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Discussions, news and rants from the CTO of Developer Express, Julian M Bucknall

Can I sell you a roadmap?

     

OK, I exaggerate. It'll be free. Smile

Roadmap with LA as goal Next week, all the R&D team leads and evangelists and we management will (metaphorically) lock ourselves in a Luxor-iant conference room and discuss topics of great import to our company — especially given the state of the economy — and also to nail down what we shall be doing this year. Yes, it's that portion of the great DevExpress annual cycle when I get to write the one post that is guaranteed to generate whoops of delight, sighs of disappointment, or grumblings of discontent from our customers: the roadmap.

This year will be slightly different. You see, over the past month or so, we have been running Project Accepted TBD: an honest evaluation and assessment of all of those suggestions that have been marked as "Accepted - Release TBD", some for, shall we say, quite a while. Some of them have been truly accepted (in which case we'll be deciding which release we'll be putting them in — of significance to the roadmap, of course), some of them have been declined since there is a usable workaround available, usually findable in the knowledgebase; and some of them have been rejected. We're entering the phase where we'll be altering their public status (although it must be said we're still discussing some of them). If you're tracking some of them, you'll be getting notifications.

So, for the releases this year, more than ever before we'll be making great strides in stabilizing and polishing our products as well as in adding new features and functionality. At some point though, it becomes self-defeating to add all these little polished gems to the roadmap — we'd have to ship coffee to everyone to help them to read through it. I do have to say that v2009 vol 1 is already shaping up to be a great release, not necessarily because of several large ticket features, but because of a plethora of small completed items all designed to make your lives easier and more productive. The normally quiet Christmas/New Year period has been very productive for the development teams.

So, the roadmap is upon me, and as usual I will be making every effort to get it out by the end of this month. Stay tuned.

Published Jan 15 2009, 12:55 PM by Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
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Technorati tags: roadmap
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Comments

 

Kai Bøhli said:

Hopefully you'll have squeezed in some release plans for WPF stuff among all the stabilizing and polishing. You are a component vendor for heavens sake, and should embraze WPF - not fear it. Get a grip !

Happy new year.

January 15, 2009 5:37 PM
 

Chris W Walsh said:

fantastic news Julian!!  I hope there is some great silverlight news too :)

January 15, 2009 6:08 PM
 

Shloma Baum said:

Me too am looking forward for some great news on the silverlight front from you guys.

January 15, 2009 11:01 PM
 

Luke Grews said:

Crossing fingers for VCL components as well...

January 16, 2009 12:56 AM
 

Jerrie Pelser said:

From the comments above it is obvious that you guys are being pulled in a lot of different directions, but I agree with Kai and honestly hope that you will put a big focus on WPF (and Silverlight) this coming year.

I am seriously in need of good WPF components.  I have tried the other vendors, but the stability of their WPF components does not come close to the quality of the stuff you guys put out.  So please, please, please put some more focus on WPF this year!

January 16, 2009 2:06 AM
 

Geoff Davis said:

Yep, all of those things the guys mentiond above but I really do hope that there is going to be some XPO love this year, it's not had any love for a while now; 3-tier for example would make my dreams come true.

January 16, 2009 4:04 AM
 

Ferruh Köroğlu said:

"VCL components..."

+1

January 16, 2009 4:16 AM
 

David Royle said:

In the rush to WPF do not forget that customers are still looking for Winforms features. The jury is still out as to whether WPF will ever enable a truly sophisticated and responsive UI but we know Winforms will. So please, please do not forget Winforms!

January 16, 2009 5:18 AM
 

Holger Kammerer said:

Our customers do not want new stuff every second year. They want reliable software with much features to work efficient. For me, please set your focus on new features in .NET-Controls. For example, the new gauges are nice, but if you compare with Dundas, i miss many useful features.

But lastly: You guys make a great job, go on like this in 2009!

