DevExpress Reports & BI Dashboard — June 2024 Roadmap (v24.1) — Survey & Feature Preview Inside

As always, thank you for your continued support and for choosing DevExpress Reports and DevExpress BI Dashboard. We appreciate the faith and confidence you’ve placed in our products. Please take a moment to review the following roadmap for our mid-year release (v24.1) and share your thoughts with us in the multiple surveys within this article.

DevExpress Reports

Non-Windows Environment / Cloud Support

Performance Enhancements

Non-Windows
Completed. Available in EAP v24.1

During this release cycle, we will allocate resources to profile and decrease memory consumption when using the DevExpress Drawing Graphics Library (based on SkiaSharp). Our aim is to improve the overall performance of document generation and reduce the time needed to build and export report documents within non-Windows environments.

SVG Export

All Platforms
In Development

DevExpress Reports will include a new export type which will allow users to save reports as a collection of scalable vector graphics (SVG) images. This new export format will produce high-quality, lightweight vector report page images without any loss of text content quality. This will be of value for those who wish to modify/share report images or embed report thumbnails on web pages (since the SVG format is fully compatible with modern browsers).

We are committed to making this new export type available on all supported platforms and deployment environments, including Unix-based systems.

Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services App Deployment Tutorials

Non-Windows
Completed. Available in EAP v24.1

We hope to simplify the app deployment process for the world's top two* cloud environments (Microsoft Azure and AWS). To achieve this objective, we will create a comprehensive set of help topics and address deployment-related issues/strategies. 

(*according to data from Statista)

Accessibility Enhancements

WinForms WPF ASP.NET Core ASP.NET WebForms ASP.NET MVC Blazor Angular
In Development

In our v24.1 release cycle, we expect to meet WCAG 2.2 (AA level) accessibility guidelines/requirements for the following components:

• WinForms Report Viewer
• WPF Report Viewer
• Blazor Native Report Viewer
• Enhanced Keyboard Navigation for the HTML JS Report Viewer (Angular, React, ASP.NET Core, Web Forms, MVC)

New Features

Native Report Viewers for Angular and React

Angular React ASP.NET Core
In Development. Updates for Angular Report Viewer Available in v23.2.5

We have prioritized the implementation of our Native Angular Report Viewer. This involves a new subscription-based API for customizing the toolbar, supporting the OnPush change detection strategy, and improving keyboard navigation to meet accessibility guidelines.

In addition, we plan to leverage the internal architecture we built for the Angular Report Viewer and use it as a basis for developing our Native React Report Viewer.

Report Viewer — Send an Email

Blazor Server ASP.NET Core
In Development

We'll introduce a new API based on the well-known cross-platform MailKit .NET library. With this new feature, you will be able to send exported reports as email attachments.

Blazor Report Viewer — Deprecated Bootstrap Styles

Blazor
In Development

We plan to complete the transition from Bootstrap rendering to our proprietary rendering engine during this release cycle. This change will allow us to provide a more consistent UI experience for DevExpress Blazor Report Viewer across different Bootstrap versions used within an application. Additionally, this change will allow us to support size modes across all DevExpress Blazor products and introduce new themes and palettes in the future.

For more information, please review the following blog post: Blazor — Upcoming Breaking Changes in Rendering and Bootstrap Support (v22.2).

Web Report Designer — Hide/Restrict Parameters Editing

ASP.NET Core ASP.NET WebForms ASP.NET MVC Blazor Angular
Completed. Scheduled to Release in v24.1 Beta

We will introduce new APIs to disable the ability to edit/create/delete report parameters for Web Report Designer.

New External Parameters Panel Component for Web

ASP.NET Core
Completed. Available in EAP v24.1

We plan to refine our Web Report Viewer architecture and provide a way to use its parameters panel externally, without displaying a report in the Web Report Viewer. This will be of value when an end-user only needs to input parameters for non-visual export/print operations.  The parameters panel will automatically generate its layout, including parameter groups and editors, based on the selected report. 

Reporting for Microsoft Azure — Updated References

ASP.NET Core ASP.NET WebForms ASP.NET MVC Blazor
In Development

We will update our references to reflect the most recent packages and refactor our internal service implementation (designed to host multi-instance web apps with DevExpress Reports on Microsoft Azure). Specifically, we will be updating/overhauling our current  Azure Service Bus and Azure Storage implementation (allows you to cache report documents in Azure Table and Azure Blob storage).

New Expression Functions

All Platforms
Completed. Scheduled to Release in v24.1 Beta

We will add new expression functions to our criteria language syntax. These functions will offer greater flexibility in shaping and displaying data within DevExpress Reports. New functions will include:

• The ability to retrieve the value of the previous column/row
• The ability to retrieve the value of the next column/row
• The ability to retrieve the current group index
• The ability to retrieve the current row index within a group.

SVG Pictures Export

All Platforms
Planned

When you add SVG pictures to a report, they will be exported using a vector format (SVG) natively (to maintain image quality). This enhancement affects PDF, Excel, and Word export formats.

Parameter Groups Title Localization

All Platforms
Completed. Scheduled to Release in v24.1 Beta

With our built-in DevExpress Reports localization feature, you will be able to localize the titles of parameter groups displayed in the Parameters Panel across all supported platforms.

