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Visual Studio Architecture Modeling Tooling

4 posts · Sep 2010 – Dec 2016

What this trail covers

Visual Studio's architecture modeling tooling has evolved to include enhanced code maps for architectural and dependency analysis. This includes simplified menus, improved performance, progressive display of solution structure, additional link styles, assembly styling, filtering of implicit .NET type dependencies, and robust filtering for code elements and dependency links. The debugger has also been enhanced for child process debugging, with customizable settings for debug engine selection and. This post addresses issues with bidirectional linking between model elements and work items, and the manual deletion of links when they are removed from one side.

All Microsoft trails
  1. The Visual Studio Modeling SDK is now available with Visual Studio 2017This post announces the integration of the Visual Studio Modeling SDK into Visual Studio 2017, making DSL Tools, T4 SDK, and Code Index SDK available as optional components within various Visual Studio workloads. Previously released as separate downloads, these components are now included by default with certain workloads (e.g., Text Template Transformation for T4 SDK, DSL Tools for Extension Development). It also details known issues and upcoming improvements, such as relocating the DSL Tools project template and adding a migration tool for older DSL solutions.
  2. “Reference could not be resolved” error when validating your architecture using Visual Studio architecture modeling toolsIntroduced a workaround for the 'Reference could not be resolved' error in Visual Studio architecture modeling tools (2012/2013) by adding the `<ResolveAssemblyReferenceIgnoreTargetFrameworkAttributeVersionMismatch>true</ResolveAssemblyReferenceIgnoreTargetFrameworkAttributeVersionMismatch>` element to the project file. This allows validation to proceed despite .NET Framework version discrepancies.
  3. Introducing the Child Process Debugging Power ToolIntroduces a Visual Studio power tool for child process debugging. This tool automatically attaches a debugger to child processes spawned by the application being debugged. It offers configurable settings for debugger type per process and allows saving configurations to the solution's .suo file or an XML file. The tool requires Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 or later and mixed-mode debugging for .NET code.
  4. Code Map improvements in Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate Update 3 CTP1This post details improvements to Visual Studio's Code Map and Debugger Map in Update 3 CTP1. Key enhancements include respecting user-set zoom levels in the debugger map, ensuring the call stack entry of interest remains visible, and minimizing panning. Link styling on code maps has been improved with color-coding to represent different dependency types (inheritance, interface implementation, method calls, field references), and the legend has been updated to reflect these link styles. Additionally, the ability to drag and drop binaries from File Explorer into a code map has been added to analyze dependencies and package assemblies.
  5. Multiple Monitor Support for Windows Store Apps in Visual Studio 2013 Update 3Introduced persistence for remembering the monitor position of Windows Store apps when debugging stops in Visual Studio 2013 Update 3. This allows Store apps to relaunch on the same monitor they were previously on, improving the multi-monitor debugging experience.
  7. Announcing: Updated Visual Studio 2013 RTM ALM Virtual Machine + Hands-on-Labs & Demo ScriptsThis post announces the update to the Visual Studio 2013 ALM Virtual Machine, which now includes sample content, hands-on-labs, and demo scripts for Visual Studio 2013 ALM capabilities. It highlights new features in Visual Studio 2013 such as Agile Planning and Portfolio Management, Git integration with Team Foundation Server, Continuous Delivery with Release Management, and new Collaboration Experiences. It also lists upgraded labs from previous versions covering manual testing, branching and merging visualization, storyboarding, code discovery, IntelliTrace debugging, exploratory testing, Coded UI tests, platform testing, PreEmptive Analytics, test case management, test planning, web performance and load testing, lab management, developer productivity, SharePoint testing, class coupling analysis, unit testing, code coverage, code clone analysis, code analysis for quality, and architecture explorer.
  8. CTP for Visual Studio Update 2 now availableThis CTP for Visual Studio Update 2 focuses on Modern Application Lifecycle and Modern App Development. Key ALM features include Code Map Debugger Integration and Responsiveness Improvements, TDD for Windows Phone Unit Tests, Test Explorer grouping tests by Class, Web based Test Case Management, Work Item Tagging, and Symbol Loading improvements for IntelliTrace and Profiler. For Modern App Development, it highlights LightSwitch and IDE improvements like a new theme and performance enhancements in XAML design and Code Map rendering. The post also mentions the availability of Git as version control on Team Foundation Service.
  9. The Code Index SDKThis post introduces the Code Index SDK, a component of Visual Studio Ultimate 11 that improves the performance and scalability of architecture diagrams. It details scenarios for using the SDK, including bulk indexing assemblies via MSBuild tasks, leveraging indexed data for in-house tools to analyze code dependencies and notify teams of breaking API changes, and using a proper SQL server instead of localdb for large-scale codebases. It also explains how to obtain the SDK, which is part of the Visual Studio Visualization and Modeling SDK, and where its components are installed.
  10. Visualize Code with Visual Studio 11 BetaThis post introduces the ability to visualize code and understand its relationships in Visual Studio 11 Beta. It details how to generate, read, and edit dependency graphs, focusing on getting the big picture, focusing on specific code areas, and communicating changes. It covers saving graphs, browsing them with zoom and pan, examining nodes and links, finding items on graphs using search, and editing graphs by adding nodes, links, comments, and groups. It also highlights the use of the .NET Pet Shop 4.0 sample application for examples.
  11. Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2 expands test capabilities and includes code visualization + modeling tools from previous feature packThis post introduces the Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2, which expands testing capabilities by adding support for action recordings and coded UI tests for Silverlight 4 applications and Firefox 3.5/3.6 web applications. It also includes code visualization and modeling tools from previous feature packs, such as generating skeleton code from UML class diagrams, creating UML class diagrams from existing code, generating dependency graphs for C++, C#, and ASP.NET projects, importing XMI 2.1 files, linking work items to model elements, creating and validating layer diagrams from C/C++ code, and writing code to modify layer diagrams.
  12. Trouble with work item links and model elements in Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate?This post addresses a limitation in Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate where links between model elements and work items were unidirectional (element to work item). It explains that bidirectional links require installing the Visualization & Modeling Feature Pack. It also details that when a work item link is removed from a model element, the link from the work item to the element is also removed, but the reverse is not true, requiring manual deletion from the element.