XPO Team Blog

XPO - 2.7M Downloads, Visual Studio 2022 Support (Visual Designer) Coming Soon, Secure Web API Service Generation Made Easier

2021-11-09T00:31:00Z

XPO ORM – It’s Free and Will Remain Free

A quick reminder: XPO ORM is available free-of-charge. To obtain your free copy, point your browser to: https://www.nuget.org/packages/DevExpress.Xpo (and feel free to share this link with friends/colleagues).

Before I describe our near-term plans for XPO ORM, I’d like to quickly mention a few enhancements of note for the ever-evolving .NET world:

CriteriaOperator.FromLambda (for LINQ-like criteria syntax)
XPO Dependency Injection Extensions (for ASP.NET Core)
An ASP.NET Core Web API CRUD Service (for WebAssembly & Xamarin/MAUI development & System.Text.Json Support)

As you probably know, XPO is available for use across all major .NET UI platforms including WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET, Xamarin, MAUI, and XAF (GitHub tutorials).

XPO is also at the core of many commercial DevExpress products including BI Dashboard, DevExpress Reports, XAF and its security module.

Visual Studio 2022 Support for the ORM Data Model Designer Coming Soon (in v21.2.4)

As you may already know from our recent announcement, we will support XPO's Data Model Designer in v21.2.4 (we are waiting for stable versions of the Modeling SDK and other tooling - available in the official Visual Studio 2022 release). In the meantime, you can:

continue to use design-time functionality in Visual Studio 2019;
reuse our prebuilt CodeRush templates in Visual Studio 2022 to quickly generate your XPO data model in code.

.NET 6 Support

XPO already supports .NET 6 (because XPO assemblies target .NET Standard 2.0). Many users have successfully incorporated XPO in their .NET 6 projects already - please let us know if you encounter any issues in this regard.

1-Click Solution to Create Secure OData v4 API Services from an XPO Data Model

Problem

As I noted above, XPO includes APIs to generate CRUD or OData v4 services (powered by ASP.NET Core Web API). These services, however, do not include any data protection or authorization functionality by default. Authorization and authentication need to be implemented on their own (just like with any other .NET ORM, including Entity Framework).

But let's be honest: for most (myself included), creating a robust security system is a serious and costly undertaking. This is especially true if your enterprise requires field-tested Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and advanced authentication based on JWT + OAuth2 for Azure AD. Yes, too many acronyms and SDK to master, too many `principals`, `access tokens`, and `claims` to remember (brrr…my apologies to ASP.NET Core Identity creators and experts, but I personally hate this complexity. If people reading this are the same down-to-earth .NET developers like I am, please add "+1" in the comments section below).

A long-term customer and MVP, Joche Ojeda, explained the complexity problem much better than I can:

One of the things I ask my customers is 'do you really want to develop a security system from scratch?' Experience tells me that when someone really wants to build a security system from scratch, it is because they have never had to build one before. Fact is that if you have built a security system from scratch, you'll definitely want to avoid it.

Solution

XAF's Solution Wizard v21.2 includes a "1-Click" solution to create ASP.NET Core Web/HTTP API services (via OData v4 and Swagger/OpenAPI). This service allows developers to reuse ORM-based application data, logic, and modules (like CRUD, security authorization and authentication) within non-XAF apps. You can use OAuth2, JWT or custom strategies for authentication and tools like Postman or Swagger for API testing.

How It Works

To test this automatic API scaffolding, XPO users can:

1. Register a free offer at https://www.devexpress.com/security-api-free. When you register for a free DevExpress product, you can use your registered product for as long as your needs dictate. Should an update be made available free-of-charge, you will be notified via email or this website. Updates that are issued free-of-charge can also be used indefinitely.

2. Download and run the DevExpress Unified Component Installer to register XAF's Solution Wizard within Visual Studio 2019 (Visual Studio 2022 support will be available soon - v21.2.4+);

3. Create a new application with the Web API using XAF's Solution Wizard, and register your XPO classes for interoperability needs. Run the service and it will display the Swagger UI for API testing automatically. For more information, check out this overview video:

Browser not compatible.

NOTE: should you prefer to implement secure Web API services with XPO or EF Core 5 manually, please check our GitHub examples.

