Visual Studio 2012 Update 2

  • Article

Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (VS2012.2) is now available for download. Just as with VS2012.1, this release contains important fixes as well as a wealth of new functionality, addressing feedback received from the community and aligning with key software development trends in the market. The new functionality primarily spans (though is not limited to) five areas of investment: agile planning, quality enablement, Windows Store development, line-of-business development, and the general developer experience.

Agile Planning

  • Work Item Filtering
    • Team Foundation Server Work Item Tagging 
  • Kanban Board
    • Customize columns in the Team Foundation Kanban Board
  • Send Work Items using email
    • Email work items from query
    • Email work items from backlogs

 Quality Enablement (Testing)

  • Windows Store
    • Windows Store App UI Responsiveness Analyzer (HTML/JavaScript)
    • Improvements in Windows Store Applications Unit Testing
    • Windows App Certification Kit (latest version)
  • Windows Phone
    • TDD for Windows Phone Unit Tests
  • Coded UI Testing
    • Extended cross browser support in Coded UI Testing
    • Coded user interface testing support for Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7
  • Web based Test Case Management
    • Enable adding attachments to test outcomes
    • Enable pausing and resuming test execution
    • Enable adding attachments to test outcomes
    • Enable pausing and resuming test execution
    • Enable editing Test case during Test Execution
    • Inline editing of text of test steps and results in the test execution of the browser based test management
  • Test Explorer Enhancements
    • Test Explorer group tests by Class
    • Test Explorer test playlists
    • Test Explorer test details improvements for Coded UI Tests
  • SharePoint
    • Microsoft SharePoint 2013 support in Coded UI Testing
    • Advanced SharePoint 2010 Load Testing
  • Unit Testing
    • Fakes now available in Visual Studio Premium
  • Microsoft Test Manager (MTM)
    • The ability to clone test cases in Microsoft Test Manager

Quality Enablement (Debugging)

  • Code Map
    • Code Map Debugger Integration and Responsiveness Improvements
  • IntelliTrace
    • SharePoint 2013 and SharePonnt User Profile diagnostics support with IntelliTrace
    • Symbol Loading improvements for IntelliTrace and Profiler

 Line of Business (LOB) Application Development

  • LightSwitch
    • LightSwitch HTML Client - Support for HTML5 and the new SharePoint/0365 Apps Model
  • Blend, SketchFlow & XAML Editors
    • Blend for Visual Studio once again supports WPF, Silverlight and SketchFlow projects
    • Performance & reliability improvements when using the XAML design surfaces in Visual Studio and Blend and XAML editor in Visual Studio

Developer Experience

  • Web Based Version Control
    • Web version control Improvements
    • Web based version control Explore and Compare
  • TFS Build
    • Team Foundation Server 2012 compatibility with 2010 Build Servers
  • Team Explorer Enhancements
    • New Team Explorer Connection dialog display multiple servers, TPCs and projects
  • TFS Upgrades & Availability
    • TFS Update 2 Offers Settings
    • Preservation for In-Place Upgrades
    • Servicing in High Availability SQL Environments
  • Visual Studio IDE
    • New Blue Theme for Visual Studio IDE

 Web Development

  • ASP.NET & Web Tools 2012.2 (Update 2) is included in Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (no changes from stand-alone release)