Intersoft ClientUI 8 adds comprehensive charting controls to the ClientUI product family, as well as several new intuitive data controls designed to address the most demanding requirements in line-of-business applications. The new release also adds significant enhancements to the existing controls as well as new framework features across Silverlight 4, Silverlight 5 and WPF platforms. ClientUI 8 also adds support for .NET Framework 4.5, Visual Studio 2012 and Expression Blend for Visual Studio 2012.

This topic contains the following sections.

Framework

Enhanced: Inversion-of-Control (IoC) Container

Enhanced region manager to support wildcard (*) in the region name while using view discovery. This allows the views to be discovered by any region scopes that use wildcard, with the condition that the region name is identical.
Enhanced region manager to support targeting exact region scope type. A new property called RegionScopeType is now added to the ViewPartAttribute class.

Enhanced: Focus Manager

Enhanced FocusManager in WPF, it's now able to focus a control even when there is no valid focus scope.

Enhanced: Navigation Framework

Supports extra data passing during navigation through the ExtraData property in the NavigationOptions class which is commonly set to the command parameter using MVVM pattern.

Added Authenticating event to the UXFrame to provide you with a more granular control over the authentication process, i.e., implementing your own authentication logic.

For more information about ClientUI Navigation Framework, see Navigation Overview.

New Controls

Data Visualization Controls

ClientUI 8 now ships with a comprehensive suite of data visualization controls allowing you to easily add stunning and interactive charts to your Silverlight and WPF applications. With over 20+ chart series and advanced interactivity features, UXChart offers an ultimate data visualization solution for your business apps. UXChart includes most features you expect in a charting suite, plus a host of innovative features not available elsewhere – such as smooth zooming that supports both vertical and horizontal mode, MVVM support for series binding, pixel-perfect line rendering, data point highlights with nearest point tracking, and much more.

UXChart
A comprehensive business-oriented charting toolset
featuring over 20+ chart series, full MVVM support,
high-performance rendering and rich interactivity features.

Data Controls

ClientUI 8 continues to add more innovative data controls that address real-world business challenges. The ClientUI data controls are built to adhere to the industry's best practice in design and architecture including full support for MVVM design pattern.

The following table lists the new data controls available in ClientUI 8.

	UXQueryBuilder A powerful visual filter editor that combines intuitive user interface and advanced data filtering functionality.
	UXPropertyGrid An advanced data editing control featuring compact user interface design and streamlined editing experiences.

Navigation Controls

ClientUI 8 also adds a versatile breadcrumb control that combines hybrid navigation functionality and intuitive user experiences. This control allows users to quickly discover, explore and navigate between pages in the application. This advanced breadcrumb control is designed for modern application navigation which frequently contains hierarchical, nested navigation structure. As with other navigation controls, the breadcrumb control is built upon ClientUI Navigation Framework to ensure consistent and reliable navigation experiences.

UXBreadCrumb
A versatile, multi-purpose navigation control that packs
breadcrumb and menu functionality into a single intuitive user interface.

Enhancements to Existing Controls

General

Major performance improvement in all selection controls, which includes single selection control, multiple selection control, and headered selection control.
All selection controls now invoke selection change related events or properties in streamlined approach, reducing the calls to unnecessary deselection or selection cyclic.
Improved memory management and optimized resources allocation for all existing ClientUI controls.
Full Visual Studio 2012 support, including toolbox, project templates, and assembly references.

ContentTransition

Improved transition core logic to achieve smooth animation when ConflictAction is set to QueueNextTransition. With the improvement, changing the process simultaneously will not cancel the currently running animation. Instead, the concurrent animations will be queued and executed one at a time.

ExpandableContentPresenter

Added AnimateOnFirstLoad property which indicates whether the control should perform animation during first load.

ExpandableGroupBox

Added ExpandCollapseMode property. When set to Visibility, it will collapsed the content instead animating the height of the content.
Major performance improvement when initial state is expanded (WPF).
Supports fluid behavior for the content height when the state is expanded and animation is enabled (WPF)

UXContextMenu

Added FocusActiveElement property. When set to true, the control on which the context menu is attached will be automatically focused.
Added special support for UXTextBox. When the context menu is attached on a textbox control, the textbox will continue receiving focus as expected, but without losing the keyboard navigation functionality of the context menu. This means that users can continue using key down or up to navigate the menu items.

UXComboBox

Added IsDropDownEnabled property which can be used to disable only the dropdown part of the combobox control. When disabled, pressing F2 or F4 will no longer open the dropdown.
Added GlassMargin property which allows you to customize the margin of the glass element without having to restyle the control template.
Added WaterMarkTextVisibility, WatermarkText, WarmarkForeground and WatermarkTextStyle properties that enable the combobox to show watermark when there are no item currently selected.

UXDock

Window minimize animation is now transitioning to the correct target location when DockPosition is Left or Right.
Added IconEffect property to UXDesktopDockButton.
Added IsExpanded property to UXDock. This property allows you to set the initial state of the dock control.
Minimized dock button is now properly removed when the associated window is closed.

UXFileUpload

Added FilesAddedCommand property which can be bound to a DelegateCommand in ViewModel. This allows you to add interaction logic when users add new files into the UXFileUpload control.

UXGlassWindow (WPF)

Added ChromeCornerRadius property which is used to control the corner radius of the chrome border.
Added ChromeFrameThickness property which is used to control the frame thickness of the chrome border.
Improved performance during startup.

