Microsoft’s New XAML Designer for WPF apps

As you may already know, Visual Studio 2022 uses an entirely new WPF XAML Designer (for all versions of .NET and .NET Framework). We’ve been working closely with Microsoft to replicate (and extend) the design-time capabilities of our WPF product line within this new XAML Designer. In this post, I’ll summarize what we’ve accomplished in this regard. Should you have any questions about the contents of this post, feel free to comment below.

Quick Actions

v21.1 introduced Quick Actions support (smart tag replacement within the new XAML Designer). With v21.2, we have added actions to auto-generate a full-featured Ribbon-based UI for the following component libraries:

• Rich Text Editor
• Scheduler
• Spreadsheet

You can choose to generate a full Ribbon UI or limit it to specific/selected categories.

XAML Designer Extensions

We have replicated the following DevExpress design-time capabilities for Microsoft’s new XAML Designer:

Conditional Formatting Rules Manager

Available both at design and runtime for our WPF Grid control. This extension replicates the Microsoft Excel’s Conditional Formatting Rules Manager.

Chart Designer

The DevExpress Chart Designer (for Developers) allows you to create/customize/preview charts within a separate window.

Mask Editor

The Mask Editor allows you to construct WPF input masks. It includes a comprehensive selection of predefined masks and intuitive customization options.

Template Galleries

You can use a platform selector in WPF Template Galleries to choose between .NET Framework and .NET platforms. We have also added an MVVM template that utilizes the View Model Code Generator.

DevExpress Reports: Visual Studio Report Designer for .NET Apps

Our Visual Studio Report Designer supports all .NET platforms and deserves an entire post of its own. The Report Designer was published as a CTP (community technology preview) in our v21.1 release cycle. With our most recent major update (v21.2), we’ve addressed all major limitations. A detailed description of our Visual Studio Report Designer will be posted shortly.

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