Copilot in Visual Studio Formatting Incorrect (new lines + extra tabs)

[PopThosePringles]

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Hello,

In Visual Studio 17.6.4 using Copilot 1.94.0.0, any code (C#) that is automatically inserted is never formatted correctly, it will insert extra tabs and new lines. Testing this in Visual Code behaves as expected, so it seems to be a bug that some people are still experiencing.

See the suggestion vs the inserted code. This is also happening for my other team members.

[luapi82]

This has also been plaguing me ever since I started using GitHub Copilot with Visual Studio 2022 and it still and issue for me as well. I hope this gets fixed soon as it is quite inefficient.

[ayim]

@luapi82 hello from Copilot for Visual Studio team - logging a bug for this and we're looking at root causing this issue.
Feel free to reach out to aayim@microsoft.com, we'd love to have a 15 min chat about any other bugs or behaviour you're encountering.

[Mathetis]

Also seeing this problem consistently. VS 2022, C#, Visual Assist is installed.

[michaellperry]

Here's an example from VS 2022 version 17.6.5, GitHub Copilot agent version 1.94.220:

Suggestion:

Inserted code:

It appears that Visual Studio accepts the Enter key and indents the next line. Then CoPilot suggests further indentation, assuming that the line was not already indented.

[ayim]

@michaellperry hello from Copilot for Visual Studio team - logging a bug for this and we're looking at root causing this issue.
Interesting that this is happening in SQL as well.
Feel free to reach out to aayim@microsoft.com, we'd love to have a 15 min chat about any other bugs or behaviour you're encountering.

[trevorkerby]

I'm also experiencing this bug, with the exact behavior described by OP; the suggestion is formatted just fine, but once it's applied then it becomes a disaster.

With this bug, many suggestions that could have saved time are now affecting my flow because I have to go back and untangle an indentation hell. It would be awesome if this got some attention, because it really makes using the product feel like a poor experience.

[ayim]

@trevorkerby hello from Copilot for Visual Studio team - logging a bug for this and we're looking at root causing this issue.
Just to confirm, you're seeing this in C#?
Feel free to reach out to aayim@microsoft.com, we'd love to have a 15 min chat about any other bugs or behaviour you're encountering.

[LockTar]

@ayim I can confirm that I have it in C#

[ayim]

@LockTar working on the fix, tracking here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Extra-spaces-before-the-method-parameter/10517858

[sterlingstokes]

I was experiencing this for quite a while, also. As is the case with a lot of current issues around AI, I was able to resolve this issue by just tweaking my prompt to say things like "GENERATE THIS CODE FROM THIS POINT FORWARD" or "Replace these contents -- DO NOT INSERT CODE HERE".

[ayim]

Prompt engineering FTW huh? That's awesome, I'm going to start using this.

[mtnielsen]

As far as I can tell this happens because when you hit Enter in Visual Studio, the indentation doesn't actually exist until you type something.

So the cursor is not really where it it's shown at.

If you hit space then backspace, it creates the indentation, and the suggestion goes where it's supposed to.

No idea if this is a VS issue or a Copilot issue, but I'd imagine VS is the real culprit here.

[ayim]

@mtnielsen interesting, so this occurs on ACCEPT.
Looks like it's a formatting issue in some languages - are you in C#? What languages do you see this issue in?
Feel free to reach out to aayim@microsoft.com, we'd love to have a 15 min chat about any other bugs or behaviour you're encountering.

[mtnielsen]

You may have sneak-fixed it in C# without my noticing, but I still get it when writing Razor pages.

I'm not sure if this shows up as a fancy video, but I did a quick recording

vid.mp4

[ayim]

No fix yet.... tracking the issue here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Extra-spaces-before-the-method-parameter/10517858

[bjornharink]

Same issue here using it to create function documentation. Even changed to right arrow to see if it fixes the issue.

Using Visual Studio Community 17.8.1, Copilot 1.137.0.0

[ayim]

@bjornharink just to confirm, this looks like C++? Any other languages you see this occur in?

[bjornharink]

This is C/C++ (embedded). Currently, using only that in Visual Studio.

[ayim]

Tracking the fix here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Extra-spaces-before-the-method-parameter/10517858

[EvoTechMike]

With latest update it still happens

It doesn't like constructors

[ayim]

Interesting - could you file a bug report via Report a Problem?
We implemented a fix but need to investigate further since it's still happening to ya.

Send me the issue link once it's filed and i'll make sure to expedite.

[aaron-cui-sh]

Same here, updated to visual studio 17.9.7

[ultrabstrong]

I am also still experiencing this issue on Version 17.9.7

[noellelc]

This has been fixed in Version 17.10, which is now available. Please update to the latest version to take advantage of this fix.

[ultrabstrong]

I was able to confirm 17.10 fixed the issue for me