Refactoring with /optimize

In a recent exploration by Bruno Capuano, we see the transformative capabilities of GitHub Copilot’s /optimize command. Bruno demonstrates its prowess by refactoring a code snippet, showcasing how simple text-based inputs can yield significant improvements in code structure and performance.

One of the prime examples showcased by Bruno involves the conversion of a traditional for loop utilizing numerical indices into a more readable and intuitive foreach loop. While foreach loops in .NET might seem more verbose, they often offer better readability, a crucial aspect in maintaining code quality and ease of understanding.

Here’s a glimpse of the original for loop snippet:

 for  ( int i =  zero ; i < chatHistory . Count ; i ++ )
 {
     var message = chatHistory [ i ] ;
     var msg =  new  ChatMessage ( ) ; msg . role = message . Role . ToString ( ) . ToLower ( ) ; msg . content = message . Content ; root . messages . Add ( msg ) ;
 }

To provide context to Copilot, Bruno selects the entire loop. He then initiates the inline chat dialog by typing “ Alt-/ ”.

To guide Copilot in refactoring the code, Bruno types a Slash ‘ / ’, which opens the previously discussed dialog. He chooses the Optimize command from the menu and sends the command to Copilot.

Copilot responds with several optimization suggestions:

• The ChatMessage  instance can be initialized during construction, enhancing efficiency.
• A foreach  loop is utilized.

The refactored code appears as follows:

 foreach  ( var message in chatHistory )
 {
     var msg =  new  ChatMessage
     { role = message . Role . ToString ( ) . ToLower ( ) , content = message . Content } ; root . messages . Add ( msg ) ;
 }

Learn from Copilot: Give it a Try!

The most effective way to comprehend a tool’s functionality is to use it firsthand. I find it fascinating to apply the /optimize command to my production projects. At times, the modifications are minor, affirming the quality of my original code. However, there are instances when Copilot suggests ingenious alterations, often introducing me to new syntaxes.

Validating the output of GitHub Copilot is also crucial to ensure it hasn’t introduced any errors or regressions. Unit tests can serve as a safety net for these changes, just as they do during the refactoring of any piece of code.

Additional Resources

We offer a wealth of resources to further your understanding of GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio. We encourage you to explore this collection , you can watch the full video here and regularly visit this blog for more content.

The post Improve your code quality with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

Introducing Slash Commands

Slash Commands are predefined actions within GitHub Copilot, accessible through the prompt interface. Bruno Capuano, in his latest video, elucidates these commands, accessible via the Slash button in the Copilot Chat window or by typing a forward slash in the message box.

Alternatively, you can also access the Slash Commands by typing a forward slash in the message box.

Key commands include:

• doc : Insert a documentation comment in the current cursor position.
• exp : Start a new conversation thread with a fresh context.
• explain : Provide an explanation for the selected code.
• fix : Suggest fixes for code errors and typos.
• generate : Generate new code snippets based on your input.
• optimize : Recommend code optimizations to improve performance.
• tests : Create a unit test for the current code selection.
• help : Access help and support for GitHub Copilot.

A Practical Example with /fix

Demonstrating the power of Slash Commands, the /fix command automatically suggests corrections for typos and errors, enhancing code quality and efficiency.

In the video, Bruno demonstrates how GitHub Copilot can automatically suggest corrections for typos and other issues. This command can be used in the main chat window, and it’s also accessible in the inline chat by pressing Alt-Slash (Alt-/) or through the right-click context menu.

As you can see, these Slash Commands can significantly improve your productivity in Visual Studio. Learn how to Install GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio .

Additional Resources

To learn more about GitHub Copilot and Slash Commands, check out our resource collection here. You can watch the full video here . For ongoing updates, stay tuned to this blog and consider subscribing to our YouTube channel for more insights and tutorials.

• Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features: Slash Commands and Context Variables
• Announcing the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio

The post Mastering Slash Commands with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

GitHub Copilot: an assistant, not a replacement

Bruno says GitHub Copilot improves your coding in Visual Studio, not replaces developers. Microsoft agrees, saying AI should help humans, not replace them. CEO Satya Nadella says AI should boost productivity without replacing people.