Future Plans

Our Web API Service project template (for XPO users) ships as a preview in v21.2. We plan to officially release this functionality for XPO in May, 2022 (v22.1). The next major version (v22.2) should also support EF Core 6 for data access. Finally, we expect to support new .NET 6-related features and optimize assembly dependencies in 2022.
We also want to publish this Web API Service template as VSIX in Visual Studio Marketplace for everyone who registered for our free offer (we will eliminate the need to download and run the DevExpress Unified Component Installer).
We will keep XPO connection providers up to date with the latest database engine versions (Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostreSQL, Firebird, etc.) and extend support based on user feedback. We will also expand XPO connection provider support with SAP HANA.

Your Feedback Matters

Thank you for your continued support and your commitment to XPO. Feel free to post your thoughts/comments below and let us know what you think of XPO and where you’d like to see us take XPO in 2022.

XPO - Updated .NET Core Examples, Performance Benchmarks for EF Core 5.0 and More (v20.1)

2020-06-04T08:30:00Z

Performance Benchmarks

The release of XPO v20.1 gave us an opportunity to update our benchmarks for XPO and Entity Framework Core: https://github.com/DevExpress/XPO/tree/master/Benchmarks. We were primarily interested in EF Core 3.1.3 vs EF Core 5.0, but we did not notice much difference in our tests (PDF). As for XPO vs EF Core 3.1.3, results are very similar to v19.2.

As always, we welcome your feedback. If you had the opportunity to execute our benchmark tests, please share your thoughts below. We’d love to know whether our findings are in-line with yours.

Updated .NET Core Examples

We identified 30 of our most popular XPO examples and added .NET Core 3.1 projects to them. I hope you find this update useful as .NET Core gains in popularity. To learn XPO faster, feel free to explore the following technical resources:

CRUD tutorials for various .NET UI platforms
Examples and concepts in the documentation
KB articles in the support center.

We have also updated XPO and EF Core examples with XAF's user authentication and group authorization API to v20.1.4 (GitHub). Hopefully, you will find these access control/security functions of value for your enterprise. To quickly familiarize yourself with XAF's security system, please review these Frequently Asked Questions.

Noteworthy Support Center Tickets

Changes in Visual Studio 2019 v16.6.0 caused the standard Class.cs item template (with an empty class) to disappear in the Add | New Item dialog. As a fix, you can update to the latest version or disable the XPO extension (T892485).
We softened default parameter validation with regard to SELECT, UPDATE, and INSERT statements in XPO v20.1.4 (T890958).
We demonstrated how to unit test custom logic in XAF/XPO business classes with InMemoryDataStore (T884471).
Check how to use XPO Dependency Injection extensions to setup multiple data layers for ASP.NET Core Web API services (T864202).
Learn how to troubleshoot the "Reentrancy or cross thread operation detected" errors (T419520).
We implemented a console version of XPO Profiler to detect performance bottlenecks and code issues (T882761).
FileNotFoundException and TypeLoadException related to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient may occur in debug mode (T885153).

XPO - Important Changes to Default Query Parameter Validation (v20.1)

2020-05-21T04:38:00Z

Problem

We recently documented the following changes in v20.1.3:

Unfortunately, we failed to anticipate the scope of query parameter inconsistencies within customer apps (EAP/Beta feedback did not uncover this issue). Despite benefits associated with our changes, we do not want to force XPO users to modify their code immediately or revert to previous behavior manually (with feature toggles).

Solution

We softened default parameter validation with regard to SELECT, UPDATE, and INSERT statements in our v20.1.4 release.
We introduced a new DevExpress.Xpo.DB.QueryParameterMode enumeration with the following values:

Legacy: for v19.2 and older versions.
SetType (Default): will only validate parameter type without size. Will preserve all performance optimizations. SetType will still catch errors such as Guid parameter comparisons with strings (learn more).
SetTypeAndSize: will validate type and size. It will be automatically set for MSSqlConnectionProvider and Always Encrypted).

