WinForms — Year-End Roadmap (v24.2)

This blog post outlines some of our WinForms-related development plans for the second half of 2024 (v24.2). As you will read below, key focus areas will be .NET Core UX, AI, and Accessibility.

.NET Core / .NET

.NET 9 Support

We will support .NET 9 across our WinForms product line (v24.2 and v24.1) after November 2024. Currently, we support the most recent .NET 9 preview builds for those using v24.1 (early adopter testing). If you're wondering what lies ahead for the WinForms platform itself, be sure to check out the following Microsoft presentation from Build 2024: What's New with WinForms in .NET 9.

.NET 8, .NET Framework 4.6.2, Visual Studio 2019 Will Be Minimally Supported Versions for DevExpress Libraries (v24.2+)

Learn more about this global change in this announcement.

Source Code Builder Enhancements

In v24.2, we will simplify procedures used to rebuild assemblies from source code:

• Our source builder tool will ship in the DevExpress Unified Component Installer.
• Our source builder tool will be more stable (we added more internal tests for the rebuild process on our build farm) and will require fewer steps to initiate/complete source rebuild.
• It will be easier to rebuild .NET Core/.NET projects (currently, it is a manual process) and generate the corresponding NuGet packages (including the localization packages).

Easier Upgrade to .NET from .NET Framework

We expect to improve integration with Microsoft's .NET Upgrade Assistant Tool. We also expect to offer predefined mappings for appropriate DevExpress packages (allowing Microsoft's tool to map DevExpress assembly references to corresponding DevExpress NuGet package references). If .NET Upgrade Assistant Tool mappings fail to meet our expectations, we will make necessary changes to the DevExpress Project Converter instead. NOTE: We will remove the old DevExpress .NET Core Migration Tool in our v24.2 release cycle (because of the aforementioned changes).

Enhanced UX with the WinForms .NET Core Designer

As you may already know from my earlier post, we continue our collaboration with Microsoft (reporting issues and suggestions, testing new implementations, etc.) to make the .NET Core design-time experience better than that of the .NET Framework. Microsoft is also very serious about the WinForms .NET Core designer experience and we are ready to review issues together in a timely manner.

For v24.2, we expect to address a few usability and stability-related issues. We encourage you to report any issue you encounter when using our UI components alongside the WinForms .NET Core designer (submit support tickets via the Support Center).

Additional DateOnly and TimeOnly Enhancements

We first introduced support for DateOnly/TimeOnly .NET types in our v24.1 release cycle (learn more). With v24.2, we will add the following enhancements to our current implementation:

• Support TimeOnly in our TimeEdit component.
• Support TimeOnly-specific criteria functions like IsAfternoon, InMorning, InEvening in criteria language and UI components.
• Support more TimeOnly operations at the filtering UI-level, for example, a range filter instead of tree and smart equality (with second rounding).

Enhanced Project and Item Templates for .NET Core / .NET

In our upcoming release, we will add more .NET Core-based templates and also update all template code to follow .NET best practices. While we cannot make guarantees, we hope to add a Blazor Hybrid-powered project template with DevExpress WinForms and Blazor UI components, Dependency Injection (DI) support, etc.

Our DevExpress Template Gallery may undergo internal changes as well, because we utilize CLI templates more and more under the hood across a variety of DevExpress products (due to the popularity of .NET Core and NuGet). In general, CLI templates offer more opportunities for us to support VS Code and Rider IDE by reusing the same template code (a common denominator for various IDEs and operating systems). CLI templates are also easier to test/evolve in the long run. 

Guidance on New Desktop Development Standards

As you may recall from an earlier post, we want to help guide our loyal WinForms/WPF/VCL/.NET MAUI/XAF customers through new/tightened security requirements (and associated complexities) for Windows desktop application development. For context, here are the main points from our overview post:

1. Separation of backend and frontend logic has changed: Where simple structures like client/server used to be the norm, distributed systems of varying complexity are typical today.
2. For data persistence, the number of commonly used options has increased: It now includes NoSQL solutions as well as distributed structures such as Event Sourcing backends.
3. UI apps need to take new architectural concerns into account and work asynchronously, which creates technical challenges for developers (for instance, to consume external AI or Web API services). If you watched What's New with WinForms in .NET 9? from Build 2024, you will also know that async programming or MVVM are no longer specific to ASP.NET Core or WPF apps - both concepts are becoming `a first-class citizen` in WinForms. Accessibility has also become a non-optional requirement for many today.