Developers should check the code GitHub Copilot suggests. Sometimes it may suggest wrong code, called “hallucinations.” Though GitHub Copilot is usually accurate, however, reviewing its suggestions is important to be sure.

First, install GitHub Copilot. You can find setup help in GitHub Copilot documentation or our Microsoft Learn tutorial for installing GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio.

Using LLMs for a new way of interaction

GitHub Copilot uses Large Language Models (LLMs) for its core. LLMs bring a new way to interact with computers. They use probabilities and lots of data to generate responses from natural-language prompts, making coding feel like a conversation. This interaction covers more than text; it includes images and videos as well.

Embracing the Future with GitHub Copilot

As AI becomes more common in industries, developers should adapt. Tools like GitHub Copilot can help by making coding more efficient and adaptable. To keep up, it’s important to learn about AI tools, their strengths, and their limits. Check out our resources and full-length video tutorial for more about GitHub Copilot and how to use it in your projects!

Additional Resources:

• Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features
• Announcing the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio

The post Using GitHub Copilot as your Coding GPS appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

Exploring code with GitHub Copilot Chat

In our latest video, my colleague Bruno Capuano showcases the utility of GitHub Copilot Chat within Visual Studio, specifically focusing on populating arrays with random numbers. While arrays are a fundamental data structure, GitHub Copilot Chat facilitates exploration beyond arrays, guiding users towards utilizing more versatile structures like Lists.

Make sure to have GitHub Copilot installed, refer to the documentation to learn how to install GitHub Copilot Chat for Visual Studio.

GitHub Copilot Chat streamlines the understanding of differences between arrays and Lists, highlighting key distinctions such as:

• Size: Arrays have a fixed-size structure, whereas Lists can dynamically adjust their size during runtime.
• Performance: Arrays generally offer higher efficiency due to their static sizing, while Lists excel in scenarios requiring frequent size adjustments.
• Functionality: Lists boast a broader array of methods compared to arrays, enabling more versatile data manipulation.

Additionally, GitHub Copilot Chat offers code examples demonstrating the creation of arrays and Lists, alongside basic element addition operations.

You need not explicitly specify the programming language or framework to GitHub Copilot Chat; it intuitively adapts to the context of your solution and file, mimicking the natural flow of communication during pair-programming sessions.

Converting code

In a practical demonstration, Bruno utilizes GitHub Copilot Chat to seamlessly transition code initially utilizing arrays into more flexible List-based implementations. Notably, the preview feature provides a comprehensive overview of proposed code modifications, empowering users to validate Copilot-generated solutions before implementation.

I’ve replicated Bruno’s example below, showcasing the code suggested by Copilot Chat both before and after the conversion:

Before

 // fill an array with 10 random numbers int[] numbers = new int[10]; Random random = new Random(); for (int i = 0;  i < numbers.Length; i++) { numbers[i] = random. Next(1, 100); }

When selecting the code and opening the GitHub Copilot chat dialogue window, we’ll ask Copilot to convert the code to use the list format.

After

 // fill a list with 10 random numbers List<int> numbers = new List<int>(); Random random = new Random(); for (int i = 0;  i < 10; i++) { numbers.Add(random. Next(1, 100)); }

Conclusion

Now that you have successfully installed GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, you can now enjoy the benefits of AI-powered coding assistance. GitHub Copilot can help you write code faster and you can also learn from the suggestions and examples that GitHub Copilot provides. To learn more about GitHub Copilot and how to use it, check our collection with resources here  or via our  full-length video .

Additional Resources

• Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features: Slash Commands and Context Variables
• Announcing the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio

The post How to use GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

We’re thrilled to introduce the new, unified Copilot experience in Visual Studio 17.10, now available in Preview 3 (General availability in May). This combines the features of Copilot and Copilot Chat into one convenient package. Eliminating the need to install two separate extensions and bringing you more deeply integrated AI experiences in the future. Activate your GitHub Copilot subscription today, by signing in to GitHub or start a free trial for the latest AI experience.

note: Copilot in now in the top right side of your Visual Studio

What is GitHub Copilot?

