Denis Basaric: DevComponents Blog

DotNetBar for WinForms 11.2 Released with Visual Studio 2012 Inspired Light and Dark Themes

Denis Basaric — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:20:43 +0000

Howdy Good People!

Today we releasing 11.2 version of DotNetBar with Visual Studio 2012 inspired Light and Dark themes. Here are two screen-shots of Light and Dark theme from our sample:

And dark theme:

Both of these themes are Metro based themes which means that they will also affect ambient colors (BackColor, ForeColor) of controls on the form. Using StyleManager you can switch to one of these new themes and using StyleManagerAmbient component on your form you can control which controls receive ambient settings from StyleManager.

There are more than 70 new features and fixes in this release. Do not forget that our online Knowledge Base is getting updated constantly and is great source of information and tips on DotNetBar usage.

You can download latest build of DotNetBar at http://www.devcomponents.com/

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 11.1 Released with Multi-Column ComboBox and Virtual Data-Binding in SuperGrid

Denis Basaric — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:05:51 +0000

Hello Good People!

Today we releasing 11.1 version of DotNetBar with often asked for multi-column support on ComboBoxEx drop-down and virtual data mode in SuperGrid when using data-binding for quick, easy, and fast automatic binding to existing data with thousands or millions of rows.

Multi-column drop-down is now built into the ComboBoxEx control and its activated when you set DataSource and DropDownColumns properties. Control will switch to multi-column display mode and it will display specified fields on drop-down:

Multi Column ComboBox Control

Multi-column drop-down by default can be resized and close button for drop-down is visible. Control will automatically create column header text based on field names, but they can be easily changed by setting DropDownColumnsHeaders property.

SuperGrid control now can be used in virtual mode while using data-binding. Virtual mode can be enabled for every type of supported bound data (IList, IListSource, IBindingSource, DataTable, DataSet).

To do this, simply set the VirtualMode property and establish your DataSource and DataMember bindings as normal. Do not set the VirtualRowCount as this will be maintained automatically from the bound data-source. The SuperGrid will do the rest and perform all on-demand loading, updating, and purging of bound data rows. All row insertions, deletions, and updates are fully supported for both Virtual and non-VirtualMode bound data.

Note that all the inherent characteristics of VirtualMode interaction apply to bound data just as they do to non-bound data – in particular, nested panels and nested rows are not permitted and all rows are of equal set height (VirtualRowHeight).

There are more than 45 new features and fixes in this release. Here are detailed Release Notes.

Do not forget that our online Knowledge Base is getting updated constantly and is great source of information and tips on DotNetBar usage.

You can download the latest build of DotNetBar at http://www.devcomponents.com/

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 11.0 Released with Radial Menu Control

Denis Basaric — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:04:14 +0000

Today we released first new version of DotNetBar in 2013 with brand new Radial Menu control, notification marks for buttons and tiles as well as countless improvement to our very popular SuperGrid control.

Radial Menu control provides fast and visually pleasing way to execute commands in user interface using minimum movement of finger or mouse. It is very well suited for both touch based and mouse only based configurations. Following image shows Radial Menu control:

DotNetBar Radial Menu Control

Radial Menu control included two menu types. Segment menu type as shown in image above and Circular menu type as shown in image below:

DotNetBar Radial Menu

What these screen-shots do not show is animation and fluidity this control works with. Please check out the short videos that show-off fluid animation we built into the this control on Radial Menu web-page. We also wrote an knowledge base article which covers most of what you need to know to work with control effectively.

There is new sample project (RadialMenu) included with this release which shows how to use the control from code and how to customize its color scheme.

Also new are handy notification marks that you can display on top of the ButtonItem buttons and Metro tiles. This is how that looks like:

DotNetBar Notification Marks

Make sure to check out our redesigned samples explorer which runs after install is complete. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by new design.

There are more than 130 new features and fixes in this release. Here are detailed Release Notes.

Do not forget that our online Knowledge Base is getting updated constantly and is great source of information and tips on DotNetBar usage.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 10.9 released with Toast Notifications component

Denis Basaric — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:21:03 +0000

Today we’ve released new version of DotNetBar with brand new Toast Notification component. Toast notifications are messages that appears on the surface of the specified parent control for a short period of time. They do not receive focus (or pause the current activity), so they cannot accept any user input. They are ideal for status update type of the message. Here is an example of two toast notifications in different color schemes:

And here is how toast notification appears when used in an app:

Toast notifications are really simple to use and single line of code is used to display them, for example:

        ToastNotification.Show(this, "Establishing connection...")

We have also added very simple Line control. While drawing lines is easy, sometimes its much more convenient to have control which draws a line. This control is for those times.

There are more than 70 new features and fixes in this release. Here are detailed Release Notes.

Do not forget that our online Knowledge Base is getting updated constantly and is great source of information and tips on DotNetBar usage. If you have current DotNetBar license download latest release on Customer Only web site. Fully functional trial version is also available. Thank you so much for using our controls.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WPF 7.2 released with Office 2013 like styling for the Ribbon, Docking, Editors and Scheduler controls

Denis Basaric — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:36:57 +0000

Hi Everyone,

We are releasing DotNetBar for WPF 7.2 with Office 2013 styling for the Ribbon, Docking, Editors and Schedule controls. Core to new styling is our Office 2013 color scheme generation algorithm which will create complete color scheme for controls based on single base color you specify. So having as many color schemes as you want is super easy:

There is also updated Backstage application menu:

Our docking control also receives new Office 2013 inspired styling:

Schedule control styling has been updated as well, here is screen-shot of the new month view:

