eXpressApp Framework – Early Access Preview (v19.1)

We are two months away from our next major update (v19.1). The purpose of this post is to share details and give users the opportunity to test new functionality before we wrap up our current dev cycle. If you own an active Universal or DXperience subscription, you can download the CTP build from the DevExpress Download Manager and test the features described in this blog post. Once you do, take a moment to let us know how well the new features address your requirements. This will help us fine-tune our code before the launch.

If you are using a trial version and want access to the new XAF features today, purchase a Universal subscription license and you will automatically gain access to the CTP version. If you are ready to upgrade to Universal from another subscription level, email us at clientservices@devexpress.com for preferential upgrade pricing.

ASP.NET WebForms RTF Editor & WinForms Spreadsheet Editor

We've come a long way since we first introduced the WinForms Office module in 2018. The module now includes the WinForms Spreadsheet and the ASP.NET WebForms RTF editors. You can use them to display and edit Word and Excel documents stored in string or byte array properties of your business objects.

To learn more about the new capabilities and to help shape our future development, read this knowledge base article and answer a few questions from the R&D team.

Our long-time customer, Finland-based EarthCape OY, kindly allowed us to share their use-case for these new editors. They currently rely on custom-built property editors in their XAF-based platform. Scientists in the DNA Laboratory at the Finnish Museum of Natural History use these controls to make notes.

.NET Core 3 and Visual Studio 2019 Support

Good news from our labs! We succeeded in adjusting our v19.1 WinForms MainDemo so that it runs under .NET Core 3.0. We have not yet published dedicated demos on GitHub as our WinForm team did. The SPA UI functionality still needs tests and we must ensure that all our internal tests pass in the new environment. If you're interested in adjusting your projects manually to run under .NET Core, let us know using the Support Center and we will guide you through the required steps.

XAF Solution Wizard, Model Editor, and Application & Module Designers now all work in Visual Studio 2019 Preview 4+. If you are running a compatible Visual Studio version, let us know how these features work for you. Make a note that we have optimized the Solution Wizard for faster project generation.

SPA UI Updates

The following new capabilities are supported in v19.1 CTP:

• Basic security system functions: logon form for non-authenticated users and automatic data filter based on security permissions.
• New property editors for Boolean, enumeration, image, and reference properties.
• End-users can enable a compact theme and customize base theme colors at runtime.

To learn more about these and other capabilities, read this knowledge base article.

Universal customers are welcome to join the discussion on SPA UI roadmap and technical requirements in the dedicated private forum.

New WinForms Splash Screens

We have updated the splash screens used in our demos and in new projects.

You can optionally enable overlay animation instead of the splash screen. The animation will run after users click the 'Log In' button and until the main form appears. If you prefer this behavior, set the protected property WinApplication.ExecuteStartupLogicBeforeClosingLogonWindow to True and use the DXSplashScreen type in the YourSolutionName.Win/WinApplication.xx file:

public YourWindowsFormsApplication() {
    SplashScreen = new DXSplashScreen(typeof(YourSplashScreenType), new DefaultOverlayFormOptions());
    ExecuteStartupLogicBeforeClosingLogonWindow = true;
...

ASP.NET WebForms User-Friendly URLs for Views

We've simplified URL customization for ListViews and DetailViews in Web apps with the new RouteManager API. For example, you can now customize URLs to match the following highly requested format:

BEFORE:
*/Default.aspx#ViewID=Contact_ListView
*/Default.aspx#ViewID=Contact_DetailView&ObjectKey=ContactId

AFTER:
*/Contact_ListView/
*/Contact_DetailView/ContactId/

To learn more about this new capability, read this knowledge base article.

We Need Your Feedback!

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated in the comments section below, the Support Center tickets or our team email xafteam@devexpress.com. Please take a moment to also answer the questions in the survey below. Thank you for your help!

Interesting Support Center Tickets

• Our long-time customer described how he complied with GDPR requirements using XAF security system permissions (T576415).
• We have updated our KB article on how to avoid the creation of an extra index along with a foreign key for a reference type property in XPO (S138633).
• We have published a KB article on how to resolve the following error: 'DevExpress.Xpo.Exceptions.SessionMixingException: object belongs to a different session' (T720705).
• We have provided a Web example on how to create a custom ListEditor based on ASPxCardView (T526272).
• Inspired by customer feedback, our recent v18.2.7 update has more flexibility with regard to the state of the ResetPassword and ChangeMyPassword Actions when DetailView is in edit mode (T716175).
• Another reminder about NGEN: this standard for .NET way can cut the startup time almost in half (T719697).

Find other interesting customer questions and product enhancements for your favorite products in the DevExpress Support Center (the "Frameworks (XAF & XPO)" group on the right) and in the What's New documentation (see resolved issues).