You can set the ConnectionProviderSql.QueryParameterMode property or the ConnectionProviderSql.GlobalQueryParameterMode static property as needed. Example:

using DevExpress.Xpo.DB;
//...
ConnectionProviderSql.GlobalQueryParameterMode = QueryParameterMode.Legacy;

The majority of XPO users will not need to modify this behavior, because new defaults should address most requirements.

Feedback

Please test a new build and let us know how this solution works for you.

XPO - Automate Database Schema Migration using the ORM Data Model Designer or APIs

2020-04-20T06:38:00Z

We’ve got some good news for the majority of XPO and XAF users! With v20.1, you can incrementally update your database schema once changes are made to an XPO data model. You can generate diffs (the SQL script) between the latest data model and the existing database schema in the ORM Data Model Designer or in code. As always, we welcome your feedback.

How it Works

In the Data Model Designer, right-click the design surface and select the Generate Migration Script menu item. The designer will add a new file with SQL commands and open it in Visual Studio.

If you create XPO classes manually, the following example demonstrates how to generate a schema migration script and update your database programmatically: How to Use the Database Schema Migrations API.

Supported Databases and Limitations

At present, the following data store providers support this feature: MSSqlConnectionProvider, MySqlConnectionProvider, OracleConnectionProvider, ODPConnectionProvider, ODPManagedConnectionProvider, PostgreSqlConnectionProvider.
The Database Schema Migration API may change prior to official release. Interfaces and method names are subject to change in the final release.
The Data Model Designer cannot generate a schema migration script if your Data Model contains classes imported from external assemblies. For instance, in XAF applications, the Base Class property can reference built-in business classes shipped with eXpressApp Framework (XAF). This scenario is not supported in our CTP version. You can still use API methods to generate a migration script in XAF apps.
The Data Model Designer does not allow you to specify custom schema migration options.
If you rename a class or property, the schema migration script will delete the corresponding table or column and create a new one.
The Data Model Designer cannot generate a database update script if the Data Model contains classes mapped to database views.

eXpress Persistent Objects - Early Access Preview (v20.1)

2020-03-06T01:08:00Z

The goal of this blog post is to share our newest XPO-specific features and give you the opportunity to test new functionality before we wrap up our current dev cycle. XPO is available free-of-charge. If you own an active Universal or DXperience subscription, you can download the preview build from the DevExpress Download Manager and test the features described in this blog post. Once you do, please take a moment tell us whether these new features address your business needs. This will help us fine-tune our code before official launch.

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 backup 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 v20.1 release cycle. As its name implies, the EAP offers an early preview of what we expect to ship in two months.

Protect Sensitive Data - Using SQL Server and Always Encrypted

XPO v20.1 supports Always Encrypted for SQL Server 2016+. You can now read, update, sort and filter encrypted column data (the last two operations depend on encryption mode).

If you are not yet familiar with this SQL Server feature, let me quote the official documentation:

Always Encrypted is a feature designed to protect sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or national identification numbers (for example, U.S. social security numbers), stored in Azure SQL Database or SQL Server databases. Always Encrypted allows clients to encrypt sensitive data inside client applications and never reveal the encryption keys to the Database Engine (SQL Database or SQL Server).

For more information, refer to Always Encrypted and Using Always Encrypted with the Microsoft .NET Data Provider for SQL Server.

If you are new to Always Encrypted, you may also want to watch a 15-min feature overview from Jose Ojeda, a DevExpress MVP: Browser not compatible.

Please Help Us Test Major Changes to the XPO Core against All DB Providers

Previous versions of XPO could only use encrypted tables in read-only mode (because SQL Server imposed special requirements on SQL update statements). To address these requirements, we significantly reworked the core SQL generator module. While we avoided breaking changes for other database providers and our tests passed, we urge XPO users to thoroughly test the Early Access Preview within their projects and research these breaking changes:

If you happen to encounter other breaking changes or unique scenarios, please contact us in the Support Center. Thank you in advance.

The DevExpress.Xpo library for .NET Core 3 (WinForms & WPF) has been removed or replaced with the corresponding .NET Standard version. For more information, please refer to the following article: The DevExpress.Data and other cross-platform assemblies for .NET Core 3 (WinForms & WPF), .NET Standard, and.NET Framework apps have been split or removed. While these changes will not affect the majority of XPO users, they help simplify common development tasks like How to Share Class Libraries with the DevExpress Data or XPO Dependencies for Different Target Frameworks.