Copilot is your AI-powered coding companion designed to enhance your IDE experience . It helps you in the following ways:

• Speeding up your coding tasks with Copilot generated snippet, methods, and even entire programs.
• Improve your code quality with Copilot’s optimization feature “/optimize” in Copilot Chat to improve your code’s performance, readability, and security.
• Learn new coding patterns , languages, and frameworks by getting explanations and documentation for the suggested code from Copilot.
• Focus on more satisfying and creative work by allowing Copilot to handle the repetitive, boilerplate, or tedious code, and conserving your mental energy and flow.

GitHub Copilot offers an interactive experience throughout Visual Studio, through chat both in a separate window and directly in your code, allowing you to start a conversation or simply begin typing. Copilot provides context-aware code completions, suggestions, and even entire code snippets. It’s like having a pair programmer who can help you, write commit messages, debug your code, generate your unit tests and more. GitHub Copilot serves as a valuable resource for information and answers about your code, including documentation, definitions, references, error explanations, and best practices.

Accessing Copilot

If you are a customer in Visual Studio 17.10 Preview:

1. If you are using Visual Studio 17.10, GitHub Copilot is included right out of the box as a recommended component and will be installed on update or install .
   • If you need to install GitHub Copilot later, you can do so from the Visual Studio Installer by search for the “GitHub Copilot” component in the “Individual Component” tab. Note : If you prefer not to use Copilot installed in your Visual Studio, you have the option to hide the feature by selecting the GitHub Copilot badge and choosing “Hide Copilot”.
2. For Versions 17.8 to 17.9 you will still be able to download “GitHub Copilot Chat” and “GitHub Copilot Completions” via Extension Manager, however, to get the latest Copilot features update to 17.10.

Getting Started

To use the new Copilot extension, you’ll need a GitHub Copilot subscription . GitHub Copilot is free for verified students and for maintainers of popular open-source projects on GitHub. If you’re not a student or a maintainer of a popular open-source project, you can try GitHub Copilot for free with a one-time 30-day trial. After the free trial, a paid subscription is required for continued use.

Once you have Copilot installed, you can easily sign in and manage your Copilot directly from the top right corner of the title bar in Visual Studio 17.10.

Using Copilot

Code Completions

Start writing in the editor and Copilot will suggest code as you type. Tip: press "tab" to accept a suggestion.

Chat Window

Ask questions about your solution or files.  O pen from the Copilot Badge or CTRL + /, C.

Tip: Use #solution  to refer to your active solution (only for C#) in Visual Studio

We Value Your Feedback

We hope you find the new Copilot experience beneficial for your development needs. Your feedback and suggestions for improvement are always welcome. You can reach out to us through this survey or submit for feature requests here: Developer Community (visualstudio.com) .

Happy coding!

The post Introducing the new Copilot experience in Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

A step-by-step guide to use comments as prompts in GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio

Introduction to GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio

GitHub Copilot is a programming assistant that uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to help you increase efficiency in your daily programming tasks. It is compatible with various IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), text editors, and more. In this series, we will focus on demonstrating how GitHub Copilot can help you become more productive in Visual Studio.

One way to get code suggestions from GitHub Copilot is by leveraging code comments. However, we know sometimes even coming up with a comment can be a little cumbersome.  

What is great about GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio is that it is not only capable of suggesting code but can also provide completions for your comments.

In the second short video in this series , my colleague Bruno Capuano will highlight how to use comments to prompt GitHub Copilot to produce code directly within the current file.

Make sure to have GitHub Copilot installed, refer to the documentation to learn how to install GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio

How to use a Comment to Prompt GitHub Copilot

Let us start by writing a comment. In the example, Bruno is typing a comment that looks like this:

 // function to get the year of birth

As we can see in this example, GitHub Copilot quickly springs into action, proposing to complete the comment as follows:

 // function to get the year of birth *from the age*

This feature can be particularly useful, for example, when you are writing documentation.

( Note:  in this example I added *stars* around the suggested code. In the Visual Studio IDE, the suggestion would appear greyed out).