For more information, see our first post in the series: WinForms — Connect a .NET Desktop Client to a Secure Backend Web API Service (EF Core with OData).

Accessibility and Globalization 

Final Accessibility and UI Automation Enhancements

As you know, we extended accessibility support in our v24.1 release cycle (learn more).

We expect to finalize our accessibility-related initiatives in our v24.2 release cycle:

• Fix remaining accessibility-related issues from our prioritized list.
• Keyboard navigation between menu bars in BarManager
• Extend keyboard support in the DevExpress WinForms TreeList (to help navigate and expand/collapse nodes).

Accessibility Enhancements for WinForms PDF Viewer 

We continue to enhance the accessibility support for desktop document viewers. In the next release cycle, we will introduce screen reader support for WinForms PDF Viewer. With this functionality, you will be able to read the contents in Accessible PDF documents (based on their tagged structure).

German Localization Enhancements

As you may recall, we introduced new .NET localization APIs and UI client in our v23.2 release cycle (learn more). At present, our Localization Service contains translations/resources compiled by the DevExpress developer community and thus these translations/resources may be inaccurate and/or incomplete.

In v24.2, we want to leverage our new API and tools to improve German localization resources for consistency/accuracy. In particular, we will remove duplicates, incomplete strings with missing/extra spaces, and review remaining strings as needed. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best possible translation for the German language (other popular languages and products may follow in future versions).

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Smart/AI-Powered Functions in our WinForms Data Grid and Editors

We expect to make it easier to integrate smart/AI-powered functions across a variety of DevExpress WinForms UI components. AI-related integrations may include the following:

• Core libraries for WinForms, WPF, Blazor, JS and other platforms to easily integrate and access AI features within your project. To leverage these capabilities, you will need to use your own Microsoft Azure Open AI API key or use offline open-source models powered by Ollama and/or Onnx Runtime.
• AI Prompt/Chat to enable end-user communication with chat bots and other AI services for your DevExpress-powered WinForms app.
• Various AI-powered functions such as smart search (example) within the DevExpress WinForms Data Grid, auto-complete and smart paste in our WinForms Memo (and other WinForms Text Editors), and AI-powered context-dependent menus.

Smart / AI-Powered Functions in Office-inspired Components for WinForms

We will integrate AI-Powered features into our WinForms and WPF Rich Text and Spreadsheet components. These enhancements will allow users to quickly understand the underlying essence of individual documents via Generative AI summaries and translate documents to a preferred language using AI-powered translations. In addition, we plan to give you the ability to describe images used within Office documents using AI-powered APIs.

Smart / AI-Powered Functions in Report Viewer for WinForms

We will integrate AI-Powered Summarize and Translate features into our Report Viewer components. These enhancements will allow users to quickly understand/analyze core insights associated with a given report (using Generative AI summaries) and convert report documents to a desired language with AI-powered translation tools.

Reporting, Scheduler and Other Office-Inspired UI Components

Report Viewer and Designer for WinForms

DateOnly & TimeOnly Support

We will introduce support for DateOnly and TimeOnly values across DevExpress Reports. This update will allow you to utilize the aforementioned types when:

• creating expression bindings
• report and query parameters
• calculated fields
• and when sorting, grouping, and filtering data.

Refer to the What's New in v24.1 to learn more about recent enhancements in this particular space.

Report Designer — Dimension Notations

To simplify the report design process, v24.2 will introduce dimension notations within the DevExpress Report Designer. When you resize controls, the designer will provide precise visual feedback and display dimension notations based on a specified ReportUnit property value (such as inches, centimeters, or pixels).

