XAF - Updated demos, usability enhancements, important documentation updates and more (v18.2)

This article summarizes the most interesting features added to XAF in the minor updates that followed the v18.2 launch.

UI & UX Enhancements

1. v18.2.3 introduced Accordion as a navigation control option. There was significant excitement among our customer base about the new enhancements, including the integrated search option, SVG support, and the modern look and feel that matched the latest Microsoft Outlook version. To maintain that same style across your entire application, we disabled icons in navigation controls and module tabs. To revert to the previous style with images, use the following options: IModelLayoutManagerOptions.EnableLayoutGroupImages, IModelOptionsWin.ShowTabImage and IModelRootNavigationItems.ShowImages. The complete list of default settings for new XAF v18.2 projects is available in the following KB article: Default XAF configuration options and feature toggles.
2. WinForms LookupPropertyEditor's clear buttons (X's) are now visible only when editors receive focus. As a result, there will be less visual noise on typical business forms.

3. Give immediate feedback on our demos thanks to the new Like and Dislike buttons that were added to our XCRM, MainDemo and SimpleProjectManager apps. Opening a Support Center ticket is no longer required to tell us what you think about each screen.

   

4. We updated the Object Model dialog available from the Column Chooser. v18.2.7 introduces Automatic Filter Row support. This capability was requested by our customers a few years ago (S133746, T714543), and we did enable incremental search on those forms in 2011. The new Automatic Filter Row makes the UI much more intuitive.

   
   

Other enhancements & important news

1. DPI-Aware is the default mode for demos and new projects in v18.2.7 (we will update this article soon).
2. We no longer recommend the use of XafApplication > TablePrefixes and related API. For recommended practices, refer to this KB article.
3. We have corrected ObjectDisposedException in the following scenarios: T691669, T691853, T616104, T395155. We recommend that you use object identifiers instead of references in criteria (for example, “AssignedTo.Manager.Oid” instead of “AssignedTo.Manager”). This practice will help you avoid exceptions.
4. There were edge cases that threw SqlException if a link was added to many-to-many collections. We have found a way to avoid the exception (T297673).
5. Good news for Entity Framework users! The standalone Model Editor and its design-time counterpart now take full Entity Framework class metadata into account (T711818).

Documentation Updates

With your feedback as the cornerstone for changes, we have completed a major update to documentation on Actions. We have reviewed over a dozen of documents to add relevant links, examples, and more illustrations. The improvements will help you understand Actions better and use them more efficiently.

Updates have also been made to the following articles:

• UI Element Overview
  We improved the description and added two new diagrams to help illustrate the concept.
• Views | List Editors | View Items | Action Containers.
  We expanded the topic with relevant links and details on usage scenarios.
• Ways to Access UI Elements and Their Controls
  This new topic details examples on common tasks that involve List Views, View Items and Property Editors.
• How to: Access Master-Detail View and Nested List View Environment.
  We described four common usage scenarios and added examples.
• Collection Properties in XPO
  We extended the topic with examples, information about collection properties, and detailed information about Actions and Action visibility for each collection.
• Using a Custom Control that is not Integrated by Default
• How to: Access the List Editor's Control
• Ways to Show a Confirmation Dialog

Security system users should review the following topic: Merging of Permissions Defined in Different Roles. The latter explains how Security System processes permissions for users with several roles.

Your feedback on our documentation is greatly valued. Consider leaving a comment in this blog post or use the feedback form available at the bottom-right corner on every documentation page (docs.devexpress.com).

Coming soon in v19.1 – updated and improved code examples in 100 most popular XAF and XPO API Reference topics. Made possible by your feedback.

Interesting Support Center Tickets

1. New suggested ways to improve Pivot Grid List Editor performance when dealing with large amounts of data: T687056.
2. Tips on how to avoid excessive ConditionalAppearance rule updates and improve overall form performance: S171794.
3. Some of you indicated that they prefer the old E4037 solution over How to use  Google, Facebook and Microsoft accounts in ASP.NET XAF applications. If you are weighing the two options, please contact us and answer the questions in T705146.
4. We improved the article on how to create business classes and members at runtime: T284822.
5. In a recent blog post we recommended that you use the nameof keyword instead of hardcoded property names in XPO business objects. CodeRush templates can help you do that. If you need to update an existing application, see ticket T713839 for regular expressions that you can use in Visual Studio's Find and Replace | Replace in Files dialog.
6. How to group Actions within a drop down or context menu: T709407
7. New ways to show a popup window from another popup: T711034
8. Bug fix - an issue with DBUpdater ("An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format") when the target project's 'Platform target' property is 'x64': T707637.
9. A warning on namespaces for VB.NET users of the ORM Data Model Wizard: T705913.
10. Clarification on the use of Session in XPO objects versus the use of IObjectSpace to run your business logic: T716446.

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