January 16, 2009 5:59 AM
 

Alex Danvy [DX-Squad] said:

Aren't Luxor rooms smaller than other hotels in Vegas ?

Great ideas need space ;-)

January 16, 2009 6:20 AM
 

Paul A. CHEVALIER said:

This seems to be the moment to push one more time for our favorite issues.  

Mine is DS57813 (basically provide tools for configuring the Ribbon quick access bar).  Recently I hacked up a tool to do this. on my own and even though it is a bad hack, it changed the way I use my application.  Once the QAB is more easily configurable, its utility increases dramatically.  Thus, I will make my pitch for DS57813 and say that it will change the way people use the Ribbion.

While, we are at it, maybe a thing to allow the users to configure complete ribbon pages would be useful also.

Cheers and best wishes for the new year.

January 16, 2009 7:07 AM
 

Damian Hickey said:

While there are lots of people tracking lots of issues "Accepted - Release TBD" (some of which have been languishing for years), I would love to see more transparency regarding the numbers tracking what. In fact, it would be very nice to be able to have some sort of voting system for items somewhat similar to how uservoice.com works.

January 16, 2009 8:17 AM
 

Scott Blood said:

I now have everything i need from DevExpress and it all works perfectly for both WinForms and WebForms so any new nuggets you add will be a bonus.

I would say one thing though although i dont expect it to happen, i would love to see some form of diagramming components :)  i have written my own for the time being but they are in no way as superior as i would expect from DevExpress.

Scott.

January 16, 2009 9:41 AM
 

Julian Bucknall (DevExpress) said:

All: Yes, we'll certainly be discussing <insert your favorite platform here>. I have my notepads ready to jot it all down. And the Luxor is big enough: we get those New Age vibes from being at the center of the pyramid and our razors and senses are always sharp. Or something.

Cheers, Julian

January 16, 2009 10:07 AM
 

David Royle said:

I took the time out to offer you some thoughts as to why Winforms should not be forgotten when thinking about your roadmap for 2009 but I do not see the comments posted here...

Were they not deemed worthy enough for inclusion??

Anyway have a good lock-in.....

And all the best for 2009.

January 16, 2009 10:47 AM
 

Heather said:

If you are going to send out coffee make sure it is in k-cups for me... :)

I think Silverlight focus is key.  The platform now has so much potential and for those of us that dread the hassles with javascript, html, etc...Silverlight is our silver lining!

I think there is another area of strong potential for Dx and that is in the area of application deployment.  Quite frankly there are no really good solutions out there for managing deployment of published applications and with the complexities (thanks Msoft) of all the security gotcha's in Server 2008 and IIS 7.x a tool that helps facilitate the deployment of Dx applications would be a big, big plus - it would also go to extending XAF's usability.

Seriously the deployment issues now surrounding applications due to Msof's draconian approach to their server security lock-downs is growing rapidly.  The majority of "production" problems we encounter are nearly all security related and there is very little reference and resource available to solve them.

January 16, 2009 11:00 AM
 

Alberto Cortes said:

Great job boys!

My vote(s): XAF + WPF, PivotChart, XPO

January 16, 2009 12:29 PM
 

Claudio Piffer said:

Hi Julian

GREAT! GREAT! GREAT!

PS: VCL Components +1 ;-)

January 16, 2009 1:15 PM
 

Julian Bucknall (DevExpress) said:

David: if you don't log into our community site, your comments get put in a queue for me to approve -- ensures spam comments don't get published at all. I don't do this checking immediately, but only once or twice a day. Anyway, your previous comment is now published, and, no, we won't be forgetting WinForms -- for instance, Mike has been slamming out changes to XtraGrid over the past few weeks. Did I mention v2009 vol 1 is going to be awesome?

