Visual Studio 2022 and .NET 6 Support

We have noticed a slight uptick in Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 and .NET 6-related support traffic. In this post, we'll take a closer look at what you can expect from DevExpress in our upcoming release (v21.2).

Visual Studio 2022 Support

First and foremost — yes, v21.2.3 will support the most recent Release Candidate build of Visual Studio 2022. Once Microsoft releases a final build, we'll update our release plans and make an official announcement on our website (we expect to offer official Visual Studio 2022 support in v21.2.4).

Like you, we have been testing our products against preview builds and we don’t expect to encounter any showstoppers (be they runtime or design time) prior to Microsoft’s official release.

DevExpress installers will ship separate VSIX extensions for Visual 2022 (alongside older versions of Visual Studio) to ensure that all major design-time tools (like the "DevExpress" menu, DevExpress Template Gallery, Project Updater, Toolbox, etc.) are fully functional.

CodeRush

CodeRush v21.1.6+ includes a new extension with Visual Studio 2022 RC support. You can download this extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace (the existing CodeRush extension supports Visual Studio 2015, 2017, and 2019).

Xamarin & .NET MAUI

Our free .NET MAUI or Xamarin.Forms UI controls will include a new Template Gallery (v21.2.3). Like other DevExpress application template wizards, our .NET MAUI/Xamarin.Forms Template Gallery was designed to simplify initial app setup.

Known Visual Studio RC 2022-related Issues (EAP and Beta 1 builds)

• WinForms .NET: You cannot design .NET Core applications in Visual Studio 2022 RC/Preview. To use the design time in a .NET Core 3.1, .NET 5 or .NET 6 project, use Visual Studio 2019. This limitation applies to .NET 5 and .NET 6 projects only, .NET Framework is fully supported.
  
  11/10/2021: v21.2.3 (the Release build) fully supports Visual Studio 2022 Preview5/6. You can use the DevExpress.Win.Design package in both Visual Studios (2019 and 2022) to develop .NET 5 and .NET 6 projects.
  11/24/2021: Pressing the "Delete" key to remove a control at design time leads to an error. This issue is fixed in the v21.2.4 build.
• Reports: At present time, our Report Designer is not available within Visual Studio 2022. We expect to offer complete Visual Studio 2022 support for both .NET Framework and .NET projects in v21.2.4.
  
  11/10/2021: v21.2.3 (the Release build) fully supports Visual Studio 2022 (RC3 Preview 7/RTM and newer builds). See the following help topic for additional information: Report Designer in .NET 5/.NET 6 apps.
• XAF/XPO: We will support XPO's ORM Data Model Designer, XAF's Model Editor and Solution Wizard in v21.2.4 (we are awaiting stable versions of the Modeling SDK and other tooling. The good news is that some XAF/XPO users are successfully running their projects under .NET 6 previews today (learn more).
• Documentation: The F1 shortcut does not open an online documentation page describing the focused control or API.
  
  11/23/2021: The F1 shortcut is functional in v21.2.4 or newer.

According to Microsoft, Preview builds of Visual Studio should not be used for production code. To better address your business needs, we’d love to learn more about your Visual Studio migration strategy. Are you using Visual Studio 2022 Preview/RC for production code today? Please comment below or post a ticket on the DevExpress Support Center. Your feedback will help us refine delivery schedules/announcements for future versions of Visual Studio.

.NET 6 Support

Our desktop controls/components (WinForms and WPF) support the latest Preview build of .NET 6. In addition, the DevExpress Template Gallery includes WinForms and WPF templates for .NET 5 and .NET 6.

XAF, XPO, Reports, DevExtreme and MAUI controls/components will work in our upcoming v21.2 beta. We expect to announce official support in November (once we officially release v21.2).

Though v21.2 beta 1 will not include .NET 6 support for Blazor, we expect to deliver .NET 6 support once Microsoft officially releases .NET 6.

Known .NET 6-related Issues (EAP and Beta 1 Builds)

Visual Studio Design Tooling does not support multiple unique (IDE-specific) design assemblies inside a single NuGet package. For this reason (and this reason alone), our DevExpress.Win.Design NuGet package does not offer design-time support for .NET 6 projects in Visual Studio 2022 (Preview/RC builds). While frustrating, a workaround exists: start and design a .NET 5 project in Visual Studio 2019 then rebuild the project with .NET 6.

11/10/2021: v21.2.3 (the Release build) fully supports Visual Studio 2022 Preview5/6. You can use the DevExpress.Win.Design package in both Visual Studios (2019 and 2022) to develop .NET 5 and .NET 6 projects.

Project Converter

Many of you are already familiar with our Project Converter – an indispensable tool for those converting from one major version of our product library to another. If you have never used our Project Converter and wish to learn more, please check out the following help topic: Project Converter.

We are currently working on a .NET Framework to .NET 6 Converter. At present, this new tool can convert standard WPF and WinForms projects to .NET 6, but we're hoping to extend it so you can leverage its capabilities (as a universal conversion tool) regardless of application type/target platform.

Visual Studio 2022 and .NET 6 Support for Older Versions

Our current focus remains on v21.2. We have yet to finalize Visual Studio 2022-related delivery plans for older builds (v21.1x or earlier). If we do offer a Visual Studio 2022-compatible version of an older build, we’ll announce it here.

11/10/2021: We currently have no plans to introduce the Visual Studio support in versions prior to v21.2.

Your Feedback Matters

As always, we welcome your feedback. If you’re using Visual Studio 2022/targeting .NET 6, we’d love to hear from you. Specifically, are you using Visual Studio 2022 for production code? Have you migrated existing solutions to .NET 6 (or begun a new .NET 6 project)? What framed your decision to migrate to .NET 6 and/or use Visual Studio 2022 prior to official release?

Free DevExpress Products - Get Your Copy Today