WPF WindowChrome Title Bar Button Updates

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 7:04pm

PostBannerWPFControlsDevNotes

While the final testing of our major Docking/MDI vNext enhancements is ongoing (the result of which will be in the WPF Controls 2016.1 release), we're also working on other new features for the 2016.1 release.  Part of these updates will be some adjustments to themes.

For some quick background, our WindowChrome class can be attached to any WPF Window to custom render its chrome, using the Actipro Themes.  In the most recent 2015.1 build, we updated the WindowChrome outer shadow to render similar to other Windows 10 apps so that it fits right in with Windows 10.

For our upcoming 2016.1 version, we are making more adjustments.  Title bar buttons in the Metro themes are now the standard size found in other Windows 10 apps, which are much more touch friendly since they are significantly larger than before.  We also have updated the Close button to use red highlights on hover (see screenshot below) and press, similar to Windows 10 buttons.

TitleBarButtons1

The new 2016.1 appearance of Metro themed title bar buttons

In 2016.1, the title bar buttons have the fresh new crisp glyphs that match Windows 10 as well.  Compare the title bar buttons in the above screenshot to the buttons in the same app in our 2015.1 version:

TitleBarButtons2

The 2015.1 appearance of Metro themed title bar buttons

Summary

These sort of UI enhancements to our Metro themes are subtle, yet they really help your app's visual cohesiveness with Windows 10.

The features described above will be available in the 2016.1 version of our WPF controls.

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Actipro Universal Windows Controls Ready for Beta Testing

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at 4:30pm

PostBannerUniversalWindowsControlsDevNotes

Alongside the development of Docking/MDI vNext for WPF, we have been working on porting our WinRT/XAML Controls to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP).  This is a full port of our existing controls available for the WinRT/XAML platform, but made for UWP and Windows 10 app development.

UniversalWindowsControls

We are currently looking for beta testers for these controls.  If you would like to participate in beta testing, please contact our support address.

Docking/MDI vNext - Testers Wanted for 2016.1 Preview

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 3:01pm

PostBannerWPFControlsDevNotes

We've spent the last several months working intensely on completely rebuilding the internals of our market-leading WPF Docking/MDI product.  This project is called "Docking/MDI vNext" and keeps the same general API surface, while providing even more advanced features in every area of the product, evolving it into a true best-of-breed docking tool window and MDI functionality solution.

Project Status

Great news… after several months of development and testing, Docking/MDI vNext is now out of beta and considered complete!  Check out our recent blog posts to see a list of several of the major features that are included in this new version.

Docking20161

The updates we made will be released as part of our WPF Controls 2016.1 offering that will likely officially roll out live in January or early February.  We'll have a full summary of the new features on the blog then.

Looking for 2016.1 Preview Testers

If you would like to get a preview build of 2016.1 and start working with everything now, please write our support address.  The major Docking/MDI vNext updates are considered code complete and stable at this point.  We have new and updated samples and documentation, updated Prism 6.1 compatibility, and a lot more.  The documentation gives detail on all new features and any breaking changes you might encounter.  We'd love to get some more users including it their apps and giving us some final feedback before a public release.

WPF, Silverlight, and WinRT/XAML Maintenance Releases

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 5:45pm

Docking/MDI vNext - Beta Testing Going Well

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 8:08pm

PostBannerWPFControlsDevNotes

We've spent the last several months working intensely on completely rebuilding the internals of our market-leading WPF Docking/MDI product.  This project is called "Docking/MDI vNext" and keeps the same general API surface, while providing even more advanced features in every area of the product, evolving it into a true best-of-breed docking tool window and MDI functionality solution.

Beta Testing Progress

A couple weeks ago we began the beta testing process for Docking/MDI vNext and thus far, it's been going very well.  The product has proven to be very stable and only a handful of minor tweaks and adjustments have been needed.  At this point, the product is considered feature-complete for its first shipping version.

We've been spending time during this beta testing period improving some samples and adding/updating lots of product documentation.  There are an enormous number of new features in vNext, so we want to make sure we cover everything.

What's Next

Our plan is to launch final 2015.1 version maintenance releases next week and then start transitioning internally to 2016.1 codebases.  Then we'll begin swapping in Docking/MDI vNext in place of the classic Docking/MDI product and will get all the related samples, documentation, etc. merged and ready to go.