As you may already know, we are a couple of months away from our next major update (v24.1). This post describes a few VCL-related features we expect to ship in early June and details what’s inside our Early Access Preview build (for additional information on what you can expect, refer to our Mid-Year 2024.1 roadmap).
Active VCL Subscribers can download our most recent EAP builds using the DevExpress Download Manager. You can also download our EAP demos using this link at your convenience.
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If you are using a trial, and want to try these preview features today, you can purchase a
DevExpress VCL Subscription (this will give you access to the EAP/BETA builds). If you own our Express GridPack, Express Quantum GridPack or Express NavigationPack subscriptions and are ready to upgrade, email us at
clientservices@devexpress.com.
RAD Studio 12.1 Support
Embarcadero released RAD Studio 12.1 last week. As you would expect, DevExpress v24.1 officially supports this new IDE (Delphi 12.1 and C++ Builder 12.1 for both 32-bit and 64-bit). Of note, we found a workaround for this Embarcadero x64 compatibility issue. DevExpress VCL customers can find more information here: It is not possible to install VCL components to RAD Studio 12.1 Athens due to RichEditControl incompatibility issues.
Please take a moment to evaluate our EAP and let us know if you encounter any difficulties/issues. Your early feedback will help us better support RAD Studio 12.1. We will also release a RAD Studio 12.1-compatible build of our VCL v23.2 components in the coming weeks. We know that Embarcadero is working on this issue and we are confident that it will be addressed (and our workaround for x64 will no longer be needed).
Chart Control - New Features
We expect to ship the following VCL chart-related enhancements in v24.1+:
As you would expect, we will also publish Chart-related help topics https://docs.devexpress.com/VCL/ and add new Chart-specific modules to our VCL Demo Center.
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VCL Ribbon Control: Office 365 Style
Our VCL Ribbon Control will ship with a new Office 365 rendering style in June 2024. When our new Office 365 style is used, the Ribbon control will display a Search box at the top of the Ribbon form and Show Ribbon options on the bottom right of the Ribbon UI.
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Enhanced High DPI Resolution and Vector Skin/Image Support
Bug Fixes and Minor Features
In addition to new features, we also focus on bug fixes, especially for High DPI-related issues, vector skins, and performance bottlenecks. Ultimately, we want our VCL UI components to be polished, modern, and stand out among all competitors in these aspects (UI matters and this affects almost every VCL customer).
Many "fixes" are technically "features". We've recently started to publish more bug reports (for instance, from our internal/private testing) and also include more information into all bug reports such as screenshots before/after and samples - everybody can review this info and analyze the complexity of the work involved.
Layout and Image Modifications in Design-Time Wizards, Designers, and Dialogs
As you know, we worked hard to improve runtime High DPI resolution support in 2023. High DPI support is crucial and we want to set the highest standards in this regard (in terms of developer usability and speed). Thanks to great feedback in recent surveys and through Support Center tickets, we recognize that this area continues to be important to our customers.
EAP v24.1 includes dozens of layout and `raster to vector` image adjustments in key wizards, designers, and dialogs. We have nearly completed a half of the scope we planned originally, and will continue retrofitting our design-time experience towards the final release in June 2024.
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Easier SVG Assignment for Image Lists at Design-Time
In v24.1, the DevExpress VCL Ribbon (and other UI controls) will allow you to use a single image list for large and small SVG icons. With this capability you can simply specify a small SVG icon and we will scale it up automatically (for instance, in places where the control needs a large icon in the Ribbon). This will improve overall usability and should reduce time spent/maintenance in half.
Based on our roadmap survey votes, we made it possible for customers to use both old and new icon assignment strategies using UseSmallImagesForLargeIcons and related SVG image options. Existing apps and usage habits will remain unaffected.
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Field Name-Based Expressions for Data-Bound Controls
With v24.1, you can use {FieldName} in formulas/expressions to refer to a field by underlying name instead of a display name. Previously, you could only use a display name/caption or an index. This capability will help you create formulas for unbound grid columns, conditional formatting rules.
This is helpful in VCL apps that support multiple languages or other scenarios where you cannot rely on a field caption (due to its dynamic nature such as translation to another language).
EXIF Metadata Support in Image Controls
In v24.1, our image controls (TcxImage and TcxDbImage) will read and interpret EXIF metadata from images and modify the image display accordingly. For instance, our image controls will automatically rotate the image based on orientation metadata (unlike the standard TImage control and some image viewers). Impacted image-based scenarios (where rotation will take place) include:
- Data Grid cells
- TreeList cells
- Vertical and Property Grid cells
Previously, this required a complex custom solution with a manual call of the Rotate method. Customers who implemented custom solutions on their own (for instance, image rotation in the grid or standalone image editors), can disable this default behavior using a static feature toggle in v24.1+.
Editing Operations (Rotate, Crop, Flip, etc.) in Image Controls
In our next major update (v24.1), you'll be able to invoke the Image Editor dialog for TcxImage and TcxDbImage components using the Edit context menu command. Our design-time Image Picker dialog will include the new Edit command as well. The Edit command will unlock basic image editing operations:
- Crop and straighten
- Adjust brightness, contrast and saturation
- Mirror
- Rotate
- etc.
The Image Editor maintains operation history and offers both undo and redo functionality. Once the editor is closed and changes are saved, modifications cannot be undone.
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EAP/BETA and CTP builds are provided solely for early testing purposes and are not ready for production use. This build can NOT be installed side by side with other major versions of DevExpress VCL products. Please backup your project and other important data before installing EAP/BETA and CTP builds. This EAP may not include all features/products we expect to ship in our v24.1 release cycle. As its name implies, the EAP offers an early preview of what we expect to ship in a month.
Your Feedback Matters
Just another reminder that our v24.1 Roadmap and What's New in v23.2 surveys give you the opportunity to communicate your needs/concerns and allow us to make more informed development decisions.
Thanks,
Dennis Garavsky
Principal Product Manager
dennis@devexpress.com
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