Seamless Visual Studio Code Integration in Unity - As seen in the Visual Studio Code documentation! Requirements Unity 4.5 && Unity. Learn to use Visual Studio as your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Unity, including initial installation and setup, editing game code, and debugging. Select your Unity version Last updated: February 11, 2020. Visual Studio currently provides the option to debug code outside your project source code, such as.NET or third-party code your project calls by specifying the location of the.pdb (and optionally, the source files of the external code). Visual Studio extension development. Create add-ons and extensions for Visual Studio, including new commands, code analyzers, and tool windows. Add the SDKs and tools you need to create new commands, code analyzers, tool windows, and language services using C#. Then, share your extension with the community in the Visual Studio. One of the biggest perks of using Microsoft’s Visual Studio to write your Unity scripts is IntelliSense — a code completion aid in Visual Studio that offers suggestions as you write your code, and contextually presents you with information about classes, properties and methods that you are working with.
- Unity Visual Studio Code Autocomplete
- Unity Visual Studio Code Plugin
- Unity Intellisense Visual Studio Code
Overview
Visual Studio Tools for Unity is a free Visual Studio extension that turns Visual Studio into a powerful tool for developing cross-platform games and apps with Unity.
While the Unity editor is great for putting your game world together, you can't write your code in it. With Visual Studio Tools for Unity, you can use the familiar code editing, debugging and productivity features of Visual Studio to create editor and game scripts for your Unity project using C#, and you can debug them using Visual Studio's powerful debugging capabilities.
But Visual Studio Tools for Unity is more than that; it also has deep integration with Unity editor so that you'll spend less time switching back and forth to do simple tasks, provides Unity-specific productivity enhancements, and puts the Unity documentation at your fingertips.
Compatible with Visual Studio Community on Windows and macOS and bundled with Unity
Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac Community is available for free, and is bundled with Unity installs. Visit the Visual Studio Tools for Unity getting started documentation for more information about installation and setup.
IntelliSense for Unity messages
IntelliSense code-completion makes it fast and easy to implement Unity API messages like OnCollisionEnter, including their parameters.
Superior debugging
Visual Studio Tools for Unity supports the robust debugging features that you expect from Visual Studio:
- Set breakpoints, including conditional breakpoints.
- Evaluate complex expressions in the Watch window.
- Inspect and modify the value of variables and arguments.
- Drill down into complex objects and data structures.
Integrated suggestions for best practices and performance insights
Write better code that captures the best practices with Visual Studio's deep understanding of Unity projects.
CodeLens support for Unity scripts and messages
Unity scripts and message functions are decorated with hints to make it easier to recognize what's provided by Unity and what's your code.
Note
CodeLens support is available in Visual Studio 2019.
Optimized view of all your scripts to match Unity
The Unity Project Explorer (UPE) is an alternative way to view you project files over the standard Solution Explorer. The UPE filters the files shown and presents them in a hierarchy that matches Unity (View > Unity Project Explorer in Visual Studio 2019).
Note
The Unity Project Explorer is available in Visual Studio 2019. In Visual Studio for Mac, the Solution Pad has similar behaviour by default for Unity projects - no additional views are required.
IDE is one of the major tools of any Developer and we usually spend a lot of time choosing the best IDE which suits our workflow. When it comes to IDEs, Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is one of the best IDE out there and it also works pretty well for the Unity Developers as well. It also offers an extensive range of Unity VS Code extensions which will make a lot of processes easier for you. In this comprehensive guide, we will share the Best Unity VS Code extensions. Let’s take a look at them.
What is the VS Code and why use it with Unity?
VS Code is a very powerful IDE that is developed by Microsoft. It is also the most popular IDE out there and it boasts more than 24% of the market share. The default IDE for Unity is the MonoDevelop which is also a very capable IDE but still, it can’t match the VS code in terms of performance and resources. The best thing about VS Code is that it comes with tons of extensions which will make things much simpler for you. Also, the VS code requires very low resources for its functionality which makes it ideal to use on any type of laptop or PC.
