DevExpress UI for .NET Core Roadmap 2020 (Desktop and Web) – Your Opinion Counts

Desktop (WinForms & WPF)

.NET Core 3.1 and .NET 5

We introduced official support for .NET Core 3.0 in our v19.2 release cycle. In a couple of weeks, we will publish a maintenance update that was tested against .NET Core 3.1. We are also excited about .NET 5 and we will be ready to publish our update alongside its release in November 2020.

WPF Designer

Since .NET Core uses a new surface isolation architecture for the WPF designer, most of designer extensions for our WPF Controls are currently available only for .NET Framework. We are working on the following designer features for .NET Core:

• Smart Tags.
• Selection of non-visual elements (Data Grid columns, Toolbar & Ribbon items).
• Applying application themes from App.config to all designer previews.
• Configuration wizards (Chart Designer, Diagram Designer, Feature Browser for the Data Grid).

WinForms and Reporting Designers

The latest preview version of the WinForms designer for .NET Core is now available (Visual Studio 16.5 Preview 1). It introduces new features such as designer actions and scroll bars but does not support third-party controls. We will continue to monitor updates from Microsoft and will release a preview build with our designer extensions as soon as the WinForms designer matures.

For now (due to the lack of designer support), our WinForms controls are available as a community tech preview (CTP). DevExpress WinForms and WPF Reporting controls also rely on the WinForms designer and as such, are also available as a CTP.

XAF Designers and EF Core Support

We will continue to monitor Microsoft updates with regard to the component designer in .NET Core 3+ and see if we can support our Model Editor, Application, Module, Controller and Action Designers. This is important for XAF's WinForms and Blazor UI.

We will also support basic Entity Framework Core usage scenarios – those needed for XAF's User Authentication and Group Authorization API in non-XAF apps and XAF's Blazor UI.

Additional Plans

All new desktop functionality coming in 2020 will run on .NET Core. Please refer to the following blog posts for more information on some of the things we have planned for 2020.

• Windows Forms
• WPF
• Reporting
• Dashboard
• Desktop Charting & Mapping
• Office File API & Office-Inspired UI Controls
• ORM Library (XPO)
• App Framework (XAF)

Web

ASP.NET Core Controls

Our ASP.NET Core components will include a number of additions in 2020:

• We will officially ship our ASP.NET Core Gantt and ASP.NET Core Diagram components as well as implement the new one from scratch - Splitter.
• We will implement a WYSIWYG client-side PDF export in RichEdit and numerous FileManager enhancements (extended APIs, improved UX for notifications, etc.).
• We will ship a new unified wizard with more options to configure ASP.NET Core projects, accessibility and other numerous enhancements for TreeView, DataGrid, Scheduler, Charts and Maps.
• You should also expect improved responsiveness (from Toolbars and Menus to our Scheduler and DataGrid) and much more.

For more detailed information and to cast your vote for each item described above, please refer to the following post: ASP.NET Core Roadmap 2020 - Your Vote Counts.

Blazor Components and App Framework

To see roadmap for our Blazor components for the first half of 2020, refer to this post. For more information on how we will use these DevExpress Blazor components to build the new XAF's Web & Mobile UI in 2020, refer to this post.

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