Microsoft has released the third public preview of the VisualStudio.Extensibility SDK with new features that improve performance, customization, and debugging capabilities, Infoq reports. VisualStudio.Extensibility is a new framework for developing Visual Studio extensions.

In Preview 3, developers can use:

-Debugger Visualizers to make working with the debugger easier.

-User dialogs to create custom user interfaces.

-Query the project system to access and interact with the project system.

-Editor field extensions to add custom components to the code editor field.

-Extension configuration options to give users more control over their extensions.

The new features listed above provide developers with more efficient and intuitive ways to create powerful extensions for Visual Studio. In doing so, they improve the overall development experience and productivity. The official GitHub repository contains the example for creating the custom dialogs.

Preview 3 of VisualStudio.Extensibility also offers the ability to create custom debugger visualizations using remote UI features that improve debugging performance by allowing developers to create custom views of complex data types.

VisualStudio.Extensibility Preview 3 also includes the ability to search for projects and solutions in the project system. This new feature allows developers to obtain information about projects and solutions that meet certain conditions, thus providing users with relevant experience for their current code.

VisualStudio.Extensibility Preview 3 also makes it easy to configure your extensions. Many components defined in extensions require configuration to determine how or when to appear in the IDE. With the new version, you can configure your extension with highly typed classes and properties and easily discover preset options using IntelliSense. Configuration properties allow developers to place their commands in newly created menus and toolbars over which they have complete control.