Version History
v2011 vol 2
WinForms applications powered by DevExpress Controls are now touch enabled - from the dragging of UI elements to horizontal and vertical scrolling.
The following is a list of DevExpress Controls shipping with built-in touch support:
- Grid Control
- TreeList Control
- Chart Control
- Pivot Grid Control
- Docking Library
- Rich Text Editor
- Image Slider
Document Manager Enhancements
- Document Selector
The Document Selector, invoked via the CTRL+TAB shortcut, allows you to switch to a specific document or dock panel (much like Microsoft Visual Studio):
Users can press the TAB and Arrow keys to navigate within the Document Selector. A small preview of the currently focused item is displayed for ease of navigation.
- Tooltip Support
You can now specify the tooltips or SuperToolTips used when the mouse hovers over tab headers:
- Colored Tabs
You can now customize appearance settings (background and foreground colors and font settings) for individual tabs (even with custom DevExpress Skins):
Tab coloring is now available across all components presenting child controls/windows as tabs (DocumentManager, XtraTabbedMdiManager, XtraTabControl and XtraLayoutControl).
- Aero Snap
With this feature, you can drag a document or dock panel to the edge of the screen and expand it at this position.
By dragging and dropping a document's title at the left, right or bottom edge of the screen, the document will populate half the screen.
By dragging and dropping a document's title at the top edge of the screen, the document will fill the entire screen.
- Visualizing Active Document Group
The active Document Group is visualized only if it has focus. If a Document Group is selected, but not focused, its header is not highlighted.
- Save/Restore Layout
New methods have been added that allow you to save document layouts within the Document Manager, regardless of whether documents are presented using a native MDI or tabbed UI.
- API Improvements
The Document Manager's API has been extended. New events were added that allow you to control or perform custom actions during dock operations.
- Docking Performance Optimization
We've significantly improved the performance of dock operations. An end-user can now dock documents with the help of visual hints without any noticeable delay.
Dock Library Enhancements
- Context Menus
Context menus have been added to dock panels and auto-hide containers.
When using dock panels along with a Document Manager in the same form, the panel’s context menus provide Document Manager specific commands (such as "Dock as Tabbed Document").
- Auto Hide Layout Imrovements
Auto-hidden panel captions are no longer trimmed by default (just like the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio).
If you want to revert to the old behavior, set the appropriate option setting.
- Saving/Restoring Layout Improvements
You can now save and restore a layout of dock panels at design time via the Dock Manager's Designer:
Dock panels created via a Dock Manager can be docked to a Document Manager's tabbed region. When saving/restoring dock panel layouts, the position of dock panels within a Document Manager's tabbed area is also saved/restored.
Splash Screen Manager
Adding splash screens to WinForms projects has never been easier with the SplashScreenManager Component. With two simple steps, you can display a splash screen when your app starts without writing any code.
The Splash Screen Manager allows you to display a custom image as your splash screen and with image transparency support, your splash screen may be any irregular form and contain shadows when required:
Splash screens are fully customizable. You can modify default splash screens by changing the default image, default control layout, adding custom controls, etc.
Automatic display mode is one of two options when using splash screens. You can also control the display of a splash screen manually from code - display and close it when required, and send custom commands to it.
In addition to splash screens displayed on form start up, the Splash Screen Manager helps you create Wait Forms with progress indicators:
Fully customizable, Wait Forms are useful when displaying information windows with progress indicators at any time during the application run. For each skin, the Wait Form has its own unique appearance.
New Metro-style Skin
DXperience v2011 vol 2 ships with a new skin - Metropolis, allowing you to introduce a Metro inspired look and feel to your WinForms application: