What's New in XAF Help 17.2

In this post, I would like to provide an overview of the most important additions to XAF documentation introduced in the 17.2 release.

What's New in XAF Help 17.1.3 and 17.1.4

In this post, I would like to provide an overview of the most important additions to XAF documentation introduced after the 17.1 release.

Documentation updates with regard to ways to resize windows in XAF

We have recently updated our online documentation in this regard, so you may be interested to check it out:
    Task-Based Help > How to: Adjust the Size and Style of Pop-up Dialogs (WinForms)
    Task-Based Help > How to: Adjust the Size and Style of Pop-up Dialogs (ASP.NET)

Attentive readers could notice that the PopupWindowShowAction.CustomizePopupWindowParams event arguments now provide the new Size and Maximized properties that can be used to specify the popup window size from a platform-agnostic module in certain cases (check the end of both articles above for more details on the limitations).

Of course, these code solutions can be further improved based on your business requirements. For instance, if you want to provide a developer or application user with the capability to specify sizes in the Model Editor, you can extend required View node types (e.g., IModelView) with the Width and Height attributes in the Application Model and then modify the aforementioned code to read these attributes respectively. Refer to the eXpressApp Framework > Concepts > Application Model > Extend and Customize the Application Model in Code article for more details.

Please tell me about your experience with these solutions or about anything you would love to improve in this regard. Thanks in advance.

New and updated help topics in version 16.2.4

Recently, Dennis has published a huge list of changes introduced in XAF documentation in the previous major update (16.2). In this post, I would like to overview another set of changes in XAF documentation introduced with the 16.2.4 minor update of XAF.

New and updated XAF videos

I am glad to announce that the XAF team have published several new videos in DevExpress channel. These videos demonstrate the most attractive features from the What's New in XAF v16.2 list.

XAF Mobile Platform (CTP)

With this video, you can learn how to add a mobile client for your XAF application. This is the updated version of the previously published video. It demonstrates the following mobile enhancements introduced in 16.2

1. New UI layouts optimized for desktop and tablet devices.
2. Improved look and feel.
3. Application Simulator no longer requires an internet connection.
4. 'Active' and 'Enabled' action states are now context-dependent.

What is New in Help in XAF v16.2

As you probably know, in addition to the new great features the version 16.2 introduced, there are also various improvements to the learning materials that will allow you get the most of DevExpress products and become a better developer. The XAF documentation changes are listed below. I highlighted the topics I personally like or value the most in yellow. I would also greatly appreciate it, if you tell me about your favorite topics in comments!

The good news is that there are even more documentation updates currently in the works, and hopefully, I will be able to announce them to you soon.

What is New in Help in XAF v16.1

As you probably know, in addition to the new great features the version 16.1 introduced, there are also various improvements to the learning materials that will allow you get the most of DevExpress products and become a better developer. The XAF documentation changes we are the most interested in are listed below. I highlighted the topics I personally like or value the most in yellow. 

The good news is that there are even more documentation updates currently in the works, and hopefully, I will be able to announce them to you soon. To give you a hint, improved window resizing mechanism for both Windows and the Web, improved concepts for showing Views, registering property editors are among the things you will be able to learn more about in the future.

Concepts and task-based help

• Non-Persistent Objects
• Grid Based Reporting in WinForms Applications
• How to: Access the Office Navigation Bar
• How to: Access the Transition Manager
• How to: Edit a Reference Property in the Batch Edit Mode
• How to: Show Persistent Objects in a Non-Persistent Object's View
• Permission Policies
• Permissions for Associated Objects
• Ways to Display Properties of a Referenced Object Together with the Current Object's Properties
• XAF Mobile (CTP) Tutorial

What's New in XAF 15.2 Documentation and general upgrade tips

As you probably know, in addition to the new great features the version 15.2 introduced, there are also various improvements to the learning materials that will allow you get the most of DevExpress products and become a better developer.

