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Microsoft released an experimental MSBuild editor and it wants developers to decide its fate
If the feedback is positive, Microsoft will make it available to all .NET developers.
3 min. read
Published onMarch 27, 2024
published onMarch 27, 2024
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Microsoft willdeprecateVisual Studio App Center in a year, but that doesn’t mean the Redmond-based tech giant isn’t releasing new apps within its Visual Studio platform. Earlier today, the companyannouncedthe release of an experimental MSBuild editor to streamline and enhance productivity for developers all around.
To help developers better understand their project files and access advanced functionality that requires editing the project file directly, we’re releasing anexperimental MSBuild editorthat has a much richer understanding of MSBuild files than the current XML schema allows.
However, it’s worth mentioning that the Redmond-based tech giant will leave the fate of the new experimental MSBuild editor in the hands of those developers dealing with and working with csproj files. Based on their feedback, which Microsoft hopes for, the company will release the editor to all .NET developers.
Microsoft has equipped the experimental MSBuild editor with multiple capabilities. For instance, its Quick Info is not just for XML elements in MSBuild files, but also properties, items, and metadata in MSBuild expressions. And speaking about it, it also offers a richer development experience, with deep links to relevant documentation, and hyperlinks to references, as you can see in the image below.
It also has special support for NuGet packages, allowing developers to search for the package ID, and it provides IntelliSense capabilities almost everywhere in the file.
However, one of the most intriguing features of this new app is its ability to catch malformed conditions and expressions without having to run the build.
Microsoft says this new experimental MSBuild editoris powered by a new MSBuild-specific json-basedschema formatthat allows defining documentation and type annotations for MSBuild properties, items, item metadata, and targets.
You can alsowrite schemas for your own MSBuild targetsto allow the MSBuild editor to provide a richer experience when editing or consuming them. If you’re an author of a NuGet package that contains build targets, you canship that sidecar schema in the NuGet packageto provide a better MSBuild editing experience for consumers of your package.
The Redmond-based tech giant is eager for all the feedback and based on it, the fate of the new experimental MSBuild editor will be decided. However, if the feedback is positive, Microsoft will make it available to all .NET developers.
To leave your feedback, Microsoft has released a survey that can be filled outhere.
More about the topics:microsoft,visual studio
Flavius Floare
Tech Journalist
Flavius is a writer and a media content producer with a particular interest in technology, gaming, media, film and storytelling.
He’s always curious and ready to take on everything new in the tech world, covering Microsoft’s products on a daily basis. The passion for gaming and hardware feeds his journalistic approach, making him a great researcher and news writer that’s always ready to bring you the bleeding edge!
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Flavius Floare
Tech Journalist
Flavius is a writer and a media content producer with a particular interest in technology, gaming, media, film and storytelling.
