This version contains updates across all our WinForms controls to support high DPI environments and add new dark color schemes.  .NET version compatibility was modernized to the latest supported .NET versions, and a large number of other various feature additions and bug fixes were made to all products.

See the related announcement post for the detailed list of enhancements and updates.

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Here's a look at some of the new features.

DPI Awareness

Historically, high DPI support in WinForms has been a mixed bag. Newer Windows API’s and recent updates to .NET have greatly improved the scenario, but high DPI support is still not free and developers must put in the effort to ensure proper DPI awareness.

With our WinForms Controls v23.1 updates, we’ve done our part to make sure our controls can render correctly in high DPI environments. Some of the changes include:

• Scale font sizes.
• Scale control dimensions.
• Scale glyphs.
• Scale raster images using optimal technique for the scale factor (e.g., pixel doubling at 200% dpi).
• Scale built-in dialogs.
• New vector-based common images for SyntaxEditor IntelliPrompt.
• New DPI-friendly dock guides for Docking.
• New DpiHelper class to simplify scaling based on DPI.
• Updated Sample Browser to be DPI-aware.

NOTE:  Anyone with a DPI-aware application needs to read our v23.1 conversion topic and thoroughly test. It could be that you were already compensating for lack of DPI-awareness that we now handle, so you don't want to do something like scale our controls if we're already scaling them (causing double scaling).

Dark Color Scheme

We’ve also revamped how all renderers determine which colors are being used so we can better support a dark color scheme. New “Metro Dark” renderers are available for all our products and can be used to better integrate with dark-themed applications.

.NET Compatibility Updates

In regards to .NET version compatibility, we have:

• Validated that v23.1 works great with .NET 7.
• Updated our .NET 5 targets to .NET 6, since that is the lowest supported version of .NET per Microsoft.
• Updated our .NET Framework 4.0 targets to .NET Framework 4.6.2, since that is the lowest supported version of .NET Framework per Microsoft.

The WinForms Controls v23.1 release is close to ready, and includes sweeping changes across all products to support high DPI environments and new dark color schemes. We have extensively tested this release internally and have already received positive feedback from beta testers, but we know every customer’s implementation of DPI support can vary greatly and would like to get more exposure before full release.

If you would like to assist with evaluating the release (especially DPI awareness) in your own application and provide feedback on changes before release, please email our support address for access to a release candidate.

DPI Awareness

Historically, high DPI support in WinForms has been a mixed bag. Newer Windows API’s and recent updates to .NET have greatly improved the scenario, but high DPI support is still not free and developers must put in the effort to ensure proper DPI awareness.

With our WinForms Controls v23.1 updates, we’ve done our part to make sure our controls can render correctly in high DPI environments. Some of the changes coming in the next release include:

• Scale font sizes.
• Scale control dimensions.
• Scale glyphs.
• Scale raster images using optimal technique for the scale factor (e.g., pixel doubling at 200% dpi).
• Scale built-in dialogs.
• New vector-based common images for SyntaxEditor IntelliPrompt.
• New DPI-friendly dock guides for Docking.
• New DpiHelper class to simplify scaling based on DPI.
• Updated Sample Browser to be DPI-aware.

Dark Color Scheme

We’ve also revamped how all renderers determine which colors are being used so we can better support a dark color scheme. New “Metro Dark” renderers are available for all our products and can be used to better integrate with dark-themed applications.

This version makes a number of SyntaxEditor improvements including the abililty to select the next occurrence of selected text, much faster performance with complex IntelliPrompt completion lists, indented word-wrapped lines, and more.

See the related announcement post for the detailed list of enhancements and updates.

Download Buy Now

Here's a peek at a couple of the new features...

SyntaxEditor

Select Next Occurrence

The select next occurrence feature provides a quick way to select additional instances of the selected text.  Say our caret is in the middle of the "using" keyword.  Pressing Ctrl+D (the hotkey for Select Next Occurrence) will select the current word since no selection was yet available.

After pressing Ctrl+D once a selection is made, it will add another selection of the next instance of the selected text.  In the bottom screenshot in the sequence above, I've pressed Ctrl+D several times so that all instances of "using" are selected.

SyntaxEditor supports multiple carets and selections, and at this point, any typing will update all the selected instances at the same time.

Indented Word-Wrapped Lines

Another great new feature is that word-wrapped lines will now be indented by a couple characters, as long as there is sufficient editor width to do so.

In the screenshot, you can see how the word-wrapped portion of line 11 is indented a couple characters beyond line 11's anchor indent level.  Indentation of wrapped lines makes it easier to read them.

These maintenance releases for our WPF, WinForms, and UWP Controls focus on making many minor improvements across all the products.  In addition, WPF's WindowChrome now allows it to render a backdrop with Mica or Acrylic materials when on a Windows 11 system.

See the related announcement posts for the detailed lists of enhancements and updates:

• WPF Controls v22.1.2 Maintenance Release
• WinForms Controls v22.1.2 Maintenance Release
• Universal Windows Controls v22.1.0361 Maintenance Release

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This version adds several exciting new features for SyntaxEditor, along with making numerous improvements to the control and its add-ons.  Other minor updates are made to Docking/MDI, Editors, Grids, Ribbon, Shell, and Themes.  Finally, Visual Studio 2022 designer support has been improved.

See the related announcement post for the detailed list of enhancements and updates.

Download Buy Now

Here's a look at some of the new features.

SyntaxEditor

File Comparison Sample

Many customers have asked how two SyntaxEditor instances could be configured to work side-by-side for comparing files. We've included a new QuickStart that demonstrates comparing two files and highlighting differences in both editors. 

Differences are updated in real-time as a file is edited. Our sample is built using simple interfaces to represent the file differences so that any difference engine could easily be adapted to work with the sample.

Column Guides

Use the new column guides feature to designate where line breaks should occur within a file to stay within any readability guidelines your company may have.  For instance, a column guide might be set at column 80 or 120.

Other syntax languages like COBOL may also require that certain data is at certain character positions and column guides provide a visual way to ensure code is positioned properly.

IntelliPrompt Completion Performance

We've done some more tuning in the completion item matching logic to squeeze out some additional performance gains.