MonoDevelop 2.0 Released

MonoDevelop now uses the MSBuild project format as its native file format. This improves compatibility with Visual Studio, and will allow MonoDevelop to transition to using xbuild/MSBuild as the build engine.

The old MonoDevelop project file format (mdp) is still supported. The default file format to use when creating new projects can be configured in the MonoDevelop preferences dialog, Load/Save section.

New project model: Solution Folders and Workspaces

Solution folders allows organizing projects using folders inside a solution. This organization used to be done with nested solutions, but the solution folder model is more robust and it is compatible with the Visual Studio model.

A workspace allows grouping together a set of solutions (or other child workspaces). Workspaces are useful when you have several related but independent solutions and you want to open all of them at once.

Multiple Target Frameworks

The .NET 3.0 and 3.5 target frameworks are now explicitly supported. MonoDevelop will now detect inconsistencies in project references. For example, a project targeting the 2.0 framework won't be able to reference projects targeting 3.0 or 3.5.

Opening Multiple Solutions

MonoDevelop now supports opening multiple solutions at the same time. This is useful when you are working with a solution and want to review code side-by-side which belongs to another solution. To open a solution without closing the currently opened, you can:

• Click on the Open command, select the solution, and uncheck the "Close current workspace" option.
• In the "Recent Solutions" menu, click on the solution you want to open while holding the Control key. The same applies when opening from the Welcome Page.

Configurable Project Base Directory

All projects have a base directory assigned. This base directory is where the project file is located. All files included in the project are supposed to be under that directory, and it is the directory structure shown in the Solution Pad (files outside the project directory are still alowed, but they are shown all together in a special 'External Files' folder).

In order to support other project directory structures, it is now possible to specify a custom base directory for a project. So for example, now a project file can be saved in a directory and project files in a different directory. The Solution Pad will show the correct source file structure, and all version control operation will be directed to the custom base directory.

Options Dialog Reorganization

The options dialogs have been reorganized to make it easier to find the settings to manage.

Configuration-specific option panels are grouped together with all other panels (configuration selection is now done inside the panel, not in the options tree), so option panels can be more logically organized.

Multi-selection in the solution pad

The solution pad now supports multi-selection. Operations such as copying, moving and deleting files and folders can now be done for several files or folders at once.

Go to File Dialog

The Go to File/Type dialog has been greatly improved. It now supports acronym matching. The filtering algorithm tries to find the best match, not only by searching substrings, but also by splitting the search string in several parts and trying to match them through all the words that compose the string being checked.

Assembly Browser

The new assembly browser allows inspecting the contents of an assembly. It can display type and member definitions, and the IL of methods.

Code Metrics add-in

The Code Metrics add-in scans a project and provides basic statistics about line counts and source code licenses.

Code Completion

Code completion of tag, attributes, attribute values and event handlers is now supported for ASP.NET and various HTML DTDs.

Path Bar

The path bar shows the current tag hierarchy and offers a quick way to select tags and their contents. (Michael Hutchinson)

Document Outline

The outline pad shows the document structure and enables quickly selecting any element.

Tags in Toolbox

ASP.NET controls are shown in the toolbox for the text editor. Dragging them to the text document automatically adds the necessary assembly reference and tag prefix registration.

C# Code completion Improvements with C# 3.0 support

Code completion support has been greatly improved. The completion window is now shown in all contexts. It is shown when typing the first char of an identifier, and it will include all valid types, members and keywords.

There are also other improvements, such as automatic generation of event handlers or anonymous methods when subscribing an event.

The C# parser has been upgraded to support C# 3. Some constructs (but not all) are already supported by code completion, such as extension methods.

vi Modes Support

The editor now includes vi modes support, supporting many common vi commands: $^0wRruIiOoPp{}AaDdGhjklXxCcVvbNn<>:?/.        

Document Outline Pad

The Document Outline pad is now functional for C# source files (and other other .NET source files with MonoDevelop parsers), enabling easy navigation of classes and members in the current file.

Code Folding

Regions, members and comments can be collapsed in order to navigate code more easily. Tooltips show a preview of the collapsed contents.

Incremental Search Bar

The non-intrusive search bar makes searching and replacing text easier.

Colour Schemes

Colour schemes are available for changing the appearance of the text editor.

Split View

The text editor can be split into two panels viewing different parts of the same file.

Transparent Popups

The 'Control' key can be used to make any of the completion and information popup windows transparent, to reveal the code underneath. Note that this is only available with GTK+ 2.12 and a compositing window manager such as Compiz.

Toolbox Clipboard Snippets

Copied text snippets are now retained on the toolbox for later access.

Change Markers

The source editor now has an indication in the margin of lines that are dirty or changed.

Override/Implement dialog

The new Override/Implement dialog shows all members which can be overriden or implemented in a class (it looks for overridable members in the base classes and interfaces), and allows choosing which have to be implemented.

Encapsulate Fields Dialog

The improved Encapsulate Field dialog now allows selecting several fields at once, and it allows setting the visibility and accessibility of the property.

XML Editing

The XML Editor from SharpDevelop has been fully integrated into MonoDevelop and improved. It supports code completion of tags, attributes and attribute values (available for registered XSD schemas). A range of schemas are supplied with MonoDevelop.

XML files can be validated using the built in schemas, and can have XSL transforms applied. in addition, XSD schemas can be generated from XML files.