The XAF documentation changes we are the most interested in are listed below:

Concepts and task-based help

• How to: Hide the Edit Action Column in from a ListView in an ASP.NET Application
• Maps Module
• Maps Module Overview
• Use Raster Maps
• Geolocation Properties
• How to: Change the Map Marker Icon
• How to: Change the Map Settings Dynamically
• Display Areas on a Vector Map
• Display Bubble Markers on a Vector Map
• Display Pie Markers on a Vector Map

What's New in XAF 15.1 Documentation

As you probably know, in addition to the new great features the version 15.1 introduced, there are also various improvements to the learning materials that will allow you get the most of DevExpress products and become a better developer. As always, the full list of What's New In Help for all products is waiting you here.

The XAF documentation changes we are the most interested in are listed HERE (I marked my favorite help topics in bold):

• Create and View Reports in an ASP.NET Application (Updated)
• How to: Adjust the Size of Pop up Dialogs in ASP.NET Applications (Updated)
• How to: Create a Custom WinForms Standard Template (Updated)
• How to: Display a Non-Persistent Object's List View from the Navigation
• How to: Hide the 'Protected Content' Columns in List Views and Property Editors in Detail Views
• How to: Enable the Administrative UI for managing Users' Model Differences (Updated)
• How to: Show Notifications to a Specific User (Updated)
• How to: Show a Custom Data-Bound Control in an XAF View (ASP.NET)
• How to: Show a Custom Data-Bound Control in an XAF View (WinForms)
• How to: Store the Application Model Differences in the Database (Updated)
• How to: Switch to the View Mode when the Save and Close Action is Executed in ASP.NET Applications
• How to: Use Notifications with a Custom Business Class (Implement ISupportNotifications) (Updated)
• How to: Use Notifications with the Scheduler Event (Updated)
• Model Difference Storages (Updated)
• Notifications Module Overview (Updated)
• Notifications Service and Notifications Providers (Updated)
• Reminders Window Elements (Updated)
• Workflow Design Basics (Updated)
• How do I enable the new page templates and theme optimized for touch devices (CTP) for existing XAF Web 15.1 applications? 

Hopefully, even people familiar with the framework will find something helpful here.

XAF 14.2 webinar recording and other interesting videos

I am late with this announcement, but still want to share a link to the webinar we made in early December where Seth demonstrated certain XAF 14.2 features live and talked about XAF application development in general: 

As always, there was also a Q/A session during the presentation: certain questions were voiced live and others were answered by our XAF team in chat. Frankly speaking, we had hundreds of questions about the new functionalities so our keyboards got hot quickly. We could not even handle all the questions so I am thinking about running another pure QA session around January/February. There we could present the most frequently asked questions and general information about the new bits and maybe present some new developments. Honestly, our team really enjoys such live sessions where we had a chance to talk to each other, ask questions and answer yours. Please let me know what you think of this idea in comments.

You know, Seth Juarez, our Analytics Program Manager at DevExpress, is a presenter from God, so if you are new to XAF or not yet getting the ideas behind it well, I recommend you watch another presentation made by Seth: A Gentle Introduction to XAF.
JFYI.

During the webinar, there was also a survey with a few questions for the auditory. Here are poll results (based on the 154 attendees) for your reference: 

What's New in XAF 14.2 Documentation

In addition to the new great features the version 14.2 introduced, there are also improvements to the learning materials that will allow you get the most of DevExpress products. 

The full list of What's New In Help for all products is waiting you here.

The XAF documentation changes are listed here. In particular, I wanted to focus on the restructured and improved Business Model Design section, which is, in my opinion, one of the most important things that contributes to overall understanding of the framework and its development process. 

My other favorite help topic is eXpressApp Framework > Concepts > UI Construction > List View Data Access Modes. Hopefully, even people familiar with the framework will find something helpful here. 

What's New In DevExpress Documentation? (PING!)

I would like to draw your attention to the recent documentation updates, because as you know, not only product features themselves are valuable, but also good documentation that details how to use them in practice, improving your skill set and making you more productive.

Concerning XPO, I suggest you checking this link as it will make you more fluent in using the ORM Data Model Wizard, OData and other design time features:

As for XAF, check out this update to learn about new elements which you might have not used in the past:

If you want to improve your mastery for other DevExpress products, check out the full list of recent documentation updates here.

We constantly update our documentation and examples, so do not forget to check the What's New documents from time to time, because it lists more than new product features and fixed bugs.