What are the extensions in the VS Code?
Unity Visual Studio Code Autocomplete
Extensions are the defining feature of the VS Code because they allow you to add more functionality to it. The concept of extensions is not new and we have seen it in popular software such as Google Chrome. Extensions are basically the add-on features that you can add to the VS Code to make it more powerful. There are hundreds of extensions available for the VS Code which you can install directly from the IDE to add additional features. You can access the extension from the Activity baror you can simply use the (Ctrl+Shift+X) to access extensions.
What are the best Extensions to use with Unity & VS Code?
There are tons of Unity VS Code extensions available which can help you with writing scripts and other purposes. We have done our research and picked the best ones for you.
Debugger for Unity
Unity Visual Studio Code Plugin
Debugger for unity is one of the best extensions that you can use for your unity projects. This extension is not officially supported by Unity Technologies but it is a great extension and it is designed to be used for debugging your Unity C# projects. It is also pretty fast extension so if you need an effective debugging tool for your unity projects, then Debugger for Unity is a great extension for you.
Unity Intellisense Visual Studio Code
Unity Tools
Unity Tools is another useful VS Code extension that can help you with your unity projects. It is developed by Tobiah Zarlez and the main goal of this extension is to allow you to add the miscellaneous functionalities to the VS Code for Unity Developers.
You can use this extension for various purposes such as Open documentation for selection, search Documentation and MSFT Documentation, Open VS Code Documentation, and Generate Organizational Folder. The great thing about this extension is that it is under active development and you can expect more great tools in the future.
Unity Code Snippets
As Developers, we all know the importance of code snippets and how they can make things a lot easier for us. Unity Code Snippets is one of the best snippets extensions which you can use for unity development. Also, the great thing about this snippet is that it is very quick and it quickly suggests the snippets for various functionalities which you can simply add with a single click.
Using the Unity Code Snippets, you can create the game classes such as MonoBehaviours, NetworkBehaviours, StateMachineBehaviours, etc. with ease. You can also use it to create the methods and log calls very easily. It also helps you create the editor classes and ScriptableObject by typing the initial letters.
Unity Snippets
Unity Snippets is another very capable snippet extension for Unity Developers. It is a simple snippet extension that you can use to create the MonoBehaviour classes. Also, the snippet also offers brief documentation on each snippet which is a great feature for those who have just started the Unity. The extension works when you type the class and it shows the suggestions within the IntelliSense popup. You can simply highlight the snippet of code you want to add and press enter.
Eppz!
Eppz! is one of the most popular VS Code themes, and it is designed specifically for the Unity C# Projects. The best thing about this theme is that it comes with the distinct colors of unity classes and types. The extension come offers the colored code regions, JSON coloring, and Markdown Coloring. If you use this extension then you will need some time to learn all colors but once the learning curve is over, you will be able to read code more efficiently.
ShaderlabVSCode
As the name suggests, ShaderlabVSCode is a VS Code extension that will help you with ShaderLab programming. The extension comes in two versions, the free version comes with syntax highlighting, basic code completion, and signature help. If you pick the paid version, it will come with IntelliSense, code snippets, format documents, hover information, and document symbols. If you are looking for an effective tool for ShaderLab programming then ShaderlabVSCode is a solid option for you.
Do I have to use Visual Studio with Unity?
You can use many IDEs with Unity but we recommend the Visual Studio Code for Unity because it is lightweight, powerful and it comes withtons of extensions which allow you to add great functionality to the IDE. So, if you are looking for a powerful IDE for Unity then Visual Studio is the best option.
Conclusion
That’s all folks. These are the best Unity VS Code extensions that you can use for your unity projects. Let us know your favourite Unity VS Code extension in the comment section below. Also, visit our website for more useful guides like Best Unity 2d Plugins And More For Game Developers.