To accept the comment completion suggestion and incorporate it into your code, simply press the Tab key. Following that, pressing Enter prompts Copilot to offer a code suggestion based off the comment. The suggested code will appear inline and greyed out. You can also accept this suggestion by pressing the Tab key.

Additional examples can be found here in Using GitHub Copilot for code completions and suggestions

Validating the output of GitHub Copilot

The key principle to remember when working with AI assistants is that you should always verify the output. You have the chance to review the Copilot output either before accepting, when the code appears greyed out inline or after you have accepted the suggestion with the Tab key. I frequently accept the suggestion first and then revisit the generated code. If I need to make any changes, I will do so before moving on.

GitHub Copilot is not a compiler!

This means that the code produced by GitHub Copilot can indeed fail to compile and/or be incorrect. It is your responsibility to review, resolve, and improve the suggested code, as necessary.

Disabling GitHub Copilot completions

You might not always want Copilot to suggest completions in your code files. Deactivating it is straightforward, whether for all code files, or even just for specific files such as markdown or C#. Simply click on the small Copilot icon on the Visual Studio taskbar and then select the appropriate option.

Conclusion

Now that you have successfully used a comment to GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, you can continue to leverage this practice in all your projects. This is just one of the ways that GitHub Copilot can help you write code faster and be more productive. To learn more about GitHub Copilot and how to use it,   check our collection with resources here  or via our  full-length video .

Additional Resources

• Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features: Slash Commands and Context Variables
• Announcing the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio

The post How to use Comments to Prompt GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

A step-by-step guide to enable the AI-powered coding assistant within Visual Studio

Introduction to GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is a new tool that helps you write code faster and smarter with the help of artificial intelligence. It can suggest code completions, generate code snippets, and even write entire functions for you. GitHub Copilot works with a variety of languages and frameworks, and it can learn from your own code and preferences. In the following video short , Bruno Capuano shares how to install GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio. Visual Studio supports many programming languages, such as C#, VB.NET, C++, Python, and more. By installing GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, you can leverage the power of AI to enhance your coding experience and productivity.

Prerequisites

Before you can install GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, you need to have the following:

• A GitHub account. You can sign up for free at GitHub.com .
• An active GitHub Copilot subscription (Individual, Business, or Enterprise).
• Visual Studio 2022 17.6 or later installed.

GitHub Copilot Installation

Once you have the prerequisites, you can install GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio by following these steps:

1. Open Visual Studio and go to the Extensions menu. Select Manage Extensions.
2. In the Manage Extensions window, search for GitHub Copilot in the online tab. Select the GitHub Copilot extension and click Download.
3. After the download is complete, close Visual Studio and run the installer for the GitHub Copilot extension. Follow the instructions to complete the installation.
4. Open Visual Studio again and go to the Tools menu. Select Options.
5. In the Options window, go to the GitHub Copilot tab. Click Sign in with GitHub and authorize the extension to access your GitHub account.
6. After you sign in, you can start using GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio. You can access the Copilot panel from the View menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+C.

What is the difference between GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat?

GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat are both AI-powered tools designed to assist developers, but they serve different purposes and are used in different contexts:

• GitHub Copilot  harnesses AI to help you write code faster and with fewer errors by providing suggestions for whole lines or blocks of code directly within supported integrated development environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio.
• GitHub Copilot Chat is a chat interface that allows you to interact with GitHub Copilot in a conversational manner. You can ask coding-related questions and receive answers within GitHub.com and supported IDEs like Visual Studio and is useful for getting explanations, generating code snippets, and understanding best practices.

GitHub Copilot focuses on code completion within IDEs like Visual Studio, while GitHub Copilot Chat provides a conversational interface for coding assistance and explanations. Both aim to enhance developer productivity but do so through different interfaces and interactions with the user.

Conclusion

Now that you have successfully installed GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, you can now enjoy the benefits of AI-powered coding assistance. GitHub Copilot can help you write code faster and you can also learn from the suggestions and examples that GitHub Copilot provides. To learn more about GitHub Copilot and how to use it, check our collection with resources here or via our  full-length video .

