Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7 Release Notes
Developer Community | System Requirements | Compatibility | Distributable Code | Documentation | Blogs | Servicing
For information on the system requirements see the see Mac System Requirements and Mac Platform Targeting and Compatibility guides.
To learn more about other related downloads, see the Downloads page.
What's New in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Releases
- October 27, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.9
- September 21, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.8
- September 15, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.7
- September 10, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.6
- September 08, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.5
- August 25, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.4
- August 18, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.3
- August 13, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.2
- August 11, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.1
- August 5, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Blog Posts
The Visual Studio Blog is the official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team. You can find in-depth information about the Visual Studio 2019 for Mac releases in the following posts:
Release Highlights
- We added support for adding new Open API & gRPC service references to .NET Core projects.
- We added support for right-clicking to run unit tests.
- The Visual Studio Tools for Unity includes three new diagnostics and support for persistent solution folders when Unity is regenerating solution and projects.
- We resolved a significant number of existing bugs and user-reported issues throughout the IDE. Please continue to share your feedback with us using the Developer Community portal.
- Visual Studio for Mac 8.7 supports running on the macOS Big Sur developer preview. If you're already on Big Sur and can't use the updater, visit the Visual Studio for Mac website and download the installer.
Known Issues
Refer to the Known Issues section.
Feedback and Suggestions
We would love to hear from you! You can report a problem through the Report a Problem option in Visual Studio for Mac IDE. You can track your feedback, including suggestions, in the Developer Community portal.
Release Notes
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.9 (8.7.9.9)
released October 27, 2020
Web and Azure
- We updated .NET Core to 3.1.403 and 2.1.811.
Xamarin
- We added support for Xcode 12.1.
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.8 (8.7.8.4)
released September 21, 2020
Xamarin
- We added support for Xcode 12 and updated the Xamarin SDKs.
- We added support for setting a Color set as Accent Color in the Info.plist editor.
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.7 (8.7.7.10)
released September 15, 2020
IDE Platform
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac could not be launched and required a full reboot.
Project System
- We fixed an issue with ProjectGuid being removed from project files.
Web and Azure
- We fixed an issue where Scaffolding failed for ASP.NET Core 2.1 Web Applications.
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.6 (8.7.6.2)
released September 08, 2020
Web and Azure
- We updated the .NET Core SDK (3.1.402 SDK and 2.1.22 runtime).
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.5 (8.7.5.19)
released September 08, 2020
Project System
- We fixed an issue where an Uno solution could not be loaded.
Shell and Tools
- We improved performance and reliability.
Web and Azure
- We fixed an issue where initial templates were missing when creating a new Azure Functions project.
Xamarin
- We fixed many unneeded/unwanted popups when working with storyboards in Xcode Designer.
- We fixed an issue with generation of outlets
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio and Xcode sync keeps updating the Register attribute.
- We fixed an index out of range error in Hot Reload
- We fixed an issue where opening a Storyboard with Xcode Interface Builder was failing.
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.4 (8.7.4.38)
released August 25, 2020
Shell and Tools
- We fixed an issue causing illogical focus order in the Report a Problem dialog.
- We fixed an issue preventing VoiceOver and screen readers from being able to activate links in the Manage NuGet Packages dialog.
- We fixed an issue where large solutions would fail to restore with older .NET Core SDKs installed.
- We increased the color contrast of the selected account in the account dialog.
Web and Azure
- We fixed an issue where a new launch profile added to launchSettings.json was not shown in the project options dialog.
- We fixed an issue where cancelling changes in the project options dialog would not undo run configuration changes.
- We fixed an issue where the OpenAPI / gRPC configuration dialogs were not modal.
- We fixed an issue where the OpenAPI service reference dialog would re-open after the reference was added.
- We fixed an issue preventing ASP.NET Core projects from running in the integrated terminal despite being set to do so in the run configuration settings.
- We fixed an issue where the default run configuration shows the project name twice in main toolbar.
Xamarin
- We improved overall stability
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.3 (8.7.3.13)
released August 18, 2020
Shell and Tools
- We fixed an issue where the properties pad was not updated correctly after changing properties in the solution pad.
- We fixed an issue where open with hex editor opens file with VS Code and not in the hex editor.
Xamarin
- We improved overall stability
- We fixed an issue with debugging an Android app with Xamarin.Android SDK 11.0.0.3
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.2 (8.7.2.4)
released August 13, 2020
Web and Azure
- We updated the .NET Core SDK (3.1.401 SDK and 2.1.21 runtime).
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.1 (8.7.1.15)
released August 11, 2020
Bug Fixes in 8.7.1
Shell and Tools
- We fixed an issue with incorrect dependency folder information with .NET Core 3.1.400.
- We fixed an issue where several UI elements in the properties dialog do not have names for VoiceOver users.
Unity
- We fixed an issue where opening from Unity shows "Loading..." until quitting and reopening.
Version Control
- We fixed an issue that could result in a
doesn't point at a valid Git repository or workdir.error message when working with Git.
