Specific Version of Visual Studio Community Edition

[GTVic]

Can someone explain why Autodesk recommends specific versions of Visual Studio Community edition for development. I'm compiling for AutoCAD and Civil 3D 2019 - 2024 and would prefer just to use the latest version of VS.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/OARX/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-450FD531-B6F6-4BAE-9A8C-8230AAC48CB4 

[_gile · Accepted solution]

Hi,

It should read: "Microsoft Visual Studio version [...] Microsoft .NET Framework [...] or newer".

You can use Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.7.2 (the latest) and .NET Framework 4.8 to compile plugins for AutoCAD 2007.

Please note that .NET Framework 4.8 may not be installed on the client machine. The .NET Framework versions displayed on this page are those installed with the corresponding AutoCAD version, but other programs or operating systems may have a more recent version installed.

[kerry_w_brown]

yes, it should read '. . or later . . ' for those versions.

The 'Visual Studio Express' mentioned was last released in 2017 and replaced with Visual Studio Community.

That article also suggests VB.NET because it is similar to VBA.
I had a good laugh about that.

@GTVic 
I'm using 

Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 (64-bit) - Preview
Version 17.8.0 Preview 1.0

and building for ac2022, ac2023 and ac2024 without issue.

As Gilles mentioned, just ensure the runtime machine has .NET Framework 4.8

[GTVic]

I was always following the practice of targeting the .NET Framework version native to the version of AutoCAD that I was using for debugging. So if the version of VS doesn't matter then ...

If I'm debugging in 2019 I can use VS 2022  and target .NET Framework 4.7.2

If I'm debugging in 2023 I can use VS 2022 and target 4.8

[_gile]

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@GTVic  a écrit :

I was always following the practice of targeting the .NET Framework version native to the version of AutoCAD that I was using for debugging. So if the version of VS doesn't matter then ...

If I'm debugging in 2019 I can use VS 2022  and target .NET Framework 4.7.2

If I'm debugging in 2023 I can use VS 2022 and target 4.8

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While debugging, you can safely target the latest installed .NET Framework (4.8) on your machine for any AutoCAD version. The only issue should be if you install your application on a machine which does not have this version of the .NET Framework.