WPF Controls 2013.1 Released

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro) - 2 comments
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 12:04pm

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Actipro WPF Controls 2013.1 have been released and is now available for download. This version adds a new full-size Charts product, a Metro Dark theme, a complete reimagining of the Sample Browser's UI, and some great new SyntaxEditor functionality.

Major new features are described below.  See the announcement post for the detailed list of enhancements and updates.

ProductHeadingWPFCharts

Our new full-size Charts product has been added, allowing you to create stunning charts for your apps.  See this announcement post and this first look post for a couple other chart screenshots.

Line Charts

LineChartType_thumb[1]

A line chart renders quantitative data as a series of points connected by line segments. Lines can be straight, curved, or stepped. Markers can optionally be displayed based on type (such as first/last, high/low, negative, etc.).

Scatter Charts

ScatterChartType_thumb[1]

Scatter charts render data points where each point is represented by a marker. Markers can use numerous built-in shapes or can be set to use custom shapes.

Area Charts

AreaStackedChartType_thumb[1]

An area chart is a derivative of a line chart, where the area between the line and axis is filled in. As with line charts, areas can also be rendered using straight, curved, or stepped lines

Bar Charts

BarStackedChartType_thumb[1]

A bar chart displays rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values they represent. Bar spacing can be set and the bars can be changed to render horizontally instead.

ProductHeadingWPFSyntaxEditor

Indicators

IndicatorsBreakpoints_thumb

A rich object model for supporting indicators has been added.  Indicators are special "tagged" regions of text that optionally display a glyph in the indicator margin and optionally highlight the text range with special styles.  Built-in indicators include bookmarks, breakpoints, and current statement indicators.  Custom indicators can easily be created as well.

See this bookmark indictors post and this debugging indicators post for much more detail on indicators and examples of functionality.

Line Terminator Backgrounds

When a style that has a background encompasses a line terminator, it now will render the background of the line terminator's virtual character.

A new property BackgroundSpansVirtualSpace property has been added to highlighting styles that when set to true, will extend the background over a line terminator to cover all the way to the right edge of the view.

Trim All Trailing Whitespace

A new edit action has been added to trim all trailing whitespace in the entire document, regardless of the current selection.

CollectionTagger<T> Enhancements

The CollectionTagger<T> class has received a large number of new methods that make it easier than ever to manage a collection of tagged regions.

.NET Languages Add-on - Text Formatting

Text formatters have been added to the C# and VB languages in the .NET Languages Add-on, which beautify code by adjusting whitespace and making it more readable.

TextFormatting_thumb

See this C# text formatter post and this VB text formatter post for more information and examples of the formatting results.

.NET Languages Add-on - Attribute IntelliPrompt

AttributeIntelliPrompt_thumb[1]

Full automated IntelliPrompt while editing C# and VB attributes is now included.

.NET Languages Add-on - Implicit Variable Type IntelliPrompt

Automated IntelliPrompt quick info now displays when hovering over var in C# or Dim in VB.

ImplicitTypes_thumb

See this blog post for some more information and screenshots.

ProductHeadingWPFThemes

Metro Dark Theme

A Metro Dark theme has been implemented that renders similar to Visual Studio 2012's dark theme.  This new theme affects all controls and even can apply to native WPF controls.

MetroDark

Actipro Themes for WPF now provides implementations of all system themes, three Office themes, and three Metro themes!

See this blog post showing several screenshots of the new Metro Dark theme in action.

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Silverlight Controls 2013.1 Released

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 11:54am

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Actipro Silverlight Controls 2013.1 has been released and is now available for download. This version adds a new full-size Charts product, a complete reimagining of the Sample Browser's UI, and some great new SyntaxEditor functionality.

Major new features are described below.  See the announcement post for the detailed list of enhancements and updates.

Note:  Version 2013.1 updates the Silverlight controls to target the Silverlight 5 platform.

ProductHeadingSilverlightCharts

Our new full-size Charts product has been added, allowing you to create stunning charts for your apps.  See this announcement post and this first look post for a couple other chart screenshots.

