1 Visual Studio Tools for Xamarin2 Redgate Data Tools
By far the most important addition in the latest update to Visual Studio 2017 is support for the Windows 10 Creators Update SDK. Microsoft has updated the Universal Windows Platform Tools to add support for the upcoming Creators Update. Along with the inclusion of the new Windows 10 Creators Update SDK, the latest update to Visual Studio brings the following improvements:
“Updated .NET Native compiler PackageReference support for UWP projects targeting the Creators Update XAML IntelliSense warnings for types and properties that are not available on all Windows versions Support for creation of streaming install packages Creation of optional packages and related sets”
The latest update to Visual Studio also includes several performance improvements. The Principal Software Engineer for Visual Studio, Bertan Aygun, elaborates on those improvements in this blog post. For the release notes of Visual Studio 2017 v15.1, check here.
Visual Studio Tools for Xamarin
In addition, the update adds support for Xamarin Workbooks for C# 7. The Xamarin Workbooks provides a blend of documentation and code for experimentation, learning, and creating guides. Users who wish to try the newest features available in C# 7 can do so by exploring with a workbook, here. The update also improves Xamarin’s memory usage, while reducing the disk space footprint so that the Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android tools are more lightweight and efficient.
Redgate Data Tools
Visual Studio 2017 includes the Redgate Data Tools in order to help users extend DevOps processes to SQL Server databases. The SQL Prompt Core is available in the Enterprise edition of Visual Studio 2017 and improves the productivity of users with advanced IntelliSense-style SQL code completion. The update brings the following changes to the SQL Prompt Core:
“Code completion now works with queries opened outside of the SQL Server Object Explorer Users can now share their feedback directly with Redgate via a new link added to the SQL Prompt menu”
Users of the Enterprise version of Visual Studio 2017 also work with the ReadyRoll Core, a migrations-first database development, and deployment tool. The ReadyRoll Core allows users to extend DevOps processes to your SQL Server and Azure SQL databases. The latest update to Visual Studio adds the following features to the ReadyRoll Core:
“Support for Azure SQL Database temporal tables Update to the VSTS extension with improved messages and formatted, color-coded TSQL for deployment scripts”
For more information about Redgate Data Tools, visit Redgate. To download Visual Studio 2017, click here.
