How can I code simultaneously with a friend on Visual Studio?

Question

Is there an addon or extension for Visual Studio that will enable me to code C# programs with a fellow programmer simultaneously? Simultaneous as in my friend sees what I am typing, as I am typing it.

Not an exact duplicate, but see also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34600/can-you-pair-program-remotely — Matthew Strawbridge, Jan 29 '12 at 12:25
@BenVoigt Chairs? Its the 21st century - I say go with the Vulcan Mind Meld for sure. Its important to use the best tools available for the task you want done. — Mark Robbins, Jan 29 '12 at 16:07
Of course, you should take a look to VS Anywhere! http://youtu.be/XQQih5zFb6E?hd=1 and www.vsanywhere.com — Jesus Salas, Feb 14 '12 at 18:47

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 25 '17 at 19:05

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The tool you are looking for is VS Anywhere.

Here you can see a video on YouTube. You can download from Visual Studio Gallery, and you can look for more information on the VS Anywhere web page.

(I'm the VS Anywhere owner.)

edited Sep 25 '17 at 19:05

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 14 '12 at 18:51

Jesus Salas

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I am a VS Anywhere user, and I have to say I love it for paired sessions. – Chad Ruppert Nov 12 '13 at 18:06
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Since VS Anywhere just became paid-only (I really liked it but it's a shame they went pay-only) and I can't afford a paid subscription, is there a free alternative I can find that allows simultaneous editing of code? – einsteinsci Apr 28 '14 at 04:53
VS Anywhere seems dead now. No real activity online since 2014 as far as I can see, such as on User Voice. The VS2015 support is provided by a package with 2013 in the name. A friend and I tried it out recently but couldn't get it to work. It's a shame, but I see no indication that it works now or will in the future. @JesusSalas, please prove otherwise. – Drew Noakes Apr 06 '16 at 08:58
Hi @DrewNoakes, yes, you are right, VS Anywhere is officially down since 1 Apr 2016, unfortunately we were not able to make it happen and continue developing the product. I'm really sorry we were not able to make it for all you, we tried all what was reasonable but it was not enough, hopefully some day we'll have such feature provided by Microsoft or by another company that do better than us... – Jesus Salas May 17 '16 at 02:09
@JesusSalas, I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck for the future. – Drew Noakes May 19 '16 at 06:50
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@JesusSalas, have you considered open sourcing your work? The community might be able to run with it. – Drew Noakes May 19 '16 at 06:51
@JesusSalas the idea of opening your code could both prove useful for the community and get you extra coin through donations – PPC Oct 07 '16 at 08:13
@PPC I'd love to, (for free, no extra coins required ;)), however we'll need to wait and see what happens... – Jesus Salas Oct 07 '16 at 19:19

Evan · Answer 2 · 2012-01-29T07:59:40.613

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I can't say I've done this much (I helped someone with an Android program via a GoToMeeting session once!), but I would say any sort of screen sharing software would be your best bet. There are many options, but I would probably start with something like TeamViewer, Skype, or join.me and see if it fits the bill.

edited Jan 29 '12 at 07:59

answered Jan 29 '12 at 07:53

Evan

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Please note that seeing the code is useless in pair programming if one can't also carry on a conversation with your partner. In this respect Skype is probably the best of the mentioned tools, since it provides audio as well as screen sharing. – Ben Voigt Jan 29 '12 at 18:23
Let's not forget about using the telephone :) – Evan Jan 29 '12 at 20:07
I understand you are not aware of this tool but what he is asking for is VS Anywhere that is not the same to use TeamViewer, Skype or Join.Me as these are screen sharing tools and not a Real Collaborativelly Remote Distributed Pair Programming Platform for Visual Studio. – Jesus Salas Feb 14 '12 at 18:55
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Yes, had no idea this existed - no reason for a downvote though - especially when you aren't disclosing you are self promoting your own software – Evan Feb 15 '12 at 16:02
@Evan, as a rule, I use to downvote responses when they are not right or I think they do not provide a helpful tip at all. People do exactly the same with me. It seems you downvote things just because you don't like how people interact with your answers, IMHO this is really a strange behaviour, let's do something, I'm going to include I'm the software Owner and see what you do next. Answer will not be more truth because this :). – Jesus Salas Feb 16 '12 at 11:37
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@JesusSalas I downvote when I see a thinly veiled attempt at self promoting a product you created with 0 disclosure on a public community site. This seemed like a poorly hidden attempt to generate traffic for yourself, and I do not feel that adds merit to the discussion. If you disclose however, that is perfectly fine, as you are upfront about what you are doing. As such, I reverted my vote, as what your post says now is considered, by and large, the honest thing to do. Integrity is key ;-) – Evan Feb 16 '12 at 17:18
@Evan now, as you said, everything is in place. Thank you. :) – Jesus Salas Feb 16 '12 at 23:53

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 17 '18 at 16:59

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2018 update: Visual Studio Live Share has been released. (And VSAnywhere extinguished)

answered Aug 17 '18 at 16:59

Dan

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 29 '12 at 08:43

Will they be at the same computer as yourself? If so you could use two keyboards, or if not then try a remote access tool.

Beware that some will prevent simultaneous input from the host and the remote ends. UltraVNC is quite good at simultaneous local and remote input. LogMeIn is good too, but tends to block simultaneous input.

How can I code simultaneously with a friend on Visual Studio?

4 Answers4