XPO Officially Supports Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Microsoft recommends the new Microsoft.Data.SqlClient driver instead of System.Data.SqlClient for new .NET Framework and .NET Core projects. Going forward, Microsoft will also only support new SQL Server features in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.

We tested XPO with this new driver, updated the Database Systems Supported by XPO article and some public APIs. For instance, the CreateSqlDependencyCacheRoot methods now accept an IDbConnection object as a parameter.

Coming Soon: Database Schema Migrations

Our final v20.1 release (in 1-2 months) will also allow users to incrementally update database schema and preserve existing data after changes are made to XPO’s data model (AS4684). Our goal is to make this process better than that found in EF Core Migrations. For starters, we will generate diffs between the latest data model and existing database schema so that you can apply the SQL script manually. For v20.2, we are considering to update schema automatically via a special command in the ORM Data Model Designer or some CLI. If you have any questions or suggestions about implementation, feel free to email us at XpoTeam@devexpress.com - we will be happy to follow up.

This EAP may not include all features/products we expect to ship in our v20.1 release cycle. As its name implies, the EAP offers an early preview of what we expect to ship in two months.

eXpress Persistent Objects - 2020 Roadmap

2020-01-22T05:54:00Z

To help us deliver the best possible features for the eXpress Persistent Objects (XPO) ORM library in 2020, please take a moment to review the list below and share your opinions with us.

Housekeeping & .NET Core

There are a number of housekeeping tasks that need to be completed during each release cycle. The following list summarizes our plans for 2020.

Keep XPO connection providers up to date with the latest database engines and extend support based on user feedback. We will also expand .NET Core connection provider support when more RDBMS vendors join the fray (for instance, we already supported Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in v20.1).
Introduce more demos and extend learning materials for the main platforms wherein XPO is used (see https://github.com/DevExpress/XPO/tree/master/Tutorials for more information). Note: we will soon demonstrate CRUD XPO operations with the DevExpress WinForms MVVM library.
Support Visual Studio vNext, .NET 5 and C# 8.0 features like Nullable Reference Types (features that will affect every .NET developer in 2020).
Implement Web API-based replacements for DataStoreClient and related classes from Transferring Data via WCF Services - all to be used in .NET Core/.NET Standard apps.

SQL Server "Always Encrypted"

We hope to refactor our core to introduce typed query parameters (for instance, null parameters with type information or additional information such as ping). This will help us support Always Encrypted - a very important feature for enterprise customers. Batch updates and operations on slow connections will also benefit from this refactoring. Expect a Beta in v20.1 and a final release in v20.2.

Database Schema Migrations

We want a simpler process to incrementally update database schema and preserve existing data after changes are made to XPO’s data model (AS4684). At present, we handle initial database creation and schema tuning along with basic data model changes only (create tables and columns for new classes and properties). For more complex sync tasks, developers need to create database scripts or specialized helper methods. For instance, XAF's ModuleUpdater ships with the DropColumn, RenameTable, DropConstraint and other APIs for Microsoft SQL Server for this purpose. Our goal is to make this process better than that found in EF Core Migrations. Expect a Beta in v20.1 and a final release in v20.2.

Your Opinion Counts

As always, we look forward to your comments and questions. Please share your thoughts below or email xpoteam@devexpress.com.

The information contained within this blog post details our current/projected development plans. Please note that this information is being shared for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY and does not represent a binding commitment on the part of Developer Express Inc. This roadmap and the features/products listed within it are subject to change. You should not rely on or use this information to help make a purchase decision about Developer Express Inc products.

XPO - How to Share Class Libraries with the DevExpress Data or XPO Dependencies for Different Target Frameworks

2019-11-07T17:05:00Z

UPDATED on March 13th 2020:

The former core DevExpress.Data and DevExpress.Xpo assemblies for .NET Core 3 (WinForms & WPF) and .NET Framework apps have been changed in v20.1. Their functionality now resides in the following assemblies:

DevExpress.Data and DevExpress.Xpo for .NET Standard;
DevExpress.Data and DevExpress.Xpo for .NET Framework;
DevExpress.Data.Desktop for .NET Core 3 (WinForms & WPF);
DevExpress.Data.Desktop for .NET Framework.