Cheers, Julian

January 16, 2009 1:21 PM
 

KH. Boen said:

VCL is the best for Windows development! We used Devexpress components since the beginning... But we think that Silverlight is the solution for 1-source development platform for RIA that have the same GUI look & feel like a Windows application. That is why we need asap the same component set for Silverlight as it is now available for VCL and Winform! Our clients are asking for brwoser enabled application and I think that ASP.net  with Ajax is not the solution. It's like the old Mainframe application in the past with an HTML jacket and a <submit> button!  Please don't make the same mistake Borland did by missing the Internet application development solution.  Why should I invest in WPF if I can do with Silverlight the same thing? Look at Adobe they are investing a lot for RIA enabled application and that is why MS counters with Silverlight. As a programmer shop its too expensive to cater for 2 development environments!

Regards,

KH

January 16, 2009 3:28 PM
 

Joao Borges said:

VCL ExpressLayoutControl 2.0 :)

January 16, 2009 5:11 PM
 

Bassam Abdelaal said:

Silverlight + Silverlight + Silverlight

WPF

More OLAP support in PivotGrid , dimention filters , measures filters like in Excel 2007 Pivot Tables.

Do we have to wait for Silverlight designer till VS 2010? Working all in the source tab is not a very pleasant experience, we need WYSIWYG

You are doing a great job

Cheers,Bassam

January 16, 2009 5:59 PM
 

Julius Jackson said:

I've been tracking the XY Scatter chart suggestion (AS14503) for a good long while now. (It went "Accepted - Release TBD" just about 1.5 *years* ago!) I'd love to see this implemented soon.

January 16, 2009 6:53 PM
 

Roberto De Rossi said:

What about Delphi Prism ?

January 17, 2009 3:35 AM
 

Mahmoud Baalbaki said:

VCL Components, Please!

January 17, 2009 4:50 AM
 

Christoph Brändle said:

WPF + Silverlight

dont do it like the car industry,

try to run the old cars until you dont sell anything anymore.

I am sure devExpress sells WinForms today, so did GM.

I say Winforms = GM, WPF/Silverlight = Fisker

January 17, 2009 6:28 AM
 

Laurent PIERRE said:

My vote for VCL components (+++) and especially for Validators (www.devexpress.com/.../S20031.aspx) and new features for ExpressLayout like www.devexpress.com/.../B3623.aspx.

Best wishes for 2009.

Laurent

January 17, 2009 12:21 PM
 

Filip Verhaeghe said:

Silverlight. Silverlight. Silverlight.

Best wishes for 2009.

January 17, 2009 3:57 PM
 

Patrick Curran said:

I am very much in agreement with David in that you should not forget Winforms and don't feel the comparison with GM is in any way justified. This is proven technology which delivers the goods. Nice to hear, Julian, about the changes to XtraGrid.

January 17, 2009 5:11 PM
 

Raoulw said:

Hi,

This may be a radical idea, why not let your customers decide what features will be added in 2009? Make a list of possible features and let your costomers vote. Advantage database did something like this at:

feedback.advantagedatabase.com/.../general

Seems like a better idea then everybody posting messages here, and the DevExpress management locked up in a hotel room deciding what's best for us developers.

Raoul

(VCL, LayoutControl for VCL improvements, promised for years, and LEFT OUTER JOIN support for XPO)

January 17, 2009 5:22 PM
 

Angelo Bevilacqua said:

Please don't waste any more energy on WPF - this technology is already dead in the water. Win Forms and ASP.NET are the way to go. Keep improving these already great products.

January 17, 2009 10:00 PM
 

Ferruh Köroğlu said:

My Vote for VCL, Layout Control for VCL.

With Best Regards.

January 18, 2009 4:23 AM
 

Karlheinz Späth said:

VCL: Layoutcontrol  PLEEEEEAASE!

January 18, 2009 4:33 AM
 

Maxim Korobov said:

VCL:

1. LayoutControl  (cause many of us use it even without new features/functionalities from dev. team);

2. TreeList 5 (since 2008...).

January 18, 2009 3:16 PM
 

Simon Dewhirst said:

I shall be keeping a close eye on my accepted suggestion, thanks Julian.

