Rider 2023.2 Roadmap

Sasha Ivanova

As we prepare for the start of the Early Access Program (EAP) for Rider 2023.2, now seems like the perfect time to share our plans for this upcoming release.

Keep in mind that these plans are subject to change, and some features and improvements may need to be postponed to a future release.

Also, be sure to check out the ReSharper 2023.2 roadmap, as some of those features will be making their way to Rider, too.

Now let’s dive in!

Language support and improvements

With our next release we’re looking at the C# 12 feature preview. Rider already has feature-rich support of primary constructors for record declarations, and we’re now working hard to extend this support to ordinary classes and structs, now that primary constructors are allowed in C# 12.

Since Rider gets its code inspection capabilities for .NET languages from ReSharper, you may want to check out this blog post for more information on the upcoming language features.

Reworked Build tool window

Building solutions containing multiple projects has historically been one of the most CPU- and memory-intensive tasks for Rider. Not only did it take more time and memory than it had to, but the IDE would occasionally freeze once the job was completed, making it impossible to investigate the technical insights of the build. For Rider 2023.2, we’re reworking the Build tool window, both in terms of performance and UX/UI, to make the experience of building solutions with the IDE noticeably faster and smoother. 

New UI

The team continues to work on perfecting the new UI for Rider. Based on the feedback we got for the 2023.1 release, the main areas for improvement are the color themes, the main toolbar, build and solution configuration layout, and the debugger. Although significant work has been done to address the reported issues, the main toolbar and color themes still require additional attention and that’s what we’ll be focusing on during this release cycle.

New Solution wizard

A lot of work during this release cycle will be dedicated to improving the workflow for setting up a new solution.

Our planned improvements include: 

• Implementing Advanced settings for precise tailoring of template parameters.
• More intuitive grouping of project templates by framework with the ability to specify the target technology in the settings inside the template. 
• Streamlined creation of custom templates.
• The ability to install or update to the latest version of the .NET framework right from the solution wizard.

Game development

Unity

Continued DOTS support

Our latest major release introduced support for Unity’s DOTS. With Rider 2023.2, we are going to continue to improve the code editing experience for this technological stack. Rider will soon be able to filter out irrelevant items from generated counterparts in code completion, as well as provide you with more useful live templates and simplify writing new queries.

Another area of focus for us is the debugging experience for DOTS. We know that there are issues surrounding unsafe code debugging. Each case is quite specific, so if you experience any issues with DOTS debugging, please report them to us. Aside from that, we’re working on providing better visualization for arrays, buffers, and even filters. A closer look will also be paid to entities journaling.

UIElements

Beginning with Unity 2022.2, UIElements is the standard way of writing UI extensions. With our next release, we’re going to clean up red code in .uss files and support custom properties for .uss. As we go along, our goal is to improve the code editing experience around C# and the UXML part of UIElements, too.

Shaders

A long time ago, back in Rider 2020.2, we introduced a number of improvements pertaining to HLSL support. This time around, we are going to improve the code editing experience around ShaderLab, including code completion, typing assists, navigation, and integration with C# code.

Unreal Engine

Performance improvements

A significant portion of our resources for this release cycle will be dedicated to various performance improvement efforts, including the optimization of Blueprint indexing. 

Debugging

There are several improvements planned for your debugging experience with Unreal Engine solutions. One of these improvements is the addition of disassembly on demand for C++ debugger in Rider. This functionality will allow you to debug the assembly code along with the source code, reading them side by side.

We’re also planning to build on the implementation of visualizers for string variables that premiered in Rider 2023.1 with the addition of visualizers for in-memory images (bmp, png, etc.).

Based on the feedback our team got at the GDC, we’re also planning to improve discoverability and implement enhancements to the Parallel Stacks tab for C++.

Setting Sync

Support for the Setting Sync plugin that we were planning for the last release had to be postponed. It will now be shipped in version 2023.2. At last, you’ll be able to sync UI and editor themes, keymaps, and even plugins across all your IntelliJ IDEA-based IDEs, including Rider.

You can find more information about the Setting Sync plugin in this IntelliJ IDEA blog post.

Miscellaneous

• JetBrains Grazie, the new advanced grammar and spelling checker, had to be postponed during the 2023.1 preparations, but it’s now in the final stages of testing and is expected to be bundled with the 2023.2 release.
• We’re working on expanding the debugger visualizer applications with the addition of visualizers for data tables and two-dimensional arrays.
• We’re working on making Hot Reload available for solutions targeting .NET MAUI. 
• Typing assistance for C# will receive a performance boost, especially in cases where the Enter and Backspace keys are used to skip to a different line. 
• In version 2023.2 the advanced Find Usages functionality from ReSharper is expected to become available in Rider.
• While we’re not ready to commit to a delivery with the 2023.2 release, we’d like our users to know that significant resources are being dedicated to Code With Me development. For more details, please refer to this comment on the relevant issue.

What’s next?

While we do our best to deliver all planned features, we also want to provide a functional and stable Rider to developers. Using EAPs and giving feedback is one of the best ways you can help us deliver high-quality releases.

The first release of the Rider 2023.2 EAP (Early Access Program) is just around the corner, so stay tuned for updates on the blog and our social media, and let us know what you think about the plans we have for Rider in the comments.

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