First Look at SyntaxEditor for WinRT/XAML

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro) - 1 comment
Friday, November 30, 2012 at 3:19pm

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One thing we always wanted to do was write a small free application that used SyntaxEditor (our syntax-highlighting code editor control) and could be used as a notepad replacement.  While we have many nice demos for the control product, we've never made an app that is real-world and usable by the masses.  That is, until now.

UPDATE:  Code Writer is now live on the Windows Store.  Download it for free!

Today I'd like to share a picture of an exciting Windows 8 app running on my Surface RT:

Surface

We've created a text and code editing application for Windows 8 that uses a port of our WPF and Silverlight SyntaxEditor as its primary interface for editing documents.  And I must say, it's beautiful.

Yes, it works on any Windows 8 platform, including ARM devices such as seen in the picture above.  And best of all, our upcoming app will be free to use! 

This gives us an opportunity to show off SyntaxEditor's capabilities and heavily test the WinRT/XAML port of SyntaxEditor.  Once SyntaxEditor for WinRT/XAML is released, you will be able to add text/code editing features into your own Windows 8 apps.

We currently are putting the finishing touches on the app for a first release and hope to have it out soon.  We've worked up a very nice way for interacting with documents, and will dive into it all with some screens once the app is submitted for certification.

If you are a customer and are interested in beta testing SyntaxEditor for WinRT/XAML, please contact our sales team.  A beta may not be ready for a while, but we'd like to start collecting info on interested customers now.

WPF Controls 2012.2 Build 571 Released

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro) - 2 comments
Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 4:01pm

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WPF Studio 2012.2 build 571 has been released and is now available for download. This maintenance release contains some massive new features and updates for the WPF controls.

This build has the following major new features:

  • Docking: Updated the standard switcher to use current theme assets and updated dock guide appearances for the Metro themes.
  • Docking: Updated dock guides, previews, rafting windows, and the switcher to support LayoutTransform detection.
  • Editors: Updated EnumPart to implement ISpinnable and allow up/down arrow keys to change its value.
  • PropertyGrid: Added a new Custom Factory QuickStart that shows how to build a custom data factory.
  • Ribbon: Completely rearchitected RibbonWindow to use the powerful new WindowChrome class for providing its custom chrome.
  • Ribbon: Improved RibbonWindow's Metro themes to support outer glows.
  • Ribbon: Improved RibbonWindow to fully support Aero snap and dock.
  • Ribbon: Updated Backstage to have a more Office 2013-like appearance when in a Metro theme.
  • Ribbon: Updated Backstage so that it covers the RibbonWindow.StatusBar if present.
  • SyntaxEditor: Added a NavigableSymbolSelector.AreRootSymbolsSupported property, that can be set to false to only show the member drop-down.
  • SyntaxEditor: Added new SyntaxEditor.HorizontalScrollBarVisibilty and VerticalScrollBarVisibility properties that can be set to Hidden to hide scrollbars.
  • SyntaxEditor LL(*) Parser Framework: Added a new Grammar.AstLeftAssociativity tree constructor method that can provide left associativity on binary operator expressions.
  • SyntaxEditor .NET Languages Add-on: Improved the parser and resolver.
  • Themes: Added a new Metro White theme, that is similar to the Office 2013 appearance.
  • Themes: Updated WindowChrome to support the rendering of custom chrome for any current theme, not just the Metro themes.
  • Themes: Updated WindowChrome to support Aero glass via its new IsGlassEnabled and GlassThickness properties.
  • Themes: Added the WindowChrome.TitleBarContentTemplate property that allows for injecting custom content next to window title bar caption buttons.

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

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Silverlight Controls 2012.2 Build 141 Released

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 3:52pm

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Silverlight Studio 2012.2 build 141 has been released and is now available for download.  Several very nice new controls and enhancements are part of this build.

This build has the following major new features:

  • SyntaxEditor: Added a NavigableSymbolSelector.AreRootSymbolsSupported property, that can be set to false to only show the member drop-down.
  • SyntaxEditor: Added new SyntaxEditor.HorizontalScrollBarVisibilty and VerticalScrollBarVisibility properties that can be set to Hidden to hide scrollbars.
  • SyntaxEditor LL(*) Parser Framework: Added a new Grammar.AstLeftAssociativity tree constructor method that can provide left associativity on binary operator expressions.
  • SyntaxEditor .NET Languages Add-on: Improved the parser and resolver.

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

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WinForms Controls 2012.1 Build 303 Released

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 3:39pm

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WinForms Controls 2012.1 build 303 has been released and is now available for download. Several enhancements and bug fixes are part of this build.  SyntaxEditor updates include an improved regex engine that allows for Unicode categories, and improved CharClass design.  .NET Languages Add-on updates include improvements to the VB parser, resolver, and auto-indent.

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

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Office 2013-Like Ribbon Backstage for Metro Themes

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 7:58am

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In our previous blog post we talked about how our WPF RibbonWindow has been completely rewritten from scratch using WindowChrome for the next 2012.2 maintenance release.  The post also showed off the new Metro White theme that will be included with our WPF controls, matching the visual appearance of Office 2013.

In today's post, we'll look at another new feature coming in the next maintenance release:  an updated Ribbon Backstage.  In the screenshot below, you can see the new Metro White theme in action along with the updated Backstage visuals.

Backstage

There are several things of note here.  First, the Backstage has been modified so that when it is open, it will fully cover the RibbonWindow's StatusBar.  This applies to all themes.  For the Metro themes, a large back arrow button has been added to the top left of the Backstage to allow returning to the normal document view.  The ribbon, QAT, etc. also automatically disappear in Metro themes while Backstage is open.

These enhancements will be in the upcoming WPF controls 2012.2 maintenance release build 571.

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