Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio combines the functionality of two popular Visual Studio extensions into one: Sample Browser and Bing Code Search. This updated feature enables developers to find and reuse millions of code snippets and code sample projects from within the Visual Studio IDE.
The improved feature was developed after listening to customer feedback that a more efficient in-product search experience would allow them to not only find sample codes quickly while in Visual Studio, but would also have the capability to pull in relevant sample codes related to the developer projects themselves while coding, and include offline search. This collaboration across company and with our customers has helped us deliver all of these experiences within the New Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio!
What’s new with Bing Developer Assistant?
- New Visual Studio IntelliSense experience to find code samples for API
- Sample Browser one-stop shop
- Offline search
Bing Developer Assistant delivers a major enhancement in Visual Studio IntelliSense. While coding, a relevant code snippet related to your current API will be automatically displayed in the IntelliSense window which is powered by Bing Code Search. Code snippets are short piece of code that you can easily learn and copy.
You can copy the code, or click the source URL to view where the code snippet comes from, or click “Search More” to find more code samples related to the API. In the current release, the new IntelliSense experience is only available to C#, but teams are working to expand the functionality to more programming languages in the future.
The Sample Browser window is now your one-stop shop for code samples. By entering your programming needs on the Visual Studio toolbar, you will get both code snippets and code sample projects. Code sample projects are complete Visual Studio demo solutions that you can download, build and run. With the new Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio, a world of code samples are now at your fingertips.
We have also added a 3rd feature heated requested by our users – Offline search. The new plugin enables you to search for code samples among your local or downloaded sample projects even when you are disconnected from the Internet. You can configure Visual Studio to index your local sample folders in Tools / Options.
The IntelliSense experience and the Sample Browser main window are still fully functional in the offline situation. What’s even better, it allows you to open the Visual Studio sample project that contains the code snippet with one click.
What’s next?
We have an ambitious roadmap for Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio. As we mentioned earlier, there are plans to support more programming languages in the Visual Studio IntelliSense window. In addition, we are investigating expansion of the tool into other developer experiences within the company; enterprise code search, compile / debug error assistance, and MSDN forum support.
Start experiencing Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio and download it today!
Happy coding!
- The Bing Developer Assistant team