Where does Visual Studio 2015 display error indicators in the solution?

Question

I am checking out Visual Studio 2015 RC. Where does Visual Studio 2015 display error indicators in the solution? If I am in a cs file which compiles fine but the the solution has compile errors, how do I find out by glancing at the IDE without opening windows? Looking for something similar to R#'s solution wide analysis indicator or Redgate's NET Demon bar (in VS 2013).

Answer 1

The exact thing you're looking for isn't available in Visual Studio 2015 out of the box. But there's a few options.

Built in: Error List

The Error List has been enhanced, and it's more dynamic now due to Roslyn, so you can see warnings & errors as you code (without having to recompile).

You have more control over what's shown too; you can filter by Entire Solution, Open Documents, Current Project or Current Document, as well as combinations of IntelliSense or Build feedback:

If you pin the Error List somewhere always visible, then you will get some of the real-time feedback you want.

Productivity Power Tools Extension

Microsoft's Productivity Power Tools extension for Visual Studio has a Solution Explorer Errors feature that gives visual feedback in the Solution Explorer for warnings and errors, at all levels (file, project, solution).

It's directly linked to the Error List and the options you've selected in there. It's basically a real-time projection of the Error List onto the Solution Explorer:

The page for the VS2013 version of the extension has more information and pictures if you want to look at their docs before making your choice: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/dbcb8670-889e-4a54-a226-a48a15e4cace (it comes with a lot of other features, but you can always disable what else you don't want)

Other options

Outside of the in-built or Microsoft options, you have the commerical ReSharper, and any other extensions that people make available. I'm a big ReSharper fan, so I'm not up to date with the other options right now.