What Will Change in v24.2
Once we release v24.2 (December 2024), our libraries will no longer support .NET 6/7 and .NET Framework 4.5.2, 4.6 and 4.6.1. The following DevExpress .NET Core and .NET Framework-based products will also – at a minimum – require .NET 8 and .NET Framework 4.6.2 respectively:
- WinForms
- WPF
- Blazor
- ASP.NET Core
- Reporting
- Office File API
- BI Dashboards
- XAF Blazor/WinForms/WebForms UI
- Web API Service
- XPO ORM
- ASP.NET WebForms/MVC 5/Bootstrap
Additionally, our .NET Framework-based product line (v24.2+) will only support Visual Studio 2019 (at a minimum). For .NET Core/.NET 8-based products, Visual Studio 2022 will be required. Worth noting - our .NET MAUI-based product line already requires .NET 8 and Visual Studio 2022.
Reasons for Change: Motivation to Raise Minimal Versions in Our v24.2 Release Cycle
- Microsoft "retired" .NET Framework 4.5.2, 4.6, and 4.6.1 on April 26, 2022. End of life for .NET Framework 4.6.2 is Jan 12, 2027. Microsoft and DevExpress have been recommending (learn more) that you target .NET Framework 4.6.2 and newer in your apps for many years now. We believe it's now time to upgrade to address security-related issues with the framework.
- .NET 7 (STS) reached its end of support on May 14, 2024. .NET 6 (LTS) will reach its end of support on November 12, 2024 (just before we ship DevExpress v24.2). While the majority of our customers were ready for .NET 8 even a year ago (based on surveys and support tickets), we delayed this decision until v24.2 (to meet the needs of our enterprise/corporate customers). Again, we believe it's now time to upgrade to address security-related issues with the framework.
- We can migrate to System.Text.Json and leverage modern framework features in important products like DevExpress Reports and BI Dashboard (we cannot do this with .NET Framework 4.5.2). By moving to newer IDEs, our engineers can also use newer C# language features.
Impact on Existing Apps / How to Update Existing Apps
- Existing customers who already target .NET Framework 4.6.2+ and .NET 8+ will not be affected.
- Customers who target .NET Framework 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1 will need to re-target to .NET 4.6.2 or newer. This is a relatively simple change for the majority of customers, unless you have specific issues related to third-party dependencies.
- If you target.NET 6 or 7, you will need to re-target to .NET 8 or newer. For more information, see Microsoft's Breaking changes in .NET 8 and .NET Upgrade Assistant Tool. Unfortunately we cannot apply such serious changes automatically via the DevExpress Project Converter, because it can easily break things for advanced scenarios.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will DevExpress assemblies work fine with .NET Framework 4.8.1 and .NET 9 in v24.2?
Yes, our customers will also be able to use our .NET 8-based assemblies in .NET 9 apps, and .NET Framework 4.6.2-based assemblies in higher .NET Framework apps like 4.8.1 (recommended). Thanks to high compatibility between .NET Framework versions, you can safely target a higher version in your projects and freely leverage recent .NET Framework updates (which we highly recommend anyway) as desired. This decision is entirely up to you. Again, we highly recommend the use of the most recent version of the .NET Framework.
Will DevExpress v24.1 work with .NET 9 previews?
Yes, some of our products are already tested against .NET 9 previews regularly (for instance, WinForms). Once Microsoft officially releases .NET 9, we expect to introduce .NET 9 support for our v24.1 assemblies.
Will Visual Studio 2015 and 2017 be supported for .NET Framework 4.5.2-based products?
No, we will test design-time of our .NET Framework-based products with Visual Studio 2019 (for v24.2+) only. As you probably know, we already stopped supporting Visual Studio 2012 and 2013 a while ago. Only a small percentage of our user community relies on Visual Studio 2015 and 2017. Since these old IDE are still supported by Microsoft, we did not physically remove our support code (for instance, for our ASP.NET WebForms customers), but we no longer test and guarantee proper operation in these older Microsoft IDEs.
What version of Visual Studio do you support to recompile DevExpress source code?
We support and recommend Visual Studio 2022 for this purpose (v24.2+). That is because less than 2% of our customers recompiled our .NET sources and because supporting older IDEs is a costly undertaking. For v24.2+, we are redesigning our Source Builder Tool to make it easier for our customers to rebuild assemblies from source code. The enhanced tool will also fully support .NET 8-based products and creation of custom localization packages from source code.
Will DevExpress assemblies support partial/medium trust?
Microsoft dropped partially trusted code support many years ago due to architectural changes in .NET Framework 4 and .NET Core. We started gradually removing medium trust support from our products a couple of years ago (one, two). In v24.2, we completely cleaned AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute from our .NET Framework assemblies (note: this attribute had no effect in .NET Core).
How to migrate from .NET Framework to .NET 8+?
We recognize that migrating/rewriting legacy applications can be a significant undertaking. First, it is important for you to assess whether you really need to transition to .NET 8: costs vs real business and technical benefits. That is also because .NET Framework 4.6.2 is supported until Jan 12, 2027 and Microsoft is yet to determine the end of life for .NET Framework 4.8.1 - you can keep using .NET Framework with DevExpress products if you have no immediate/emerging requirements to upgrade.
If you are ready to transition to newer versions of .NET, you can find migration guidelines in our online docs (examples: WinForms, WPF, XAF, etc.). For v24.2, we plan to simplify the .NET Framework migration process to .NET 8 through better integration with the .NET Upgrade Assistant Tool (for example, to automatically replace DevExpress assembly references with DevExpress NuGet package references).
How can I retrofit existing apps for new application development standards (tightened security requirements, cloud, web, and mobile support, distributed architectures, etc.)?
You may find the following DevExpress learning materials helpful in this regard:
- Architecture: Modern Desktop Apps And Their Complex Architectures | Choosing a Framework/App Architecture for Desktop & Mobile Cross-Platform Apps
- UI: May the forms be with you: a new hope with Blazor Hybrid on WinForms
- Data Access: JavaScript — Consume the DevExpress Backend Web API with Svelte | WinForms — Connect a .NET Desktop Client to a Secure Backend with the DevExpress Web API Service (EF Core with OData)
- Accessibility, AI, NuGet.
Also be sure to review the following highly rated help topics from Microsoft:
- Start your cloud journey with Azure App Service | ASP.NET to ASP.NET Core tutorial playlist on YouTube
- Reliable Web App pattern (RWA) on GitHub (a guidance for building around existing apps without the need for a complete rewrite)
Your Feedback Matters
Thanks,
Dennis Garavsky
Principal Product Manager
dennis@devexpress.com