ALTERNET STUDIO 8.1

Written By Andrew Medvedev

AlterNET Studio 8.1 is a mid-cycle update focusing on optimizations, improvements, and bug fixes for all our component libraries, including Code Editor, Scripter and Script Debugger, and Form Designer.

Main enhancements include:

  • Updated icons for code completion, debug menus, and toolbars.

  • Performance optimizations of the code completion invocation.

  • Support for jumping to the declaration and completion of the matching braces in Code Editor.

  • Support for signing compiled assemblies with a strong name and pfx certificate.

  • Running and debugging .NET 6 projects with the implicit using.

Read highlights of version 8.1 here.

Below is a list of changes in this release: 

Installation

  + Installation, assemblies, and NuGet packages are now signed and time-stamped with the AlterNET Software certificate.

  + [list] option has been added to the LicenseActivation tool, which now displays a list of all activated licenses on the computer.

  - The bug with license checking when copying the .licx file into the license directory has been fixed.

Documentation

  + More content has been added to the reference documentation.

  + Online documentation filtering has been optimized.

Code Editor   

  + Updated icons from Visual Studio 2022 library are now used for code completion, debug toolbars, and menus.

  + Virtual mode for the Code Completion list box for WinForms Code Editor has been implemented, which significantly optimizes the performance of code completion invocation.

  + New CodeSnippetInserted event added, which is triggered when a code snippet is inserted in the editor.

  + Popup search dialog now changes search icons accordingly to the search direction.

  + Default edit context menu was added to the TextEditor (WPF)

  + Dark theme is now supported for Search and Goto line dialog boxes in WPF TextEditor.

  + HighlightSymbolReferences property added to SyntaxEdit/TextEditor allowing users to jump to the declaration when holding the Ctrl key and hovering over symbols in the text.

  - Popup search dialog can no longer be resized to zero width.

  - The bug with not showing design-time properties for SyntaxEdit control in .NET 6 applications has been fixed.

  - The bug with incorrect sort order in the Code Completion Listbox when using Roslyn parsers has been fixed.

  - The issue with incorrect highlighting of outline blocks in WPF TextEditor has been fixed.

  - Bug with selecting an incorrect entry from the code completion window when fast typing has been fixed.

  - The bug with the unneeded scrollbar appearing in the code completion Listbox has been fixed.

  - The bug with incorrect inserting override template in case text contains read-only blocks has been fixed.

  - The exception when resizing the popup dialog box to zero width in the WPF text editor has been fixed.

Roslyn C# and Visual Basic parsers

  + C# and Visual Basic parsers have been updated to use the latest version of Microsoft CodeAnalysis API.

  + Brace completion, which inserts matching closing brace, has been implemented for Roslyn C# and Visual Basic parsers.

  - The bug with displaying generic methods without <> in the code completion list box when using Roslyn-based parsers has been fixed.

Advanced parsers

  + Better handling and quick info for tuple types in Advanced C# parser.  

  + Better support for code formatting in Advanced C# parser.

  - The issue with the Advanced Visual Basic parser incorrectly showing code completion for methods with array parameter types has been fixed.

  - The bug with generating an override template for methods containing generic parameters when using Advanced parsers has been fixed.

  - The bug with IntelliSense for system types (such as int) not showing for the Advanced C# parser has been fixed.

  - The bug with IntelliSense not containing system namespaces for Advanced C# and Visual Basic parsers under .NET 6 has been fixed.

  - The bug with a complex recursive type in the XSD schema causing StackOverflowException has been fixed.

  - The bug with parsing embedded XML tags inside the tag body has been fixed.

  - The bug with parsing For clauses in the MSSQL parser has been fixed.

  - The regression issue with parsing multi-line string literals at the end of the file in the case of C#, Visual Basic, Ansi-C, MSSQL, and JavaScript advanced parsers has been fixed.

Python/IronPython parsers

  + Reserved words are now displayed in the code completion Listbox for Python/IronPython parsers.

  - The bug with parsing nested functions in Python has been fixed.

Scripter/Debugger

  + Assemblies generated by the Scripter can now be signed with the certificate and time-stamp URL or the strong key. This prevents false-positive virus warnings with some antivirus software.

  + Script Debugger now provides an event to resolve source paths in case the source path location is different from the one specified in the PDB file.

  + Scripter now supports running .NET 6 projects with the implicit using.

  + Scripter now supports running Visual Basic projects with the WindowsFormsWithCustomSubMain application type.

  - Clear user message is displayed in case debugger, and debuggee processes have different architecture (i.e., x86 vs. x64)

  - The bug with setting a breakpoint in the first line of the top-level code has been fixed.

  - The bug with reporting incorrect line numbers when displaying compiler errors is now fixed.

  - The bug with the Threads widget not displaying any active threads is now fixed.

  - .NET Core launcher console window is hidden when debugging .NET Core projects.

Form Designer 

  - Exception when dragging controls in WPF form designer under .NET 6 no longer occurs.

  - The bug with third-party assemblies loading by relative file names in the form designer has been fixed.

  - The bug with renaming controls in OutlineControl has been fixed.

  - Exception when designing TypeScript form under .NET 6 has been fixed.

LangServer parsers/Debug Server protocol debuggers

  + DAP C++ language server has been updated to the latest version.

  + Reference highlighting is now implemented as an async task, not blocking the main thread.

  - The bug with reporting run-time exceptions in the C++ debugger has been fixed.

  - The bug with Java/XML LSP hanging in case Java is not installed on the target PC has been fixed.

Demo projects

  + Project Explorer now supports adding project and solution folders.

  + Snippet Parsers project has been updated to show how to use hidden lines in the code editor.

  + Debugger integration projects (C#/Visual Basic/Python/TypeScript) can now open files and projects.

  + Modifying controls in WPF form designer updates only relevant parts of XAML source code.

  - Opening a single file in the AlterNET Studio demo project compiled with .NET 6 no longer shows syntax parsing errors.

  - Project saving now correctly saves references to other projects.

Andrew Medvedev
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