May 2022 edition of Microsoft’s open source code editor now alerts users to extensions that are no longer maintained or have been deprecated in favor of another extension. Credit: Thinkstock Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code 1.68, released June 9, offers features ranging from identifying deprecated extensions to a preview of Markdown link validation. Also known as the May 2022 release of the editor, Visual Studio Code 1.68 can be downloaded for Windows, Linux, and Mac from the Visual Studio Code website. With the May 2022 release, Visual Studio Code will now identify deprecated extensions and will inform the user in the Extensions view whether the extension is no longer being maintained, or is deprecated in favor of another extension, or is deprecated because its functionality has been built into VS Code. VS Code will not automatically migrate or uninstall a deprecated extension. A Migrate button will guide users to switch to the recommended extension. Visual Studio Code also will now allow users to sponsor their favorite extensions, via a Sponsor button directing users to the extension’s sponsorship URL. The Markdown link validation capability, introduced in a preview stage, has the editor analyzing Markdown links to headers, images, and other local files. Invalid links will be reported as either warnings or errors. This capability is intended to catch mistakes involving the addition of an invalid file link or image reference. Off by default, users can try link validation by setting "markdown.experimental.validate.enabled": true. Link validation also can be customized. The builders of VS Code also have added experimental support for pasting to insert images or file links in Markdown. Visual Studio Code 1.68 adds a new capability to toggle the view mode of the Problems panel between a tree and a table. Compared to the tree view, the table surfaces the language service or extension of each problem, allowing users to filter problems by their source. Developers can toggle the view UI with the “View as Table/View as Tree” button in the upper right of the Problems panel or change the default view mode with the “Problems: Default View Mode” setting. Also in Visual Studio Code 1.68: The Configure Display Language command has been refreshed, with capabilities including an Available Language section that shows what languages are not installed on a machine. Selecting one will automatically install it. The Settings editor now shows a default value override indicator for language-specific settings. A git.branchProtection setting lets developers configure specific Git branches to be protected. VS Code will avoid committing directly on protected branches and wil instead offer to create a new branch to commit to. For Visual Studio Code for the Web, initial localization support has been introduced. TypeScript 7.3, which is bundled with the editor, brings improved control-flow analysis and support for ECMAScript module support in Node.js. Development ToolsSoftware Development