Can I use Visual Studio Community 2015 for development with TypeScript?

Question

I would like to work on a project in TypeScript using Visual Studio. I'm working on the project for personal reasons, so I am planning on using the free Visual Studio Community flavor. However, as I went through the installation options, there weren't any options to install TypeScript support.

Here is the list of language support options that I saw as I went through the installation:

VS is a >10GB install, so I would like to make sure I can use it for my projects before I finish installing it.

If I install Visual Studio Community 2015, will I be able to work on TypeScript projects? If so, are there any specific options I need to be sure to select during installation or any post-installation steps I need to follow?

Answer 1

On a clean install of community (after uninstalling a trial of 2015 Professional) I got the following when trying to go to the 'Typescript build' tab. In additional nothing was highlighting in any TS files.

An error occurred trying to load the page. d4683cae-88c4-4b85-863d-ac8014f3ba36

So I just closed Visual Studio, went to the Typescript install page and installed the latest version. That fixed everything. The typescript install for VS2015 on this page includes any extensions needed.

For future updates open the Extensions and Updates control panel and look for Typescript for Microsoft Visual Studio.

Answer 2

Yes, TypeScript is supported in Community. It is not displayed in that list of components because it is included by default. You do not need to install third party extensions for it to work with VS 2015.

Answer 3

You can but you have to install a 3rd party extension for it https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/3e5ba71c-abea-4d00-b81b-a62de3ad3d53

This is still in beta so not sure how functional it will be.