While it is possible to work on an Angular project in Visual Studio 2013, your experience may not be as smooth as with Visual Studio 2015, 2017, or Visual Studio Code.
This is because Angular requires TypeScript 2.0 or higher. The last version of TypeScript compatible with Visual Studio 2013 is version 1.8 as mentioned in this source.
To prevent errors during project compilation, you will need to disable the internal TypeScript compiler by using the TypeScriptCompileBlocked
setting. Since the initial VS2013's TS 1.0 does not support this setting and tsconfig.json
, you must install the TS 1.8 tooling in Visual Studio 2013. Include
<TypeScriptCompileBlocked>true</TypeScriptCompileBlocked>
in the project file.
To resolve this issue, install the latest TypeScript compiler via npm package and configure an external tool such as gulp, grunt, or npm to compile the project. You can integrate this tool into the standard MSBuild process. I suggest installing Angular CLI and manually running the npm start
command from a separate Command Prompt window for automatic recompilation and browser reload after every save.
The external TypeScript compiler you installed will support the use of tsconfig.json
.
Note that IntelliSense in the code editor may not fully recognize the latest TypeScript features.