The November 2018 release of Visual Studio code (version 1.30) is now available. This version has multiline search improvements, custom tile bars for Linux, a simplified debug configuration and other changes.
We take a look at the major updates in the November 2018 of Visual studio code.
Multiline search input
In the October release, support for multiline search was added. Now, the search UX has been improved for easier usage. Users can search with multiline text without writing a regular expression. Press Shift+Enter in the search box to insert a newline. The search box will grow to show the full multiline query. Users can also copy paste multiple lines from the editor into the search box.
Custom title and menu bar on Linux by default
The accessibility and themability of menus has been improving over the past releases on Windows through the custom title and menu bar. This was optionally available on Linux, it will now be enabled by default. You can use the native title bar by setting the window.titleBarStyle to native.
References view
The References view has moved out of preview and is now available generally. There are two commands:
- Find All References: Opens the References view.
- Peek References: Opens references in a Peek view.
Hidden on startup, the References view will remain visible once it has been used. When all search results are cleared, a history of previous searches is shown.
Snippet comment variables
New snippet variables are available that insert line or block comments to honor the current language. BLOCK_COMMENT_START and BLOCK_COMMENT_END for using block comments and LINE_COMMENT for lines.
JavaScript and TypeScript callbacks look better
Any JavaScript and TypeScript anonymous callbacks were previously labeled as <function>. This was in the Outline view, breadcrumbs view, and document symbol list. Due to this, it was impossible to tell which function a developer was really after. TypeScript 3.2+ allows VS Code to display more context for callback functions, so now they can be differentiated from one another.
Markdown elements in JSDoc comments are highlighted
Fenced code blocks and other Markdown elements within JSDoc blocks are now syntax-highlighted.
Initial debug configuration is simplified
In this release, an area of improvement was to simplify the generated launch.json file for the most popular debug extensions. The goal was to encourage users to start and configure debugging. Unnecessary launch configuration attributes were hidden. Using the Quick Pick UI for better user interaction while generating the initial launch.json was also a part of this.
Run on folder open
A task that users always run on opening a folder can now be configured to run automatically. This can be done by configuring its “runOn” property when that folder is opened. This was done to make sure no one breaks the new strict null checks in the VS Code repository. On adding “runOn”: “folderOpen”, everyone who allows tasks to be run automatically will get markers the strict null check is violated.
Install previous versions
A previous version of an extension can be used if the current version has problems. An Install Another Version action is provided on an installed extension, on clicking it, a dropdown of available versions is shown.
Preview Features
HTML custom tags / attributes support is added which allows developers to specify a list of tags and attributes that VS Code loads during startup.
Network proxy support for extensions for enabling network proxy support for all extensions by using Http: Proxy Support.
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