Before I detail our 2021 Roadmap for the DevExpress UI for Blazor, my thanks to everyone who shared feedback/thoughts last year. Your contribution is appreciated.
In this post, I’ll summarize our Blazor UI release plans for 2021. Should you have any questions about the products/features listed herein, feel free to submit your comments/questions below.
New Components
DevExpress Office Controls
In our first major 2021 update, we plan to release the following DevExpress Office Controls for Blazor:
Blazor Rich Text Edit - Advanced text editing/word processing functionality for your next Blazor web app.
Blazor Spreadsheet - Excel inspired user experiences/capabilities for your next Blazor web app.
Navigation, Editors, & More
We expect to ship the following new components in our second major update in 2021:
File Manager - We're creating a new Blazor File Manager component to manage remote file system using standard file management operations.
DropDownEdit - The Drop Down Edit component will be able to display custom content within its list.
Binary Image - The Binary Column will allow you to display image data. You can bind this column to a property that contains images.
Button Edit - Our Button Edit component will display a value in a text box editor and display one or more buttons within its client region.
Accordion - The Accordion UI component will allow you to display collapsible content panels when presenting information in a limited amount of space. Use the Accordion component for side navigation and organize items into groups.
Sidebar - With our new Sidebar component, you’ll be able to add a sidebar to your app and (located alongside the main display area) display relevant information or navigation options.
New Dialogs - We're adding three new dialogs to our Blazor component suite: Confirmation, Alert, and an Error dialog.
Dashboards
Last year, we created a detailed tutorial on how to use our Web Dashboard within your Blazor Apps.
This year, we plan to introduce a native Blazor Dashboard component. This new component will simplify how you add our Web Dashboard control to your Blazor application and bind it to your backend.
Common Enhancements
- Bootstrap 5 Support - Bootstrap 5 should be released in early 2021. Rest assured, our v21.1 Blazor components will support Bootstrap 5.
Accessibility Support - We expect to fully support WCAG 2.1 and Section 508 accessibility standards within our Blazor product line.
New Dark Theme - We will introduce a new dark theme for our Blazor components.
Content Security Policy Support - We expect to add support for the
Content-Security-Policyheader. With it, you'll be able to restrict resources such as JavaScript, CSS, etc (pretty much anything that the browser loads). Refer to the following page for more information: https://content-security-policy.com/Right To Left support - We expect to add right-to-left support to major Blazor components (Data Grid, Scheduler, etc.).
Data Grid
We expect to refine/enhance our Blazor DataGrid throughout 2021. We’ll share more information in this regard as these capabilities come online. Performance and adaptability remain major focus areas. Here are few things you can expect in 2021:
Criteria Language Syntax Support - We expect to support our Cross-Platform Class Library. With this criteria language, you’ll be able to construct advanced filter expressions.
Custom Grouping - You'll be able to group data based on custom criteria as needed.
Custom Sorting - This new API will allow you to apply custom conditions for any sort operation.
Automatic Model Update - Our new Blazor Grid will allow you to bind to
ObservableCollectionand implement theINotifyPropertyChangedinterface. The Grid will automatically update itself when changes are made to the observable collection.
Editing, Filtering, Adaptivity, & More
Data Aware (Excel) Export - We expect to introduce data-aware export mode (XLSX format). This mode will allow you to retain data shaping operations (filters, groups, conditional formatting, etc.) during XLSX document generation.
PDF Data Export - Users will be able to export the contents of your grid to a PDF file.
Inline Edit - Inline Edit mode will allow you to directly edit an individual row without displaying the Grid’s edit form.
Search Panel - With the new Search Panel, end users will be able to filter multiple columns simultaneously and find a specific value.
Header Filter - End users will be able to filter data by selecting a corresponding item in the Header Filter popup dialog.
Binary Image Column - The Binary Image column will allow you to display and export an image bound to a data field with binary data.
Adaptivity Support - Our new adaptive mode will display cards rather than rows when viewing the Data Grid on a mobile device.
Data Editors
- Masked Input - Controls with text fields (Blazor Text Box, Blazor ComboBox, etc) will support custom Masks (to help you control/manage user input).
- ComboBox Drop-down Auto Position
- Item Template in Editors - Our List Box, Tag Box and Combo Box components will include a new template region. You will be able to display custom information within it as necessary (will include support for an image within the input box).
API Enhancements
On Demand Data Loading - for our Blazor List Box, Combo Box, and Tag Box. Items that are not currently displayed can be loaded dynamically (based on end-user action). As you would expect, this capability will help improve page load speed.
Focus an Editor in Code
List Box - The DevExpress Blazor ListBox will allow you to bind a value field to a single data object.
Scheduler
Timeline - The DevExpress Blazor Scheduler will ship with a new Timeline View. The timeline will display appointments/events as horizontal bars along its timescale. This new UI paradigm will give end-users a clearer picture of upcoming/past events.
Month view - A new Month View will allow your end users to view appointments by month. This view will position days one after another horizontally (so that they form weeks, while weeks are placed one under another).
- Adaptivity Enhancements - We expect to improve rendering for mobile browsers.
Charts
Zooming and Scrolling - We expect to improve zooming and scrolling operations. The Chart control will aggregate data and hide excessive points when you zoom out.
Display format in Series Label - Will allow you to assign custom display formats to any series label.
Series Label Customization - Will allow you to change the look and feel of a series label or create custom labels.
Reporting
To learn more about the enhancements we’ll make for Blazor Reports, please refer to the following post: DevExpress Reporting - 2021 Roadmap. New 2021 features will include:
- Export To PDF - Tagged PDF
- Runtime Report Generation - New Fluent API
- Report Designer Enhancements
Popup Control
- API Enhancements
- Manage open and close actions
- Control z-index
- Set custom display position
- Assign popup window size
Non-Modal State Support
Multiple Popup Windows
Tabs
- Content Lazy Loading support - This new feature will allow you to specify whether to load tab content immediately or when a tab is activated.
- Adaptivity support
- Automatic resize based on container size
- Multiline tab support
- Improved mobile device support
Menu
- Data Binding Support - You'll be able to populate Menu items from a database.