Additional Resources

• Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features: Slash Commands and Context Variables
• Announcing the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio

The post How to Install GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

Inline Chat View  

Ever wish you could just take the code that your generative AI chatbot gives you and put it right in your editor? With the inline chat, you can interact with GitHub Copilot right within your editor! This feature allows you to refine your code within the editor, which is perfect for asking specific questions about your active file, and seeing diff views when GitHub Copilot gives you code suggestions.

To access the inline chat, you need an active GitHub Copilot subscription and the extension installed in Visual Studio 17.8 or higher. To access the inline chat, right click within the editor > Ask Copilot, or through the shortcut (Alt+/).    

Learn more about inline code refinement here: Simplified Code Refinement and Debugging with GitHub Copilot Chat – Visual Studio Blog (microsoft.com)  

Submit Feedback for Inline Chat  

Slash Commands to State Intent  

Being misunderstood is the worst! Slash commands allow you to clearly state your intention behind your prompt so that there are no misunderstandings with GitHub Copilot. When learning to use generative AI chatbots, it’s always frustrating when it doesn’t understand what you’re asking for. By using slash commands, they allow you to clearly state the intention behind your prompt so that there are no misunderstandings with Copilot.

Slash commands exist within the chat window. Type ‘/’ to pop open a list of commands that you can use to state your intent, such as “/explain” to explain code, “/doc” to document a method or file, and many more!    

Learn more about available slash commands, and ways to create better prompts here: Tips & Tricks for GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio – Visual Studio (Windows) | Microsoft Learn  

Submit Feedback for Slash Commands  

Context Variables to Refine Your Scope  

Ever wonder what GitHub Copilot is referencing when answering your questions? The context variables feature allows you to specify files from your solution in your questions by using the # symbol. When you reference a file, Copilot can access its content and provide specific answers related to it.   

[TIP] Utilize our latest and greatest with # Solution to include the context of all the files in your open solution, allowing you to root your answers in it. Note: #Solution only supports C#. 

Example: “What parts of this #Solution is designated to be a command line interface?”   

For instance, you can ask questions like “How does the # Main.cs file work?” or “What is the purpose of the # Calculator.cs file?” Copilot Chat will then provide relevant answers based on the content of those files. This feature streamlines the process by eliminating the need for manual copying and pasting. Feel free to include multiple files in a single question for even greater efficiency!    

Learn more about context variables here: Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features: Slash Commands and Context Variables – Visual Studio Blog (microsoft.com)  

Submit Feedback for Context Variables  

Analyze and Fix Test Window Failures  

With GitHub Copilot, failure and exception analysis has never been easier. This AI assisted feature helps the user in analyzing and fixing test failure due to failed test assumptions or exceptions that occur during test execution. This feature can be found in the Test Explorer and creates a discussion thread that allows you to interact with GitHub Copilot, providing you access to both explanations and code fixes. When a failed test is present, the “Ask Copilot” link will appear in the test failure summary explanation, allowing you to follow up with Copilot.  

Submit Feedback for Test Explorer  

AI Assisted Exception Analysis  

Ever rattled your brain on why an exception occurred? Now, GitHub Copilot can be used to assist with exception analysis, helping developers understand why an exception occurred and suggests ways to resolve it. It collects relevant information about the exception, including its type, message, snippets of code from the stack trace, and local variable values. This data is then sent to Copilot for an initial analysis. Subsequently, users can engage in further conversation with Copilot to discuss the error and explore potential solutions.   

Learn more about how to use this feature here: Debug with GitHub Copilot – Visual Studio (Windows) | Microsoft Learn  

Submit Feedback for AI Assisted Exception Analysis  

Auto Insights in Profiling Tools  

Auto insights flagged by the CPU Usage and Instrumentation profiler allows you to get insights on your code, typically related to a known problematic pattern. When presented with an auto insight, users can now use the “Ask Copilot” link to get more detailed information on the insight. GitHub Copilot takes the context from the insight and uses it to prompt Copilot again so you can get more information on the insight you’ve been given and ask follow up questions!  