Xamarin
- We fixed an issue preventing Xamarin developers on macOS Big Sur from compiling and running their projects.
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7 (8.7.0.2037)
released August 5, 2020
Note
This release of Visual Studio for Mac now supports running on the macOS Big Sur developer beta builds. If you're already on Big Sur and can't use the updater, visit the Visual Studio for Mac website and download the installer.
New Features
Open API and gRPC Client Generation
Visual Studio for Mac now includes support for generating an API client from an OpenAPI or gRPC service. This includes the ability to generate the client from a local file or URL, manage service references, and regenerate the client code if the service changes.
To add add a new reference to an OpenAPI or gRPC service, right-click on the Connected Services node in the Solution pad and select Open Service Gallery.
After opening the Connected Services Gallery, you have the option to add either an OpenAPI or gRPC reference.
Clicking on either of the options launches a prompt which allows you to enter the service reference, either by file path or URL.
When generating a gRPC client, you can also select whether to generate the following client class types:
- Client
- Server
- Client and Server
- Messages Only (used to generate strongly typed classes based on message properties, with no generated server or client code)
When generating an OpenAPI client, you can specify the namespace and additional options which are passed through to the code generator.
Code generation is based on the dotnet-grpc and dotnet-openapi command-line tools.
After generating a service reference, you can view and modify it in the Connected Services Gallery as shown below.
For more information on using a generated OpenAPI client, see the Getting Started with NSwag tutorial.
For more information on using a generated gRPC client, see the Create a gRPC client and server in ASP.NET Core tutorial.
Right-Click to Run Unit Tests
When editing C# classes containing unit tests, developers can now right-click within the body of a test class or method to access options for running and debugging tests.
In addition to right-clicking in the editor, these new commands can be run using keboard shortcuts. If you're using the Visual Studio for Mac key bindings, the commands are as follows:
- Run Test(s):
⌘T - Debug Tests(s):
⌘⌥T
See Default keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio for Mac for more information on changing your keyboard shortcuts and The Visual Studio Blog for more in-depth information on this new unit test feature.
Visual Studio Tools for Unity
- We added support to persist solution folders when Unity is regenerating solution and projects.
- We added the following diagnostics:
Bug Fixes
Debugger
- We fixed an issue where Debugger step operations cause Visual Studio to hang.
- We introduced new logic for calculating width and placement of items in debugger pads.
- We fixed an issue that prevented name/value cells from going into edit mode unless clicking exactly on text.
- We increased the speed of expanding tooltips
- We fixed an issue that created breakpoints in the breakpoint pad when users clicked an empty line in the editor margin.
- We fixed an issue that prevented users from dismissing crash messages.
- We fixed an issue where tooltip behaviour makes it difficult to work.
- We fixed an issue that may have caused UI hang while stepping.
- We fixed an issue where Exception page stays after debugging ends.
- We fixed an issue where the breakpoint pad could become out of sync with line numbers in the text editor display when adding or removing lines of code.
- We fixed an issue that may cause the debugger to break on the wrong statement.
- We fixed an issue that sometimes caused tooltips to remain visible after finishing debugging.
- We fixed an issue where the tooltip may display an array length for a non-array object.
- We fixed an issue that caused a StackTracePad.UpdateAsync null reference error to be written to the logs.
- We fixed an issue that caused erroneous newlines in tooltip values.
Project System
- We fixed an issue where Files in a symbolically linked folder are not built on change.
- We fixed an issue where Adding a new file/asset causes "Saving..." to take for over a minute.
- We fixed an issue where the Saving message shown forever and unable to continue.
- We fixed an issue with Key bindings for running, debugging and selecting a unit test at caret not working.
- We fixed an issue where clicking the run button may ask you to build again even if the project had just been compiled.
- We fixed an issue where Multi-target order is not correct.
- We fixed an issue where a user Can't close the project.
Testing
- We fixed an issue where Unit tests duplicated namespaces.
- We fixed an issue causing some unit tests not to load.
- We fixed an issue that caused xUnit tests to show full namespaces instead of method names.
- We fixed an issue where The test nodes in the unit test pads are incorrect.
- We fixed an issue with the Unit Test panel not properly grouping tests by namespace when using NUnit TestCase of int. MaxValue.
- We fixed an issue where the VSMac test explorer broken.
- We fixed brought support for unit test markers back to the editor.
Shell and Tools
- We updated NuGet to 5.7 RTM.
- We fixed an issue with keyboard focus inside the property pad.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio was crashing on macOS Big Sur. If you have already upgraded macOS to Big Sur and are not able to run VS for Mac, please download the latest installer from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/mac/ to install the latest stable version and then install this preview from the Preview channel.
- We made fixes to address a handful of stability and performance issues.
- We added a missing key binding for moving through open files (tabs) when using the VS Code key binding scheme.
- We fixed an issue where the start window could be reentered during project creation, making all commands unusable.
