Hi all,

I have put a request up on VisualStudio.UserVoice for Visual Studio to provide HLSL compilation, and other DirectX related features such as shader designer and model editor to C# projects in the same way that they are provided for C++ projects. Please help the vote along as it's really important that C# be treated equally with regards to DirectX development. These features could be easily provided to C#. And would make working with DirectX easier for C# developers.

Here is the link to the VisualStudio.UserVoice suggestion ..

Enable HLSL, DirectX and graphics development toolset for the C# language.

Thanks for any support.

@Mike - are you saying that hlsl compilation does work with C#, or can, because I don't see it. And I was told on MSDN after some other inquires that

'The HLSL compiler you're looking for is only present in C++ projects, for C# you're on your own.'

It may be that it can be configured (somehow) - but I have no idea how to do it, and VS2012 was touted as having all these new features for DirectX and graphics development, but they are not made available for C# projects.

I'm not sure whether you are criticizing my suggestion or if you are having a go at Microsoft.

FXC is a separate program used to compile HLSL shaders, which is what Visual Studio uses under the hood. It's not a function directly integrated into the IDE and only available while a C++ project is loaded. You can just as easily invoke FXC yourself and use it in your own projects as a pre/post-build event for example.

I think Microsoft's standpoint is going to be that there's no reason to put all this stuff in front of C# users because there is officially no C# support for DirectX. The third party libraries are great, but Microsoft isn't going to spend time configuring their IDE for their use.

I don't agree with that logic at all Flimflam, they might not be delivering a managed DX product, but that in no way prevents them from providing features to support product development. Especially when they do support those products already, hlsl notably. They included the graphics diagnostics for C# projects, they shouldn't have done that if your logic was a part of their political standpoint, can you explain that ?

There is no natural law that says C# and DirectX can't mix. But you are implying that there is, and more importantly that Microsoft subscribes to that law. I don't believe that's true. I believe that if enough people speak up and say 'hey, we are using DirectX with C#, and we want fair integration of the supporting technologies' then Microsoft will listen and possibly spend time configuring their IDE. You can't talk me down mate, or convince me that it's too hard, too expensive or would take too much time. Coz that's a load of crap honestly. They can do it, they can spend the time and they can afford to.

Interesting idea Jason, I'll look into it.

The UserVoice suggestion has finally made it to page 1 of the C# section, with a 144 votes, not bad. But I think a long way from getting the attention of the Visual Studio team. But at least it's there and votes are steadily adding up. Sure, I may lack confidence in the UserVoice system actually making real change, but it never hurts to be pro-active.

Thanks Jason for the work-around, it has certainly proved an easier way to compile my shader code. In practice, it gives me the same experience.

Thanks everyone who has voted so far :)