By Paul Krill
Microsoft has made its Visual Studio Code extension for .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) generally available, taking it out of preview.
Announced June 12 and available from the Visual Studio Marketplace, the .NET MAUI extension for VS Code provides tools for building cross-platform apps with C# and XAML. The extension is built on top of the C# Dev Kit and C# extensions, with these tools providing Solution Explorer, C# Hot Reload, C# IntelliSense, and other capabilities. Partnered with these other extensions, the .NET MAUI extension adds XAML IntelliSense and XAML Hot Reload and the ability to target desktop and mobile devices.
Whereas the preview version of the .NET MAUI extension had basic XAML syntax completions and highlights, it fell short of the full intended experience, according to Microsoft. Since the preview, the XAML language service in Visual Studio has been brought over to VS Code for .NET MAUI development. The XAML language service also works with GitHub Copilot and offers intelligent autocompletion, tool tips, and seamless code navigation.
Microsoft is soliciting feedback from users of the .NET MAUI extension. Developers can file a bug or share a suggestion by using the Help -> Report Issue dialog in Visual Studio Code. The latest version of VS Code is 1.90, published June 5.