UXGridView

Added FilterMemberPath property to UXGridViewBoundColumn which is used to generate the filter expresion when data filtering is enabled in UXGridView.
Added HeaderCheckBoxStyle and CheckBoxStyle properties which are used to control the style of checkbox element in UXGridViewSelectColumn.
Added Cell Locking Mechancism when UXDataComboBox and/or UXPageableComboBox is used as editing control in UXGridView. This feature allows the edited cell to be temporarily locked when it needs to load certain data in asynchronous manner. This feature is very useful to ensure appropriate data input process through the Grid's inline editing capability. For more information, see Editing Data with UXGridView.
Introduce custom Cell Locking Mechanism when updating a cell through UpdateCellCommand.

For more information about UXGridView and its complete features, see UXGridView Overview.

UXDataComboBox

Added MaxLength property which is use to limit maximum of character input in UXDataComboBox.
Load more data command is now disable when UXDataComboBox is still currently loading data from previous request.

UXListBox

Selection is now properly synchronized in first load when the SelectedValue property is bound and the SelectedValuePath property is specified.
Disabled visual state is now applied properly.

UXMessageBox

Added ImagesBaseUri property to UXMessageBox. This property allows you to change the base folder for the images used by the message box control.

UXRibbon

Added a new key gesture "Ctrl + Windows" to activate KeyTip feature for Silverlight browser application. Note that the standard gestures such as Ctrl + Alt, or Alt key are still supported in OOB or WPF apps.
Enhanced KeyTip position to align perfectly for medium and small buttons, as well as menu items.
Improved KeyTip usability and smarter detection between pressing the activation key and access key.
Enhanced KeyTip feature to support MDI (multiple window) scenario. When hosted in UXWindow, only the key tips of the associated window will be activated.
Improved memory usage and performance when KeyTip feature is enabled.
Improved KeyTip usability for ISO 9241 conformance.
Keyboard device is now modal when KeyTip is activated. This means that pressing Escape or other access key will be isolated only to the current KeyTip context.
Added ReturnLastFocus attached property to UXRibbonBar class. This property can be set on any UXRibbonButton variants to determine whether the button should focus back to previously focused element when the button completes its command. This property is set to true by default.

UXTabControl

Added DefaultFocus property in UXTabItem. When specified, the matching control will be automatically focused when the tab item is selected.
UXTabControl now supports edit template in Blend (WPF).

New Project Templates

Metro Business Application Template (Silverlight)

In this release, ClientUI adds a new business application project template that sports Windows 8 design aesthetic. You can now easily create professional business applications that allow your users to change the application and color theme – thanks to the brand new Theme Manager included in this release.

The project template includes several predefined pages to help you quickly getting started with your new projects, such as the login, registration and settings page. In addition, you can also create your own pages and elements that leverage the Metro theme aesthetic. For more information about the theming features, see Theme Manager Overview.

This project template is available in both C# and VB language. For more information about working with project template, see Introduction to ClientUI Project Templates.

Windows Explorer Style Navigation Template (WPF)

ClientUI 8 ships a new, versatile navigation control that combines the breadcrumb and menu functionality in an elegant user interface. It allows users to perform navigation in a simple point-and-click manner. As the result, it greatly improves the application’s overall user experiences.

In addition, the new release also includes a fully functional implementation of the navigation control in the form of Visual Studio project template. This means that you can create gorgeous, Windows 8 style navigation applications in just a few clicks away.

This project template includes several predefined pages with modern user interface design. It also includes links to three-level depth of sitemap to demonstrate the navigation capability of the control. You can easily start your new navigation application based on this template, then modify the pages and add new pages. This project template is available in both C# and VB language.

For more information about the breadcrumb control, see UXBreadCrumb Overview.

New Technical Samples

ClientUI 8 introduces new technical samples with completely redesigned navigation and user interface. The new technical samples are strongly focused on each feature of the product and demonstrates the features in the simplest manner. It’s designed to help you easily discover the features and implement them in your application.

In this release, ClientUI ships over 175+ new technical samples which covers all the new controls and new features delivered in this release. Each sample provides options that are relevant to the features being demonstrated.

The technical samples are available in both Silverlight and WPF platforms. To open the technical samples solution, please go to the Intersoft Solutions program group, and locate the Intersoft Technical Samples 2012 R2 under the Silverlight or WPF program group.

New Control Reference Samples

In addition to the new technical samples, ClientUI 8 also delivers a completely revamped reference samples. Designed with clean and fluid design, it provides spacious canvas for the sample and over 30% larger real screen estate, allowing you to focusing on the content. The new reference samples also offer an ultimate ease-of-use, thanks to the streamlined user experiences made possible by the innovative breadcrumb control.

This new release adds over 75 new samples to the reference sample collection to demonstrate the integration possibility of the new controls and new features combined. To browse all the new samples added in this release, see Locating the Samples in Local Installation.

Additionally, numerous technical samples are added in this release which demonstrate several key features such as supported cross-platform, unified development model, as well as best practice in using ClientUI controls with other technologies like WCF RIA Services and DevForce Services. For the complete list, see Samples Overview.

To see the list of new walkthroughs and how-to topics, please refer to Walkthroughs and How-to Topics.

Other Resources

Walkthroughs and How-to Topics

Locating the Samples in Local Installation

ClientUI Release History