Visual Studio 16.9 Preview 3 brings Chromium WebView debugging, noisy tests for visually impaired, and more

Preview 3 of Visual Studio 2019 16.9, the next big release of Microsoft's Windows IDE, features debugging for Chromium-based WebView, audio cues in tests, and updated C++ support. The Visual Studio release cycle is based around minor version updates every three or four months with previews in between. Version 16.9 will be a " …

[itzumee]

Just had a quick look at the MS docs for WebView, seems pretty limited in what it can do compared with the old IE-based equivalent which allowed manipulation of the DOM.

[Tim Anderson]

Rick Strahl has done some blog posts going into detail on WebView2 and how it compares to the old one. See:

https://weblog.west-wind.com/posts/2021/Jan/14/Taking-the-new-Chromium-WebView2-Control-for-a-Spin-in-NET-Part-1

[NerryTutkins]

I recently started a windows forms project using .NET 5 for first time. I looked for the webview control, but noticed it was missing, and guessed was because it was IE based and that is obsolete now.

In the end I used selenium to remote control Chrome instead, and I actually think it's a better result for what I needed to do and I can access the DOM and use xpath to find values in a page and so on.

[Mike 137]

What's really needed

"The Visual Studio release cycle is based around minor version updates every three or four months with previews in between."

The optimum development tool is one that is thoroughly familiar to the developer so it intrudes as a tool as little as possible into the development process, leaving the user free to concentrate on the task they're trying to accomplish.

Quarterly updates, particularly if they include any significant changes to features or functionality, place the user on a permanent learning curve, making the tool a barrier between the user and their task. This can't possibly be a really good idea.

The real purpose behind this update cycle (demonstrated by the "previews") is most likely maintenance of a license revenue stream, rather than facilitating software development for the user.

[iron]

Re: What's really needed

You are completely free to skip these upgrades an lose out on useful new features like HotReload in Xamarin apps or performance improvements in your applications. The VS interface itself doesn't change.

[NerryTutkins]

Re: What's really needed

Visual Studio is so big, the changes rarely change the interface significantly. Even the recent changes to the GIT dialogs were pretty logical and quick to get used to.

There is a community edition, and most who are on paid versions will get updates through their licensing anyway.

The updates tend to revolve around tooling for new things like .NET 5 and so on, a development tool has to keep moving to support the various technologies it is used for authoring on.