Line Charts

LineChartType

A line chart renders quantitative data as a series of points connected by line segments. Lines can be straight, curved, or stepped. Markers can optionally be displayed based on type (such as first/last, high/low, negative, etc.).

Scatter Charts

ScatterChartType

Scatter charts render data points where each point is represented by a marker. Markers can use numerous built-in shapes or can be set to use custom shapes.

Area Charts

AreaStackedChartType

An area chart is a derivative of a line chart, where the area between the line and axis is filled in. As with line charts, areas can also be rendered using straight, curved, or stepped lines

Bar Charts

BarStackedChartType

A bar chart displays rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values they represent. Bar spacing can be set and the bars can be changed to render horizontally instead.

ProductHeadingSilverlightSyntaxEditor

Indicators

IndicatorsBreakpoints

A rich object model for supporting indicators has been added.  Indicators are special "tagged" regions of text that optionally display a glyph in the indicator margin and optionally highlight the text range with special styles.  Built-in indicators include bookmarks, breakpoints, and current statement indicators.  Custom indicators can easily be created as well.

See this bookmark indictors post and this debugging indicators post for much more detail on indicators and examples of functionality.

TextFormattingMode Support

SyntaxEditor's text rendering has been updated to support Silverlight 5's TextOptions.TextFormattingMode property setting.  This feature allows for improved text clarity.

Line Terminator Backgrounds

When a style that has a background encompasses a line terminator, it now will render the background of the line terminator's virtual character.

A new property BackgroundSpansVirtualSpace property has been added to highlighting styles that when set to true, will extend the background over a line terminator to cover all the way to the right edge of the view.

Trim All Trailing Whitespace

A new edit action has been added to trim all trailing whitespace in the entire document, regardless of the current selection.

CollectionTagger<T> Enhancements

The CollectionTagger<T> class has received a large number of new methods that make it easier than ever to manage a collection of tagged regions.

.NET Languages Add-on - Text Formatting

Text formatters have been added to the C# and VB languages in the .NET Languages Add-on, which beautify code by adjusting whitespace and making it more readable.

TextFormatting

See this C# text formatter post and this VB text formatter post for more information and examples of the formatting results.

.NET Languages Add-on - Attribute IntelliPrompt

AttributeIntelliPrompt

Full automated IntelliPrompt while editing C# and VB attributes is now included.

.NET Languages Add-on - Implicit Variable Type IntelliPrompt

Automated IntelliPrompt quick info now displays when hovering over var in C# or Dim in VB.

ImplicitTypes

See this blog post for some more information and screenshots.

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First Look at Charts - Financial Dashboard Demo

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 4:26pm

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We've just about wrapped everything up for the 2013.1 versions of our WPF, Silverlight, and WinRT/XAML controls and hope to have them out next week.

As mentioned in a previous post, this new version introduces a new full-size Charts product to complement our existing Micro Charts controls product.

In this post I'd like to show a screenshot of one of the demos that comes with Charts:

Financial

This demo shows a simulated financial dashboard where the charted values refresh and scroll every few seconds.  You can click on a stock on the left side to view its detail in the large chart on the right.

The new Charts product, this sample, and many more QuickStarts are coming soon in the 2013.1 version!

Announcing Our Upcoming Charts Products

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro) - 4 comments
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 12:08pm

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As we finally draw near the release of the 2013.1 versions of our WPF, Silverlight, and WinRT/XAML controls, I'd like to take this opportunity to announce a new product being added to all three platforms:  full size charts!

The platforms mentioned above already have our Micro Charts product, which is ideal for visualizing data in small sizes, such as in grids or dashboards.  Customers have asked for complementary large charts that have multiple-axis support, grid lines, etc.  And we have delivered.  The 2013.1 versions will be receiving full size charts, and as usual, the API will be the same among the three platforms, allowing you to easily port code around.

First Look

Let's take a first look at a Surface device running the WinRT version of a Charts demo:

ChartsTeaser

In this Baseball Stats sample, we compare the statistics of two fictional baseball players and visualize important data through the use of charts.

Summary

We are currently finishing up the 2013.1 versions for the platforms and hope to have them (and the new Charts products) out in the next couple weeks or so.  Keep watching our blog for more details.