ZenCoding extension does not work with visual studio 2017 anymore.

[priyamtheone]

I have Visual Studio Professional 2017 installed in my Windows 10 PC. Although, I already installed Web Essentials 2017 by Mads Kristensen in Extension and Updates of VS, I can't see ZenCoding installed in the extension list as per mentioned in the Visual Studio marketplace site. When I try to install ZenCoding separately from Tools > Extensions and Updates > Online > Search, it doesn't appear in the list at all.

While checking the site for ZenCoding, it is mentioned that ZenCoding works with VS 2019 and 2020. Does that mean it doesn't work with VS 2017 anymore? Otherwise, how can I make use of it in VS Professional 2017?

[graymatter00]

@priyamtheone This may help https://github.com/madskristensen/zencoding

It appears to be the previous version of ZenCoding and the Issues page makes reference to VS 2017.

However, unless you have a compelling reason not to upgrade, I recommend upgrading to Visual Studio 2022 Community. It's free, does just about everything that VS 2017 Professional can do and more, and of course, the latest extensions will install.

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/

[priyamtheone]

@graymatter00: That's what I did. I just updated to VS 2022 and ZenCoding is working fine with it. It seems that they pulled back installation and support for ZenCoding from VS 2017. However, one thing to be noted, Web Essentials, which is the parent suite of ZenCoding doesn't work in VS 2022. Looks like there's still no update for that from the developer.

[graymatter00]

@priyamtheone It's good that you upgraded to VS 2022. It's much better.

Yes, Web Essentials is not supported in VS 2022. However, the author of Web Essentials, Mads Kristensen @madskristensen, has released many (but not all) of the extensions that were within Web Essentials as individual extensions.

If you look at the Marketplace page for Web Essentials 2019 https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MadsKristensen.WebEssentials2019, the bundled extensions are listed. You can use this list to search for the individual extensions here https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/search?target=VS&category=All%20categories&vsVersion=vs2022&sortBy=Installs

Unfortunately, Mads rarely maintains and updates his extensions anymore. Shame. It might be better to look for similar extensions from other providers.

[priyamtheone]

@graymatter00: Thanks for sharing the link of the components of Web Essentials. I'll certainly look into it and install the ones as per my requirement.