New Barcode Types — Aztec & Micro QR Code

Our next major update will support the following Barcode types: Aztec and Micro QR Code

• Aztec barcodes offer a compact/efficient way to encode large amounts of data without requiring a quiet zone, making them ideal for space-constrained documents.

• Micro QR Codes offer a smaller alternative to traditional QR Codes, suitable for space-limited output (where only small amounts of data require encoding).

Scheduler API Enhancements for WinForms

Based on community feedback, we expect to ship the following DevExpress Scheduler control features in our next major update:

• Add events for the reminder form
• Add Resource Tree columns automatically
• Display additional fields within our FlyoutTooltip
• Hide specific days within the Scheduler's DayView

Spreadsheet Document API and Spreadsheet for WinForms

Dynamic Array Formulas

Dynamic arrays are a modern and powerful way to work with Excel document formulas. Unlike standard array formulas, which return a single value for each cell with a formula, dynamic array functions return a dynamic array of values (this array of values automatically spills into neighboring cells). Dynamic arrays offer many advantages, including new functions (XLOOKUP, XMATCH, Sort, etc.). 

We expect to enhance our formula calculation engine and integrate dynamic arrays into relevant DevExpress Spreadsheet-processing tools. Core functionality will include the following:

• Dynamic array calculations (formulas) and Spill Range support.
• New formula error type (#SPILL!).
• Spill range reference (# symbol).
• Implicit intersection operator (@ symbol) to return a single formula value instead of an array.

Embed Images in Cells

Modern versions of Microsoft Excel support a new locate image feature - "Place in Cell" (available from the Insert->Picture menu). This option gives you the ability to embed an image directly into a cell instead of placing it over worksheet content.

With v24.2, our Spreadsheet Document API library and desktop Spreadsheet UI controls (WinForms & WPF) will ship with "Place in Cell" image placement support. As you would expect, this new feature will allow you to import documents with images embedded in worksheet cells and save these documents to supported Excel formats without the content loss. Embedded cell images will be correctly displayed when you preview workbooks using our desktop Spreadsheet editors (WinForms & WPF) and when you print/export documents to PDF (and of course, we'll offer new APIs to manage embedded images in code).

PDF Document API and PDF Viewer for WinForms

Signature Validation Enhancements

v24.2 will ship with enhanced PDF Signature Validation APIs. New capabilities will include:

• APIs to verify certificate revocation based on Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responses.
• APIs to verify certificate revocation based on Certificate Revocation List (CRL).
• APIs to validate Long Term Validation (LTV) signatures.
• APIs to validate Document Level Timestamps.

Export PDF Documents to SVG

We will finalize "SVG Export" options for our Office File API libraries and extend existing image export APIs for the PDF Document Processor library (to convert PDF file pages to SVG images). This enhancement will allow you to generate vector document previews from PDF files in both Windows and non-Windows environments.

Image Extraction API

To improve user experiences when extracting PDF content and analyzing document structure, we plan to enhance our image extraction APIs for the PDF Document API library. With our new APIs, you will be able to obtain additional information about PDF page images and determine image size and location on a page.

Word Processing Document API and Rich Text Editor for WinForms

Page Borders

Our Word-processing components will support Page Borders within Word documents. You will be able to import and save documents with page borders to supported Word formats without content loss. Page borders will be properly displayed when you preview the document, print it, or export it to the PDF. APIs to manage page borders in code will be also available.

Small Caps Formatting Support

With v24.2, our Word processing tools will support Small Caps character formatting. Small Caps formatting will be applied when you preview the document inside the UI control and when you print/export to PDF. We will also introduce API settings to manage Small Caps formatting in code (and enhance the Font dialog for our desktop Rich Text Editors (WinForms & WPF) to apply formatting via the UI). 

Your Feedback Matters

We value your thoughts/feedback. Please take a minute to respond to the following question and let us know how we can best serve your WinForms-related development needs now and into the future: 

If you have yet to review the features/capabilities introduced in our most recent major update (v24.1), please visit the following webpage and let us know what you think of this release by responding to our online WinForms v24.1 survey.

Thanks,
Dennis Garavsky
Principal Product Manager
dennis@devexpress.com