These changes are done for easier maintenance, clearer dependencies, and future code extension of .NET Core apps and the corresponding NuGet packages. This also helps greatly simplify common development tasks like sharing Class Libraries with the DevExpress.Data or DevExpress.Xpo dependencies for different Target Frameworks. For more information, see The DevExpress.Data, DevExpress.Xpo, and other cross-platform assemblies for .NET Core 3 (WinForms & WPF), .NET Standard, and.NET Framework apps have been split or removed.

---------------------------------------

Early .NET Core 3.0 adopters (those targeting WinForms and WPF) might recall that sharing common libraries with the DevExpress.Data or DevExpress.Xpo assemblies is more difficult for the "netcoreapp3.0" and "netstandard2.0" projects.

The good news is that we found a simpler solution - Cross-platform targeting or Multi-Targeting. This approach will help you avoid two CSPROJ files for different Target Frameworks - less code duplication and maintenance costs for your solution. To make it work, the CSPOJ file defines TargetFrameworks element and required dependencies for each target conditions. You can download a working sample from this Support Center ticket (T808990).

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFrameworks>netstandard2.0;netcoreapp3.0</TargetFrameworks>
    <Description>Sample project that targets multiple TFMs</Description>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetFramework)' == 'netstandard2.0'">
    <PackageReference Include="DevExpress.Xpo" Version="19.2.3" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetFramework)' == 'netcoreapp3.0'">
    <PackageReference Include="DevExpress.WindowsDesktop.Xaf" Version="19.2.3-ctp" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

The sample has the following structure and dependencies:

For more information on .NET Core 3.0 and .NET Standard 2.0 support in XPO, see this documentation topic.

Your Feedback Matters

Are you developing cross-platform libraries like this? If so, please share your thoughts and tell us other about the challenges you’ve encountered.

Are you experimenting with .NET Core 3? We’d love to know more about your experiences and whether you expect to port an existing WinForms and/or WPF app?

XPO - VistaDB 6, PostgreSQL 12 Support & More (v19.2)

2019-11-01T05:05:00Z

As you may already know, we released v19.2 last week. In this post, I want to highlight a couple of small, but important additions to our ORM.

VistaDB 6 Support

XPO v19.2.3 supports the latest version of VistaDB 6 with VistaDb6ConnectionProvider. Related Support Tickets: T824999 | T822805 | T828597.

PostgreSQL 12 Support

The new version of this popular open-source database engine was also released this month. XPO will support PostgreSQL 12 in our next update (v19.2.4). Related Support Ticket: T818996.

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Microsoft recommends the new Microsoft.Data.SqlClient instead of System.Data.SqlClient for new projects. The new driver targets both .NET Framework and .NET Core apps. Going forward, support for new SQL Server features will only be implemented in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.

We already researched this new driver and it seems that XPO will support it without problems. Expect more news from us in coming months.

Please let us know if you already tested the new driver with or without XPO on your own. Thanks.

XPO - Updated Performance Benchmarks for .NET Core 3.0 (v19.2)

2019-10-30T00:33:00Z

The release of .NET Core 3 and XPO v19.2.3 gave us the opportunity to update benchmarks for XPO and Entity Framework. If you’re interested in learning more and executing the tests yourself, please point your browser to the following repository:

https://github.com/DevExpress/XPO/tree/master/Benchmarks.

Here’s a quick summary of our findings and things you ought to consider when comparing performance of XPO and Entity Framework:

On large data sets, XPO performs much better than other ORMs (in nearly all instances).
On small data sets, XPO performs better in some tests (minor differences).
In all tests, XPO shows a linear relationship between execution time and record count. EF6 and EF Core show non-linear relationship worse than O(n).
In certain situations, good-old EF6 out performs EF Core 3.0 (especially when working with large amounts of data).
XPO has potential for optimizations in object instantiation and high-latency network scenarios (EF Core is better in such cases). XPO is better optimized for connections with low latency or those with good bandwidth (for instance, a local server).

