an error like this:

  IDE0005 Using directive is unnecessary.

  Another example would be for code like this:

  if (env.IsDevelopment())
  {
      app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
  }

  This creates the error “Expression Value is Never Used” message. I have reported this issue here:https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/1087980/generated-code-in-vs2019-do-not-pass-analyze.html

• After setting up code analysis in .NET Core, it’s supposed to run analysis on every build. It does not seem to since the number of issues is a lot smaller than if I ran Code Analysis on Solution. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/1088041/analysis-in-net-core-projects-produces-different-r.html
• It would be good if I could Analyze a single project at a time. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/1088042/cant-run-analyze-on-a-project.html
• Calculating Code Metrics Seems to Be Broken: https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn-analyzers/issues/3689
• Code Analysis in .NET Core and .NET 5 is very confusing. What makes it harder is that there isn’t a visual editor for the .editorconfig file for code analysis. Same goes for setting up StyleCop settings.
• Projects need to be manually built before Analyze will work properly.

• I’m working on a solution with a mix of .NET Framework and a few .NET Code projects. One of these projects is .NET Framework 4.7.2, with the Active Rule set to Microsoft All Rules. I have found at least a few links to help in the Error window do not work. I get this error when VS tries to open the page:

  `Sorry, we don’t have specifics on this C# error`

  A few of these code violations are:

  – CS8357
  – CS1574
  – CS7035
  https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn-analyzers/issues/5724

Solution

• I’ve been programming long enough to sill remember the pain of DLL hell. Now I feel I’m in NuGet Package hell! I have already written how to make this better in this post.
• Still does not auto-increment project version/ package number, solution-wide. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/1088043/sync-project-solution-version-number-with-package.html
• It does not support .NET Core in ClickOnce nor is there an alternative (fixed for release 16.8!). https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/1088044/clickonce-does-not-work-for-net-core.html

Team

• Two-form authentication with the GitHub plug-in does not seem to work. I can commit locally but cannot fetch or push. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/1088045/github-two-form-authentication-does-not-work.html

Running Visual Studio

• I wish Visual Studio would fully load before we can use it. It takes so long to load Visual Studio and extensions not only is this confusing but for me causes load issues (Visual Studio goes non-responsive).
• Running an app as an administrator is too difficult.
• Creating service references seems to not work anymore with modern web service technologies.
• You must be logged in as an administrator just to update VS. There are up to 25% of developers who do not have admin rights to their own machine.  You must be logged in as admin to add or update extensions. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/1088048/dont-require-admin-rights-for-updates-and-extensio.html
• Visual Studio Repair removes add-ins: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/826244/visual-studio-2019-repair-removes-add-ins.html
• Put ALL of the compiler switches in the project properties. Especially for .NET Core. Don’t wait until 6 months or a year later. Do it AS SOON as it’s added to the compiler. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/1089326/project-properties-compiler-settings.html

Testing

• IntelliTests do not work in .NET Core or .NET 5 projects (on roadmap!): https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/359250/add-intellitest-support-for-net-corestandard.html
• I can’t create a test settings file anymore.
• Missing the NuGet template for ALL project types.
• Export Code Coverage to Excel, it would be really helpful to allow the export to Excel, not xml, of unit testing Code Coverage Results: https://developercommunity2.visualstudio.com/t/Export-Code-Coverage-to-Excel/1336754

Coding

1. Requests for the “inline parameter name hints” feature. I really like the “inline parameter name hints” experimental feature, and I see that there are some additional features coming for it (great). Here are a couple of suggestions from my POV: https://developercommunity2.visualstudio.com/t/Requests-for-the-inline-parameter-name/1304226
   • To encourage clarity of code, allow the hint itself to be double-clicked, to insert the corresponding hint in as an actual named parameter. This way, users who want their code to be readable outside of the VS editor can easily insert those parameter names.
   • Allow methods to specify an attribute [NoParameterHint(“v”, “x”)] to prevent the hint from showing where it’s obvious. It would be an extra filter in cases where API developers have taken the time to indicate this hint is not required.
   • Put in a placeholder hint that’s just : where the hint is filtered-out/unnecessary. That small amount of real-estate would allow users to hover and see the same information that’s shown on the hint (parameter type/name/description), without using Ctrl-Shift-Space to see the parameter definition. It would also allow double-click insertion per point 1 above.
   •  

Miscellaneous

• Documentation keeps getting worse, not better.
• Workflow… where is it???

Summary

Well, that is what I have so far. Here are some general suggestions of mine for the Visual Studio team:

• Slow down the releases! It seems since you have gone too frequent updates (sometimes multiple per week) has, to me, lead to more issues.
• A feature isn’t done until the tooling is done! Oh and the documentation!
• Please get more Microsoft MVP’s (like me) involved in decision making for features BEFORE you start working on them, not at the end! I have never been contact by the Visual Studio team. I’m waiting! There are features in VS that are my idea and I’m ready to help even more! My passion is code quality features.

Have you found issues with Visual Studio 2019? If so, PLEASE make a comment below. I have reported many of these issues here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/users/167861/f3856d7c-6549-4e28-9d85-ef1e3977c3c2.html?itemsifollow.

I’m not getting a lot of support from Visual Studio support, but I keep trying!