January 19, 2009 5:02 AM
 

Serkan Ahtagil said:

VCL +++

WPF ++

SL +

January 19, 2009 5:13 AM
 

Mitchell Thraves said:

Hoping for more Dev Express WPF controls in 2009 as I've got a couple of WPF apps on the cards this year and don't want to change vendors due to lack of Dev Express WPF controls!

Would love to see WPF Reporting and Scheduling appearing next....

Cheers guys

January 19, 2009 9:53 AM
 

Julian Bucknall (DevExpress) said:

Ladies and Gentlemen: We're grateful that so many of you have responded to let us know what you are looking for in 2009. And more than that, that you are so passionate about our products that you want to make sure we do the right thing Wink.

Cheers, Julian

January 19, 2009 11:59 AM
 

Sebastia Prat i Pons said:

Hello,

For us, with XAF: marketting documentation helping us to sell our services, performance (Web/Win).

Less releases and more assured before publishing to reduce the effort that we've to make in every release (we have 9 products developed with XAF and sometimes is hard to keep them up to date)

Thanks from spain and good Job,

Sebastià Prat

January 20, 2009 1:18 AM
 

Davor said:

VCL: Another vote for Layout control (with tabbed groups and possibly validators) and definitely a LayoutView for ExpressGrid !!!

January 20, 2009 9:11 AM
 

Steve said:

Sebasti:  I can understand the effort required to update to a new release.  However, no one is saying that you have to update your programs when DevExpress releases a new version of their controls.  I feel that the more releases from  DevExpress, the better.  This ensuers that they are releasing their new enhancements / bug fixes as soon as possible.  It is your decision as to whether you want/need to upgrade your projects.  Maybe you should choose to upgrade only on every other release instead of every release?  Just my thoughts.

January 20, 2009 10:10 AM
 

Andreas Obermueller said:

inc(VCL_Components);

(And PLEASE have a look at S91909.)

January 20, 2009 5:04 PM
 

Grant Dunoon said:

A Table button for the HTML Editor..please.

January 20, 2009 10:40 PM
 

Sebastia Prat i Pons said:

Hello Steve,

I'm agree with you. But if you don't update to the new release you can't prevent for "breaking" the software. We've some specifics relateds to the XAF.Core and it makes more sensitive to the changes.

Form few months ago you can ask/order a fix when you need it, I think this is better than changing all the staff every month ...

But, what's good is having different points of view ;-)

January 21, 2009 2:15 AM
 

Greg Stevenson said:

// VCL is alive and well.

inc(VCL_Components);

January 21, 2009 8:15 AM
 

David Rosen said:

VCL Yes, VCL

It is time for GRID 7! (and LayoutControl 2 of course).

January 21, 2009 9:02 AM
 

DanB said:

++VCL

January 26, 2009 7:55 PM
 

Laurent PIERRE said:

... I cannot believe my eyes this morning. I've received notifications about DevExpress Support Center and concerns old DevExpress LayoutControls suggestions.

1. Suggestion Details: Resizing controls on the fly under customization mode at design-time

www.devexpress.com/.../B3625.aspx

New status is : Processed (Planned) by  Developer Express Team at  1/29/2009 12:08:37 PM

2. Suggestion Details: Add support for page controls / tabbed groups

www.devexpress.com/.../B3623.aspx

New status is Processed (Planned) by  Developer Express Team at  1/29/2009 12:12:44 PM

I'm wondering if DevExpress has started at least the upgrade of TdxLayoutComponents ...

Great news !!!

Thanks, thousand thanks DevExpress Team !!!!

January 29, 2009 8:51 AM

About Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)

Julian is the Chief Technology Officer at Developer Express. You can reach him directly at julianb@devexpress.com. You can also follow him on Twitter with the ID JMBucknall.
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