Sample of Our Results – InsertOne Method

Your Feedback Matters

As always, we welcome your feedback. If you had the opportunity to execute our benchmark tests, please share your thoughts below.

We’d love to know whether our findings are in-line with yours.

eXpress Persistent Objects - Early Access Preview (v19.2)

2019-08-19T13:00:00Z

As you probably know by now, we expect to release v19.2 within the next few months. The goal of this blog post is to share our newest XPO-specific features and give you the opportunity to test new functionality before we wrap up our current dev cycle.

XPO is available free-of-charge. If you own an active Universal or DXperience subscription, you can download the preview build from the DevExpress Download Manager and test the features described in this blog post. Once you do, please take a moment tell us whether these new features address your business needs. This will help us fine-tune our code before official launch.

.NET Core 3.0 Desktop SDK Support for WinForms and WPF Apps

XPO for .NET Core 3.0 WinForms and WPF apps can be added using the DevExpress.WindowsDesktop.* packages from our NuGet feed. For more information, please read this recent blog post.

Known Issue in EAP v19.2: .NET Core 3.0 Desktop - XPInstantFeedbackView is missing in the assembly.

ORM Data Model Designer & LINQ Enhancements

Our designer can now store connection strings in appsettings.json, generate JSON serialization and Dependency Injection extensions (all of which are very important for .NET Core projects). We also gave the designer a slight face-lift, added more meaningful error messages/text, and introduced support for SelectMany and WithDeleted methods in XPQuery. For more information, please read this recent blog post.

Custom Aggregates for Collections of Persistent Objects

In addition to predefined aggregates (Sum, Count, Min, Max, Avg, Single, Exists), XPO users can now implement custom aggregates. You can use them to query data with XPQuery and with data sources that support CriteriaOperator (including server mode collections).

// Criteria string for a custom aggregate with a detail collection property or Free Joins.
"YourCollection.YourCustomAggregate(YourNestedProperty)"

// Specific criteria string examples for the Orders collection and the CountDistinct and STDEVP custom aggregates.
"[Orders][].CountDistinct([ProductName])", "[Orders][].STDEVP([Price])"

// Criteria string for a custom aggregate with a top-level collection of persistent objects.
"[].CUSTOM_AGGREGATE('YourCustomAggregate', YourNestedProperty)"

// LINQ to XPO usage of custom aggregates (CountDistinct and STDEVP) with a detail collection property.
new XPQuery<Customer>(theSession)
    .Select(t => new {
        ContactName = t.ContactName,
        CountDistinct = CountDistinctCustomAggregate.CountDistinct(
            t.Orders, o => o.ProductName
        ),
        QuantityVariance = STDEVPCustomAggregate.STDEVP(
            t.Orders, o => o.Quantity
        ),
        PriceVariance = STDEVPCustomAggregate.STDEVP(
            t.Orders, o => o.Price
        ),
     }).OrderBy(t => t.ContactName).ToList();

To create a custom aggregate, implement the following interfaces: ICustomAggregate, ICustomAggregateQueryable, ICustomAggregateFormattable. To register a custom aggregate, use the CriteriaOperator.RegisterCustomAggregate method - method - nearly the same process as that used when creating a custom criteria function.

For more information, please refer to this WinForms sample on GitHub and online documentation at Custom Aggregate Functions.

Using NuGet? Our unified .NET installer automatically configures the Local NuGet feed for you.

XPO Data Source for DevExpress Dashboard

We created the DevExpress.DashboardCommon.DashboardXpoDataSource component to help XPO users bind their persistent class data to DevExpress Dashboard (DevExpress Dashboard is part of the Universal Subscription). You can configure the new component in code or use the built-in dashboard designer.

For more information, please refer to these WinForms samples on GitHub: Runtime, Design-Time.

Your Feedback Matters!

Your thoughts and perspectives are always appreciated. Please use the comments section below, create a new Support Center ticket or email xpoteam@devexpress.com to engage us.

We know you’re busy, but we ask that you take a moment out of your schedule to answer the survey questions below. Thanks in advance for your participation.

NOTE: 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 backup your project and other important data before installing Early Access and CTP builds.