- We fixed an issue with broken commands in the start window.
- We fixed an issue where mstest tests were not discovered in Visual Studio for Mac when using Directory.Build.props.
- We have improved how a conflicting key is shown in preferences.
- We fixed several accessibility issues.
- We fixed toggle/undo comments command binding in the Mixed keybinding scheme.
- We fixed an issue where the sorting buttons in the Document Outline pad reset when switching focus between source files.
- We fixed an issue where Control+Tab switching between files gets stuck.
- Png files now open with the Previewer by default instead of the hex editor.
- We improved the way file paths are shown in global search.
- We fixed an issue where showing declaration of some classes causes many assembly files to be shown.
- When adding a new folder to the solution pad, it will now be expanded by default.
- We fixed an issue preventing the mapping of a command to ⌃ (Tab) in keybindings preferences.
- We fixed an issue where a solution is no longer available in the recently used projects list if the .sln file was opened in editor.
- We fixed an issue where Nuget Ordering Beta/Alpha was incorrect.
Source Code Editing
- We fixed an issue where typing was very slow when many files were open.
- We fixed an issue where The 'Document Outline' view does not update at all—for regions and functions.
- We fixed an issue where the Document Outline shows wrong hierarchy when #region is present.
- We fixed an issue where Rename file to refactor causes Visual Studio to Freeze.
- We fixed an issue Trying to open a CSS file in Visual Studio for Mac freezes.
- We fixed an issue where the Document Outline pad for C# never reflects the last editing change.
- We fixed an issue in the C# editor where IntelliSense never displays documentation for current param at call site.
- We fixed an issue where Renaming a variable duplicates the last two characters.
Tools for Unity
- We fixed a bug where breakpoints would not be hit if they were set while already debugging.
- We fixed an issue where checking equality of Enum values didn't return the correct result (Watches, Immediate, Conditonal Breakpoints).
- We fixed
USP0004,USP0006andUSP0007suppressors with the following rules: suppressIDE0044(readonly),IDE0051(unused),CS0649(never assigned) for all fields decorated with SerializeField attribute. SuppressCS0649(never assigned) for public fields of all types extendingUnity.Object. - We fixed generic type parameter checking for
UNT0014. - We fixed an issue that caused selected Unity Messages to be unchecked after searching in the Add Unity Messages dialog.
Version Control
- We fixed an issue with version control tabs not showing up.
- We fixed an issue where cloning using SSH failed with an error.
- We fixed an issue where the version control system breaks when the .git folder is deleted.
- We fixed an issue where it was not possible to access remote repos over SSH in VS Comm.
- We fixed an issue causing a hang when using version control.
- We fixed an issue where pushing when remote contains changes that don't exist locally takes a long time eventually aborting with errors.
Web and Azure
- We updated the .NET Core SDK (3.1.302 SDK and 2.1.20 runtime).
- We fixed an issue with Entity Framework (CRUD) Scaffolding, where the style of the web page was not loading properly.
- We fixed an issue where Scaffolding failed for a .NET Core 5 Web Application.
- We fixed an issue where a subscription could not be found when trying to publish.
- We fixed an issue with not being able to build React.js and Redux projects.
- We fixed an issue with not being able to open generated code of a service reference.
- We fixed an issue where building Angular projects failed to find clang++.
- We fixed an issue where creating Blazor Web Assembly App projects failed with an error.
- We fixed an issue with unresponsive Add gRPC Service Reference dialogs.
- We added support for adding new Open AI & gRPC service references to .NET Core projects.
- We fixed an issue causing Cannot load solution on VisualStudio for Mac.
- We fixed an issue where the launchsettings.json file is rewritten when loading.
- We fixed an issue where changing the Web App run config does not save to the launchsettings.json.
- We fixed an issue preventing the addition of new run configurations to ASP.NET Core apps.
- We fixed an issue where IntelliSense would erroneously underline valid code in .razor files under certain conditions.
- We fixed an issue where an "api controller with entity framework" scaffold generates "MVC controller with entity framework".
Xamarin
- Support for Xcode 11.5 and 11.6.
- We updated the Xamarin.Forms templates to use 4.6.0 SR 5.
- We fixed an issue that caused reliability issues in the remote build host.
- We fixed an issue where a context menu action was not localized in the Android designer.
- We fixed a handful of crashes reported by users.
- We fixed a few instances where VoiceOver would read labels of elements on Wizard template pages twice.
- We fixed an issue where storyboard resource tags are removed.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac was not generating view controller files for storyboards.
- We fixed some Storyboard errors with Xamarin.mac.
- We fixed an issue where color contrast was too low for the expand/collapse button in the Apple Developer account dialog.
Known Issues
The following is a list of all existing known issues in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7:
- In rare cases, it's possible to be up to date with everything but the .NET Core 3.1.300 SDK. If you enter into this configuration and update to .NET Core 3.1.300 using the updater, the notification to update the .NET Core SDK will not disappear until the IDE is restarted.