Leah Tran details how Visual Studio 2022’s new Copilot-powered ‘adaptive paste’ feature reduces manual code adjustments, helping developers integrate and modify pasted code more efficiently.

Effortless Adjustments with Adaptive Paste in Visual Studio 2022

Author: Leah Tran

Visual Studio 2022 introduces a productivity-enhancing feature called adaptive paste, powered by GitHub Copilot. This new capability aims to minimize the manual work developers typically perform when integrating pasted code into their projects.

Streamline Manual Code Modifications with Adaptive Paste

Copying and pasting code often introduces the need for corrections and adjustments—such as fixing parameters, adjusting code style, or handling minor errors. These interruptions can disrupt your focus and accumulate to significant time spent on repetitive work. The adaptive paste feature addresses these issues by intelligently adapting newly pasted code to your project’s context.

Key ways adaptive paste helps:

  • Aligns syntax and styling with the destination document.
  • Infers and adjusts parameters based on context.
  • Fixes minor errors introduced by code copying.
  • Supports translation between human and code languages.
  • Completes patterns or fills in missing code where appropriate.

Example: Implementing Interface Members

Consider a scenario where you’re working with a Math class that implements an IMath interface. If you paste only the implementation for the Ceiling method, adaptive paste can recognize the incomplete interface and automatically suggest adding the missing Floor method implementation, helping you complete your code more efficiently.

![Adaptive paste example gif]

How to Use Adaptive Paste

Adaptive paste works immediately when you perform a standard paste (Ctrl+V) in Visual Studio 2022, provided the snippet is at least three lines long. When applicable, a “Tab to adapt” suggestion appears. Press TAB to see Copilot’s suggested adjustments. A preview diff lets you compare changes before accepting them.

Steps to enable and use adaptive paste

  1. Update to Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14 Preview 3 or the stable 17.14 version.
  2. Go to Tools > Options > GitHub > Copilot > Editor > Enable Adaptive Paste to turn it on.
  3. Paste your code (at least three lines). If Copilot can adapt it, the suggestion will appear.
  4. Press TAB to view and accept the adapted code.

Integration with Developer Workflows

Adaptive paste is designed to help developers:

  • Quickly integrate new code snippets with less manual rework.
  • Reduce friction when fixing minor errors after a paste.
  • Streamline coding patterns and repetitive modifications, letting you focus on more complex development tasks.

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This post appeared first on “Microsoft DevBlog”. Read the entire article here