Our next major update (v25.1) is set for release in early June. This post details DevExpress Reports and DevExpress BI Dashboard-related features we expect to ship in June and describes what’s included in our Early Access Preview (EAP v25.1) build.
I encourage all active DevExpress Universal and DXperience subscribers to download and install our Early Access Preview and share thoughts/opinions with us via linked discussion DevExpress Support Center threads (links can be found in our v25.1 roadmap).
If you own an active Universal/DXperience subscription and plan to install the EAP, visit the DevExpress Download Manager to obtain the EAP build.
Early Access and CTP builds are provided solely for early testing purposes and are not ready for production use. This build can be installed side by side with other major versions of DevExpress products. Please back up your project and other important data before installing Early Access and CTP builds. This EAP may not include all features/products we expect to ship in our v25.1 release cycle. As its name implies, the EAP offers an early preview of what we expect to ship in three months. For additional information on what you can expect, refer to our DevExpress Reports & BI Dashboard — June 2025 Roadmap (v25.1)
DevExpress Reports
Report Designer — Drag and Drop Enhancements for Date-based Field Types
We've enhanced the Report Designer Field List to offer easier access to DateTime, DateOnly and TimeOnly types used within a report's data source. Users can now expand these fields in the Field List panel to reveal associated internal properties and seamlessly bind them to report controls.
With this enhancement, you no longer need to manually specify data formatting or use expression functions when working with internal properties: simply drag and drop these properties onto existing controls to establish new data bindings or place them on the report surface to create new data-bound controls.
How to Enable This Feature
To display internal date and time properties in the Field List, activate the UserDesignerOptions.ShowFieldListDateTimeComponents property at application startup or in the DevExpress Visual Studio Report Designer settings window. This will expose the following properties:
- DateOnly: Month, Year, Day
- DateTime: Day, Month, Year, Hour, Minute, Second
- TimeOnly: Hour, Minute, Second
Configurable Binding Modes
This capability supports two modes, managed by the UserDesignerOptions.DateTimeComponentBindingMode property. When a field is dropped from the Field List, the Report Designer automatically creates an expression binding and does one of the following:
- Applies a format string (e.g.,
{0:%d},{0:%M}) — useful for displaying formatted date/time values within a report. - Assigns an expression function (e.g.,
GetDay,GetMonth) — ideal for calculations against multiple data source fields. You can further refine expressions using the Expression Editor.
Expression Editor Integration
This enhancement also extends to the Expression Editor, where appropriate expression functions are automatically assigned when you double-click internal type properties in the Field List.
Your Feedback Matters
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this new functionality — please share your feedback in the short survey below. Based on user input, we plan to introduce similar enhancements for the DevExpress WPF and Web Report Designers in future updates.
Report Designer — Proportional Report Controls Resize Operations
Report creators can now press the Shift key to resize report controls with corner anchors and preserve aspect ratios.
Detailed Control Over Report Element Export Operations (to Different Formats)
We replaced the CanPublish property (allowed you to manage whether a report control is displayed in a printed or exported document) with its new XRControl.CanPublishOptions counterpart.
The new property allows you to limit the list of export formats wherein a report control should appear after an export operation. In addition, you can use this new property to prohibit the printing of a specific report control(s).
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
New Report Measurement Units
We extended the ReportUnit enumeration to include Inches and Millimiteres values. Report creators can now work with measurement values directly, eliminating the need to convert hundreds or tenths to integer units (when sizing and positioning report controls). Once you change report units to new values, the properties panel will display report control size/position as float numbers within the properties panel:
| Property | Hundredths of an Inch | Inch |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 53.2 | 0.532 |
| Width | 206.8 | 2.068 |
| Property | Tenths of a Millimiter | Millimiters |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 135.1 | 13.51 |
| Width | 662.6 | 66.26 |
This change also affects PageHeight and PageWidth properties (which now use float instead of integer).
Web Report Designer — External Drag & Drop Operations
The DevExpress Web Report Designer supports drag & drop operations from outside the browser window (making it easier to add content to your report documents):
- Image files: Drag & drop an image file onto the report surface to create an
XRPictureBox. - Text files: Drop a TXT file to create an
XRLabel, or drop an RTF, DOCX, or HTML file to insert anXRRichTextcontrol with associated file content. - PDF files: Drag & drop a PDF file to insert an
XRPdfContentcontrol. - Existing controls: Dropping a file onto an existing report control updates content with new file data.
