Visual Studio Code 1.42 Release Highlights New Features

On February 7, 2020, Microsoft released Visual Studio Code version 1.42, marking the first major update of 2020. Below are the key new features.

Preview of Renamed Changes

The diff view now shows pending renames, allowing users to easily accept or reject the changes.

Editor Window Limit

VS Code can now limit the maximum number of editor windows opened simultaneously. The following settings control this behavior:

workbench.editor.limit.enabled : Enables the limit (off by default).

workbench.editor.limit.perEditorGroup : Applies the limit per editor group or across all groups.

workbench.editor.limit.value : Sets the maximum number of open editor windows (default is 10).

When the limit is set to 3, the UI demonstrates that only three windows remain open, while unsaved files are counted but not automatically closed.

Restore All Windows on Restart

VS Code now restores all windows by default on startup. To revert to the previous behavior of opening a single window, set "window.restoreWindows": "one" in the settings.

Highlight Folded Code Regions

Folded code sections are now highlighted with a new background, making them easier to locate.

Improved Debug Console

The Debug Console now supports syntax highlighting, bracket matching, input history, and an enhanced display of input/output.

Define Global Tasks

Users can define tasks that are available across all folders and workspaces.

Remote Development – Forwarded Ports View

A new "Forwarded Ports" view helps map SSH and container ports for remote development scenarios.

Feature Previews

New preview features include the Timeline view, Search editor, and semantic highlighting for TypeScript and JavaScript.

Browser Support

When using VS Code in the browser, users can drag and drop local files into the editor area to open them.

For the complete list of changes, see the official release notes at https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_42 .