Learn more about how GitHub Copilot can help you debug here: Debug with GitHub Copilot – Visual Studio (Windows) | Microsoft Learn  

Submit Feedback for Auto Insights in Profiling Tools  

AI-Powered Rename Suggestions  

Have you ever grappled with naming a variable, method, or class? You’re not alone. This feature goes beyond mere name suggestions; it learns how your identifier is used and adapts to your code style, proposing identifiers that seamlessly integrate into your codebase.  

To access this feature in Visual Studio, simply select any identifier, right-click, and choose “Rename” (Ctrl+R, Ctrl+R). Click on the rename suggestions button or use the Ctrl+Space shortcut. You’ll be presented with a list of naming suggestions tailored to the context of your code. Pick the name that resonates with you the most, and press Enter!    

Learn more about AI-powered rename suggestions here: Naming Made Easy: AI-Powered Rename Suggestions – Visual Studio Blog (microsoft.com)  

Submit Feedback for AI-Powered Rename Suggestions  

AI-Generated Commit Messages  

After spending hours on a bug fix or a feature update, the last thing I would want to do is rack my brain to precisely explain the contents of my Git commit. Fortunately, Copilot offers a solution. Use the newly generated Git commit message feature to succinctly describe your set of changes and improve the quality and consistency of your commit messages, making your code easier to understand and maintain. You can then refine the message by adding the crucial ‘why’ behind the change before committing.  

Use the new “Add AI Generated Commit Message” sparkle pen icon in the Git Changes window to generate a suggestion.  

Find out more here: Write Your Git Commits with GitHub Copilot – Visual Studio Blog (microsoft.com)  

Submit Feedback for AI-Generated Commit Messages  

IntelliSense for Breakpoint Expressions  

Breakpoint expressions can help developers debug their code more efficiently and effectively. However, finding the optimal breakpoint expressions can be challenging and time-consuming. That is why we use GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio, an AI companion that can help us with IntelliSense for breakpoint expressions. GitHub Copilot can analyze our code and suggest the best breakpoint expressions for our debugging scenarios. What a great way to save time and effort!    

This feature is aimed at users creating advanced breakpoints such as conditional breakpoints and trace points. Using the context of the code surrounding the breakpoint, GitHub Copilot suggests potential expressions to use for breakpoint conditions and logging statements. Note: IntelliSense breakpoint suggestions only support C#. 

Submit Feedback for IntelliSense for Breakpoint Expressions  

Deadlock Analysis with AI  

Deadlock can cause serious problems in your program and can be tedious to detect and resolve. With GitHub Copilot, deadlocks are demystified, and made much more obvious to the user by showing them in the Exception Helper. The exception helper will now include an “Ask Copilot” link, where Copilot takes the context of your code, along with the information that the Exception Helper has accrued and allows users to continue asking questions to Copilot about how they can resolve the deadlock. 

Submit Feedback for Deadlock Analysis in AI  

How can I get started?  

All of these features and more are now available on the recently released Visual Studio 17.9 . So why wait? Install Copilot and Copilot Chat in Visual Studio today and experience the future of coding!  

Providing Feedback and Staying Connected  

We appreciate the time you’ve spent reporting issues/suggestions and hope you continue to give us feedback when using Visual Studio on what you like and what we can improve.   

Your feedback is critical to help us make Visual Studio the best tool it can be! You can share feedback with us via  Developer Community : report any bugs or issues via  report a problem  and  share your suggestions  for new features or improvements to existing ones.  

Stay connected with the Visual Studio team by following us on YouTube , Twitter , LinkedIn , Twitch and on Microsoft Learn .   

The post GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio: A Recap of 2023 appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

We have added two new features to the latest Visual Studio Copilot Chat extension: slash commands (/) that allow you to direct Copilot to perform specific tasks, and context Variables (#) that allow you to specify a file for Copilot to focus its answer on. We also have several preview features you can get a sneak peek on.

