Today we released the 2013.1 version of our WinRT XAML controls, which contains the complete implementation of our new full-size Charts product.

Charts for WinRT XAML gives you the ability to embed great-looking area, line, scatter, and bar charts in your Windows 8/RT apps.  Use our new Charts controls to build touch-friendly dashboards and reports.  The controls share the same codebase with our WPF and Silverlight Charts products, allowing for easy porting of code between platforms.

Advanced features include easy binding to any data source, multiple series, data aggregation, bar chart data slotting, legends, data point labels, baseline, axes, grid lines/stripes, ranges, and numerous palettes.

Moving Forward

We're very happy to have the 2013.1 version released and moving forward will be adding more features to the Charts product.  We also are working on porting SyntaxEditor to the WinRT XAML platform and will post news on that in the future here.

Enjoy the new controls!

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:

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!

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:

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.

Today we just published new maintenance releases of all our control products.  These maintenance releases contain a lot of minor updates and bug fixes.  For more details, see the related announcement post:

• WPF Controls
• Silverlight Controls
• WinRT XAML Controls
• WinForms Controls

We highly recommend that if you are on the latest major versions, you upgrade to these maintenance releases.

Happy Holidays

We want to wish you all a very happy holiday season and new year.  We value our customers and your support for our products.  You allow us to continue doing what we love, and that is crafting great software.  We are excited to bring you more new products and features in 2013.  See you on the flip side!

In a previous post we took a look at our SyntaxEditor syntax-highlighting code editor control being run in a WinRT/XAML app on a Surface RT.  This port of SyntaxEditor from our WPF/Silverlight versions is still work in progress and isn't available for sale yet, but rest assured it's coming.  That being said, let's dig into the new Code Writer app that was just released on the Windows Store, which shows the future SyntaxEditor for WinRT/XAML control in action.

What is Code Writer?

Code Writer is a free text and code editing application designed specifically for Windows 8 devices.  It runs on any device, including desktops and ARM devices like Surface RT.

We've built it from the ground up to be fast, fluid, and powerful. Active syntax highlighting updates as you edit files, with 20 file types supported.

Multiple documents may be opened at a time. Use an intuitive tabbed document interface from a slide-down app bar to switch between documents. Browse to open any accessible document, or reopen recently-opened documents with a tap.

Color is used pervasively throughout the app to create a bond between you and various file types.

Summary

This is just a first glimpse.  Jump over to the Windows Store and try it for yourself.  If you have any suggestions or problems, please post them in the dedicated forum for the app.

We'll dig into more features soon.  And if you would like to add similar code editing features to your own apps, please check out our SyntaxEditor control, currently available for WPF, Silverlight, and WinForms.  As mentioned above, it will be available for WinRT/XAML in the future too.

Happy coding!