Web Report Designer — Quickly Create Header Tables
DevExpress Web Report Designer allows designers to quickly create table headers. When you design a report, select a set of data fields in the Field List—an entire query, a table, or individual fields while holding Ctrl. To create a table with data field names, press Shift while dragging the table onto the report design area. The following video illustrates this new feature in action:
This functionality is available starting with the v24.2.5 of DevExpress Reports.
Standalone Report Parameters Panel for React
The standalone Report Parameters Panel is a new React component that arranges report parameter editors. It retrieves report parameter details from a DevExpress report instance passed from the backend.
Use this component to programmatically create a report, then export or email it without displaying a preview to the end user. The component reduces memory usage because it eliminates the need to generate report images in the background and transfer them to a client application.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This capability is included in v24.2.5+
Sneek Peek — AI-powered Functionality (Leave Your Feedback)
Though our v25.1 EAP does not include AI-powered capabilities, we want to share what's in active development.
Report Designer — AI-powered Report Localization
A new AI-powered extension for both our Web and WinForms Report Designer components will introduce AI-powered localization for report translation. Once you enable this capability, the Localization Editor will feature a new "Localize with AI" button that automatically collects all static strings within a report and sends it to your preferred AI service for translation. Watch the video below to see this capability in action:
DevExpress Web Report Designer
DevExpress WinForms End-User Report Designer
Web Report Viewer — AI-powered Inline Report Translation
Once enabled, the AI-powered context menu in the DevExpress Web Report Viewer will include a new "Translate Inline" option. Clicking this option translates selected content into the specified language directly within the previewed document.
DevExpress Report viewers will also include an option to print/export translated content (with a notification prompting users about AI-generated content before processing).
This enhancement builds upon our AI-powered translation functionality (detailed in What's New in v24.2). While the original AI-powered feature displays translations in a separate Report Viewer panel, this new option allows users to translate report content directly within the preview and print/export the translated document.
Current Limitations
- Text size constraints: Report content is displayed using fixed-size text bricks, which do not yet adjust dynamically for longer translations (e.g., German words tend to be longer than their English equivalents).
- Page-by-page translation: This feature can only translate one page at a time within the preview.
We plan to address these limitations in the future and your feedback will help us set priorities.
If a user needs to translate an entire document to review content or copy text, we recommend using the AI-powered translation panel instead. View the video below to see this functionality in action.
DevExpress BI Dashboard
DateOnly & TimeOnly Types Support (Leave Your Feedback)
DevExpress BI Dashboard supports DateOnly and TimeOnly values across all supported platforms. DateOnly and TimeOnly can be used for the following:
- Dashboard Parameters, Query Parameters and Calculated Fields
- Filtering— Use
DateOnlyandTimeOnlytypes for dashboard data filtering. - Conditional Formatting— Create format rules with
DateOnlyandTimeOnlytypes.
Dashboard Item Support includes:
- Grid and Pivot— Bind columns to
DateOnlyandTimeOnlytypes and select different grouping intervals (for example, “Year to Month,” “Day-Month-Year,” “Year to Day,” “Day of Week,” and hour/minute-based intervals). - Pie and Bar Charts
- Range Filter— Use date-based predefined intervals (for example, last year, last quarter, last 7 days, etc.).
- Date Filter— Choose predefined intervals and customize date periods.
Clik here to view.
WinForms Dashboard — Accessibility Enhancements
We've addressed the following accessibility-related issues for DevExpress Web Dashboard:
- Keyboard Navigation through Dashboard items
- Keyboard Navigation in the Data Inspector Window
- Alternate Text for BoundImage and Image Dashboard Items
Web Dashboard — Request Parameters (Leave Your Feedback)
Web Dashboard creators have the ability to display a parameters window and prompt a user to input parameter values before a dashboard loads and aggregates data. Dashboard items display this state and display a "Waiting for Parameter Values" message to guide users.
The new RequestParameters property of the Dashboard class manages this capability. You will find this option in the Dashboard Menu -> Parameters window.