SqlDataSource Enhancements

All Platforms
Completed. Available in v23.2.5 and EAP v24.1

First, we'll enhance the user experience in our Data Source Wizard to address the following security-related changes introduced by Microsoft for the MS SQL Server: The certificate chain was issued by an authority that isn't trusted - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn. This will allow you to avoid the "The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted" error while binding a report to MS SQL Server database if you do not have access to set up the MS SQL Server differently. To achieve this, we will introduce two new options in our Data Source Wizard:

• An option that will allow you to turn on/off the MS SQL Server encryption (to specify the Encrypt=No value in the connection string).
• An option that will allow you to trust the MS SQL Server certificate without validation (to specify the TrustServerCertificate=True value in the connection string).

Second, we'll add support for the Postgres data driver v.7.0. This will enable you to bind DevExpress Reports to stored procedures introduced starting with v7.0 of the database engine.

JsonDataSource — Transition to System.Text.Json

All Platforms
Completed. Available in v23.2.5 and EAP v24.1

We have made the decision to revamp the source code of all DevExpress products so that they no longer reference the third-party Newtonsoft.Json assembly. Instead, we will use functionality from the System.Text.Json assembly/NuGet package, which is a part of .NET. During this release cycle, we will be conducting research to identify methods for migration with minimal impact on existing functionality and applications. Our preliminary findings suggest that discrepancies do exist. Our decision is mainly influenced by the security risks associated with the third-party library, as well as the improved performance offered by Microsoft's own library. 

Sneak Peek — Moveable and Resizable Report Controls in Print Preview

WinForms
Research Completed.

Several years ago, we conducted a survey to determine whether we should modify our Print Preview and allow users to move and resize report elements dynamically. We received some terrific feedback in the survey...Thank you. Today, I would like to share our intermediate results/internal research and demonstrate current capabilities. Our team would appreciate your additional feedback on this potential new feature in DevExpress Reports. Please document your requirements/usage scenarios and describe how this functionality can help your organization deliver improved print/export output or save time on document development. The following video showcases this new capability:

Share Your Feedback

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on the features/enhancements outlined in this post (v24.1 is set to ship in early June 2024). If you have a user scenario that we have not considered, or if you would like to draw our attention to other aspects of our product, please feel free to let us know.

DevExpress BI Dashboard

Accessibility

ASP.NET Core ASP.NET WebForms ASP.NET MVC Blazor Angular
In Development

In our v24.1 release cycle, we will focus on enhancing the accessibility support within the DevExpress Web Dashboard (following 2.2 (AA level) guidelines). Should time permit, we also plan to enhance the accessibility support for our WinForms Dashboard.

Cascading Parameters

All Platforms
Completed. Available in EAP v24.1

We expect to extend the Dashboard Parameters and allow end-users to create cascading parameters. With this new capability, it will be possible to filter a list of parameter values based on the values available in a different parameter. This feature is particularly useful when dashboard parameters are used for filtering a dashboard's data source/dashboard's item data or when creating calculated field expressions.

Web Dashboard Cache Management API

ASP.NET Core ASP.NET WebForms ASP.NET MVC Blazor Angular React Vue
Completed. Available in EAP v24.1

The Web Dashboard uses an in-memory data cache to improve its performance across a variety of data filtering scenarios: Manage an In-Memory Data Cache.

We expect to introduce a cache customization API designed to customize caching behavior. We are considering the following:

• You can choose not to update the cache when a filtering parameter changes or to reset the cache when a stored procedure parameter changes.
• You will also be able to disable caching, which will force the dashboard to load the most relevant data when a user accesses and views a dashboard.
• Additionally, we plan to support scenarios wherein multiple server instances share the same cache, such as Web Farm and Web Gardens and/or ASP.NET Core Distributed Caching.

SqlDataSource Enhancements

All Platforms
Completed. Available in v23.2.5 and EAP v24.1

First, we'll enhance the user experience in our Data Source Wizard to address the following security-related changes introduced in MS SQL Server: The certificate chain was issued by an authority that isn't trusted - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn. This will allow you to avoid the "The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted" error while binding a dashboard to MS SQL Server database if you do not have access to set up the MS SQL Server differently. To achieve this, we will introduce two new options in our Data Source Wizard:

• An option that will allow you to turn on/off the SQL Server encryption (to specify the Encrypt=No value in the connection string).
• An option that will allow you to trust the SQL Server certificate without validation (to specify the TrustServerCertificate=True value in the connection string).

Second, we'll add support for the Postgres data driver v.7.0. This will enable you to bind DevExpress BI Dashboard to stored procedures introduced in v7.0 of the database engine.

JsonDataSource — Transition to System.Text.Json

All Platforms
Completed. Available in v23.2.5 and EAP v24.1

We have made the decision to revamp the source code of all DevExpress products so that they no longer reference the third-party Newtonsoft.Json assembly. Instead, we will use functionality from the System.Text.Json assembly/NuGet package, which is a part of .NET. During this release cycle, we will be conducting research to identify methods for migration with minimal impact on existing functionality and applications. Our preliminary findings suggest that discrepancies do exist. Our decision is mainly influenced by the security risks associated with the third-party library, as well as the improved performance offered by Microsoft's own library. 

Share Your Feedback

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on the features/enhancements outlined in this post (v24.1 is set to ship in early June 2024). If you have a user scenario that we have not considered, or if you would like to draw our attention to other aspects of our product, please feel free to let us know.

What's New in v23.2

If you have yet to review the features/capabilities introduced in our most recent major update, please visit the following webpage and let us know what you think of this release by responding to our online survey: Explore Our Newest Features (v23.2).

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