Slash commands

Slash commands are special commands that you can use in chat to perform specific actions on your code. For example, you can use:

• /doc to add a documentation comment
• /explain to explain the code
• /fix to propose a fix for the problems in the selected code
• /generate to generate code to answer your question
• /help to get help on Copilot Chat
• /optimize to analyze and improve running time of the selected code
• /tests to create unit tests for the selected code

Context variables

The context variables feature lets you easily add files from your solution to your questions by using the # symbol. When you reference a file, Copilot can access the file content and answer more specific questions about it. For example, you can ask “ How does the #file:Main.cs file work? ” or “ What is the purpose of the #file:Calculator.cs file? ” and get relevant answers from Copilot Chat. You can add multiple files to one question. This feature saves you time and effort by allowing you to include content from your project without copying and pasting.

You can see the referenced files in the chat under the answers. Just look for the link to the references to see what was added to your question. If you click on the links, it will take you to the included content.

Preview features

In addition to the main released feature of Visual Studio Copilot Chat, we also have some exciting preview features that you can try out and give us your feedback. These preview features are experimental and may not work as expected, but they can enhance your development experience with Visual Studio Copilot Chat. Here are some of the preview features and their brief descriptions:

• Exception Assistant in debugger : Copilot helps you diagnose and fix exceptions in your code. Copilot will provide you with relevant information about the exception, such as the cause, the location, the stack trace, and possible solutions.
• Suggestions for breakpoint expressions : Copilot helps you set conditional breakpoints in your code. Copilot will suggest expressions that evaluate to true or false based on the current context of your code.
• Commit message suggestions : Copilot helps you describe your set of changes by generating a Git commit message. You can then refine the message with “why” the change was made and commit.
• Solution reference : Copilot helps you find and navigate to the references of your code elements in your solution. By using #solution you are letting Copilot know to search your solution for relevant code to the question. These will than automatically added to the context of your question so copilot can use those for answering your question.
• Suggestions in the Performance Profiler : Copilot helps you optimize the performance of your code. Copilot will analyze the performance data collected by the Visual Studio Performance Profiler and suggest ways to improve the speed, memory usage, and responsiveness of your code.
• Test failure Analysis : Copilot helps you debug and fix the failures of your unit tests. Copilot will provide you with useful information about the test failure, such as the assertion message, the expected and actual values, the source code, and possible solutions.

We want to hear from you!

We appreciate all the feedback you’ve provided so far as we’ve been creating Copilot, and are excited to see where this next wave of AI-assisted productivity takes you as you create great software. Please try the new features and share your feedback – just use Visual Studio Visual Studio “Send feedback” to send us your suggestions, feedback and issues for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio.

The post Code Faster and Better with GitHub Copilot’s New Features: Slash Commands and Context Variables appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .

Copilot chat in Visual Studio

We’re bringing fully integrated AI-powered Copilot chat experiences to Visual Studio. This is no ordinary chat! With tight integration in Visual Studio, it understands what you’re working on. That means it can quickly help you get in-depth analysis and explanations of how a code block works, generate unit tests, and even find and get proposed fixes to bugs, or explain exceptions. Check out the video below to see what we mean. And this is just the start.  Watch out for more AI assistance across your whole lifecycle as we continue to develop Copilot. Already excited? Sign up for the private preview below.

With GitHub Copilot chat, if you find yourself needing more information, you can ask it to explain the code you’re working on. When you hit an error, ask Copilot to help fix it and generate unit tests. If an exception gets thrown, ask Copilot to help you figure out possible causes and even suggest fixes. By gathering the right data from Visual Studio, Copilot grasps your intent and helps you form exactly the right question to get useful answers. Using GitHub Copilot with Visual Studio gives you more time for creativity by spending less time on boilerplate manual tasks and diagnosis.

We’ll be sharing GitHub Copilot Chat for Visual Studio with a private preview soon – just sign up to be wait-listed.

Learn more and share your feedback

There’s a whole set of new ways Copilot will be able to help you with your development work, from enhancing pull requests to personalized documentation and even a natural language way to run your CLI. Please check out Thomas Dohmke’s GitHub blog post to learn more.

We’re excited to see where this next wave of AI-assisted productivity takes you as you create great software, and we’d love to hear your feedback on the GitHub Copilot Community forum .

The post GitHub Copilot chat for Visual Studio 2022 appeared first on Visual Studio Blog .