ASP.NET Core - Early Access Preview (v20.1)

This post includes a list of new products/features we expect to include in our ASP.NET Core Early Access Preview build (v20.1). As always, should you have any questions about these new products/features, please post your comments below. We’ll be happy to follow up.

A quick reminder: If you are an active  Universal or DXperience subscriber and want to test upcoming v20.1 features before our official release, you can download the Early Access Preview build via the DevExpress Download Manager. Please let us know how well the new functionality described herein addresses your business requirements. Your feedback will help us fine-tune our implementation prior to official release.

New DevExtreme-based ASP.NET Core Project Wizard

Single entry

We combined multiple ASP.NET Core project templates into a single new item which is easier to find within the template list:

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Any Combination 

• Two .NET Core LTS versions - 2.1 and 3.1. Note that 3.1 is only available in Visual Studio 2019.
• Razor Pages or MVC Views
• Bootstrap or Material application layout

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Should you so wish, you can also use the DevExpress Template Gallery:  

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ASP.NET Core DataGrid/TreeList

Remote Validation Support

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New Export to Excel API (RTM)

CustomizeCell Callback

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Column Bands Export Support

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Cell Text Alignment, Wrapping and Font Settings

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DataGrid’s Column Format Support

DevExpress.excelExporter.exportDataGrid({
  customizeCell: function(options) {
    const { gridCell, excelCell } = options;
    if(gridCell.rowType === ‘data’) {
      if(gridCell.column.dataField === 'Phone') {
        excelCell.numFmt = '[<=9999999]###-####;(###) ###-####';
      }
    }

Cell Image Export Support

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Integrated Excel Filtering Support

DevExpress.excelExporter.exportDataGrid({
  autoFilterEnabled: true,
  ...
})

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Integrated Export Status Panel

ASP.NET Core Scheduler

Hourly Repeating Events

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Adaptivity Enhancements

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API Enhancements

ASP.NET Core Diagram  

Template-Enabled Custom Shapes 

With this release, you can introduce custom shape content using an SVG element. The SVG element can contain images, text, and hyperlinks  

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The customShapeTemplate option defines a common template for all shapes in the control. The template option defines a template for an individual shape.

New Client-Side API 

The release version of our ASP.NET Core Diagram control includes new client-side API to handle user actions. You can use the ItemClick, ItemDlbClick, and SelectionChanged events to handle user interactions within the Diagram. 

New ASP.NET Core Diagram Shape and Connector Lines

We have added dash and dot line types that can be used for shapes and connectors.

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Context Toolbox 

The DevExpress ASP.NET Core Diagram displays a context toolbox when you draw a connector from a shape and release it without connecting it to another shape. The toolbox allows you to create a shape at the end of the connector. This makes diagram generation faster and easier. Use the contextToolbox option to customize the context toolbox content. 

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Support for Mobile Devices 

Our Diagram’s layout and UI is adapted for use on mobile devices. The new interface helps users work with a diagram on devices with a small touch screen more effectively. 

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Enhanced Drawing Performance

We optimized our Diagram’s inner shape drawing algorithms to improve performance when using a large number of shapes.

Changes in API

The release version of our ASP.NET Core Diagram will include a new public API. If you evaluate our Diagram CTP, I highly recommend you check the upcoming API changes.

ASP.NET Core Rich Text Editor (Word Processing)

Client-Side WYSIWYG Export  

Document layout may look different in browsers and in an exported or printed document due to the unique nature of each browser. This difference is an issue for many applications. Our upcoming (v20.1) ASP.NET Core Rich Text Editor can export a document to PDF on the client side so that PDF layout mirrors the layout within a browser. 

Font Management API

We improved the Rich Text Edit’s font management API. You can now specify font information for the ribbon and all dialogs in a single location in code.

ASP.NET Core File Manager

Upload and Download for In-memory JSON data

ASP.NET Core FileManager gives you the ability to upload and download files into in-memory storage without requests to your server. To enable this feature:

1) Register the JSZip library in your project. 

2) Connect the FileManager to the ObjectFileSystemProvider.

3) Enable “upload” and “download” permissions within the FileManager.

File Manager API enhancements

We reworked the current FileManager API to make it clear and consistent.

File System Providers modularity 

We extracted our file system providers to separate modules. You do not need to have the entire FileManager code on a page if you want to use a stand-alone file system provider. Install the corresponding “devextreme/file_management/” module and use the provider without the FileManager. Note that extracted file system providers have new names.

Server-side API enhancements

We implemented a more flexible and transparent API to handle file operations on the server side. You can now enable specific file system functionality for your application using new interfaces:

• IFileSystemItemLoader – to view files and folders;
• IFileSystemItemEditor – to enable editing operations (create directory, copy, delete, move);
• IFileUploader – to support file upload to your file system;
• IFileContentProvider – to get file binary data.

Please refer to the list of server-side API changes and sample project with this new API for more information.

ASP.NET Core TreeView

Selection API Enhancements

HTML/Markdown Editor

Adaptivity Enhancements

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Data Visualization

Polar Chart Annotations

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Custom Position of Chart Axes

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Your Feedback Matters

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