Microsoft introduces Arm64 support for Visual Studio extensions

After announcing the Arm64 Visual Studio application in June, Microsoft has recently launched extension support for the application. It means developers and users can now write and use extensions in the Arm64 Visual Studio application.

Microsoft has made the process of making your extension Arm64-compatible super easy. Firstly, you need to update the VSSDK Build Tools package to the latest version via NuGet Package Manager, following which the addition of a ProductArchitecture tag specifying arm64 in the VSIX manifest is required. Lastly, you need to set your target CPU architecture: you can select your build target to AnyCPU, or Arm64 if you want to publish an Arm64-exclusive extension. Microsoft has shared more about the process here.

In its official blog post, Microsoft also noted that developers would be able to publish Arm64 and Amd64 versions of their extensions on a single Market place entry. However, what remains unchanged is how you upload and publish extensions. If you want to upload your Arm64 extension to an existing extension entry, you need to follow the below steps:

1. Go to Manage Publishers & Extensions page and click on Edit.
2. Upload the new payload. You also need to make sure that the payload has the same extension identifier, version, and different target platform.
3. You can now click Upload and Save.

After following the above steps carefully, you should see that the extension’s entry page offers multiple download options. Microsoft has also shared what’s next for extensions on Visual Studio. The software company has said that it wants to enable extension authors to merge their separate, existing extension listings for different VS versions into a single listing to further improve extension discoverability. So, we might hear some announcements regarding that very soon.

If you are an extension developer, are you interested in developing Arm64 extensions for Visual Studio? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.