What is Visual Micro?
Visual Micro is an extension (plugin/add-on) for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017,2019 and 2022
and for Atmel Studio 7, that allows any Arduino project to be
developed, compiled, and then uploaded to any Arduino board, while
taking benefit of the powerful features of Visual Studio and Atmel Studio.
Visual Micro is not currently compatible with VSCode or Visual Studio Blend products.
Visual Micro works alongside, and is compatible with, the Arduino development
environment, using the same libraries, source code, and development tools.
The difference lies in Visual Micro's user interface which
provides an advanced and professional development environment, and allows
for more advanced development than the existing Arduino IDE.
What does the term "IDE" mean?
In this documentation, you will often find the term "IDE".
This is an industry standard term meaning
Integrated Development
Environment, which is a
software application that incorporates a source code editor, build tools
such as a compiler and often a debugging system. The IDE is used to write, edit,
build, and test your software. Whilst Arduino's IDE provides a basic starter
level IDE, Visual Micro in conjunction with Microsoft Visual Studio IDE
or Atmel Studio IDE provides an enhanced and more functional IDE.