Here are detailed Release Notes. If you have current DotNetBar license download latest release on Customer Only web site. Fully functional trial version is also available. We are working on even more major new exciting features, but please do not hesitate to send me your feedback and wishes. Thank you for using our controls and please let me know how you like them.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 10.8 Released with Office 2013 Styling and 220 Symbols Included

Denis Basaric — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:56:08 +0000

Today we released new version of DotNetBar with world’s first Office 2013 style Ribbon control. Then we top that with built-in 220 symbols library which can be used on our buttons (courtesy of FontAwesome). And there is much more. Here is screen-shot of new Office 2013 style:

We’ve also updated the Backstage Application Menu to fit new Office 2013 appearance:

Our new Office 2013 styling comes with unlimited color schemes generator which will generate complete color scheme based on single color you specify:

We have also included 220 symbols library (courtesy of FontAwesome) that you can use instead of images on our buttons. Simply set Symbol and SymbolSize properties using designer. Nice thing about these symbols is that they are vector based which means they will render well in wide range of sizes and they will use current color scheme settings for button to render themselves. They are perfect fit for Office 2013 and Metro/Modern UI applications. Here is screen-shot of symbols:

And here is a simple button using a Symbol as image:

There are more than 65 new features and fixes in this release. Here are detailed Release Notes. If you have current DotNetBar license download latest release on Customer Only web site. Fully functional trial version is also available. Thank you for using our controls and please let me know how you like them.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 10.7 Released with SuperGrid Data Grouping Feature

Denis Basaric — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 01:13:26 +0000

Hello Good People,

Today we released new version of DotNetBar with SuperGrid Data-Grouping feature. The SuperGrid now supports single and multiple Column grouping, with the ability to specify the sort direction for each group. It provides the end-user with user interface for creating groups and sorting. The grouping section displayed on top of the grid shows current grouping. To perform data-grouping you simply drag & drop column into the group section. Following screen-shot shows grouping in SuperGrid control:

The SuperGrid supports user rendering of additional “detail” group rows through the dynamic use of the GetGroupDetailRows event. Group Detail Rows are temporary rows that can be added by the application following a SuperGrid grouping operation. Group Detail Rows are automatically removed when the grouping changes (either cleared or set/reset to another group criteria). Group Detail Rows are totally defined and rendered by the user application – the row’s content is neither known nor managed by the grid. Following screen-shots from sample app included with DotNetBar shows how detail group rows are used to add totals to the SuperGrid:

There are 60 new features and fixes in this release. Here are detailed Release Notes. If you have current DotNetBar license download latest release on Customer Only web site. Fully functional trial version is also available. Thank you for using our controls and please let me know how you like them.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 10.6 Released with Metro Ribbon Styling, VS.NET 11 support and more

Denis Basaric — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:39:27 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Today we released new DotNetBar for you with first implementation of Metro Office styling, VS.NET 11 support and more. Here is screen-shot of all new Metro Office styling:

Since final look and feel of Metro Office is not known you can expect our style to change so to match final look and feel of next version of Office. We have also added new StyleManagerAmbient component which is used to manage Metro style ambient properties assignment for child controls on the form. You can read about that in Metro KB article.

We also added support for Visual Studio 11 which is in Beta right now. You should see DotNetBar controls appear in VS.NET 11 toolbox. VS.NET 11 has completely new property grid so if you experience any design-time issues with DotNetBar and VS.NET 11 please let us know.

Also new is year/century selector for our month calendar control. Here is small animated image showing selector in action:

There are over 80 new features and fixes in this release including many refinements for our incredibly well received SuperGrid control. Here are detailed Release Notes.

Please do not forget that our online Knowledge Base is getting updated constantly and is great source of information and tips on DotNetBar usage.

If you have current DotNetBar license download latest release on Customer Only web site. Fully functional trial version is also available. Thank you for using our controls and please let me know how you like them.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WPF 7.1 Release with NEW Data-Grid Control

Denis Basaric — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:46:13 +0000

This week we have released DotNetBar for WPF 7.1 with new advanced Data-Grid control. Data-Grid control provides you with easy data presentation control including built-in editors and Office like styling. Following screen-shot shows our new AdvGrid control in action:

AdvGrid includes following major features:

Built-in editors with complete editing framework so you can create custom editors
Built-in data virtualization
Row pinning to either top or bottom of viewport
Column pinning to left or right of viewport
Sorting by multiple columns
Office 2010 like styling
Column definition properties can be data bound to elements in the visual tree and to the data context of the grid
Extended selection functionality and ability to select an entire column or range of columns

Built-in editors allow easy data editing and you can also create your own editors:

There is much more to our new AdvGrid control. Make sure to check the sample project that you can find at: My Documents\DotNetBar for WPF Samples\AdvGridSample

Getting started with AdvGrid Knowledge Base article is great resource to help you start using new controls. Please use it.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.

DotNetBar for WinForms 10.4 Release with 2 NEW Controls

Denis Basaric — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:51:48 +0000

Today we have another new DotNetBar release for you with 2 new controls: Binding Navigator and RichTextBox controls. Both controls are designed to be replacement for corresponding system controls so you can maintain consistent look and feel with our other controls and visual styles. Here is screen-shot of both controls:

Other changes in this release:

MetroForm support for SETTINGS and HELP buttons in form caption added
MessageBoxEx.TextMarkupEnabled property added to control whether text-markup is rendered
TouchKeyboard.CurrentKeyboardTarget property added to retrieve current target control for keyboard input
Many improvements to SuperGrid control
And much, much more…

All in all, there are almost 60 new features and enhancements in this release.

Here are detailed Release Notes.

We make WinForms, WPF and Silverlight components to help you create professional looking apps with ease. Check them out here.