.NET 7 WinForms News

Explore Data Layers Without Leaving the Grid

November 26, 2025
Drill-down functionality in grids lets users move from summaries to detailed records in-place, improving clarity and data comprehension.

Drill-down capability within a grid control enables users to move from summary data to increasingly detailed records within the same interface, creating a smooth and focused exploration experience. It improves productivity by reducing screen changes and extra queries, helps users spot patterns and exceptions more quickly, and keeps complex information clearly organized. Typical use cases include reviewing sales by region, then by city and customer, analyzing financial summaries that open into individual transactions, or exploring product inventories from category to specific item.

Several .NET WinForms grid controls offer drill-down capability including:

  • DevExpress WinForms Data Grid (part of DevExpress WinForms) lets you drill into hierarchical records, revealing insights quickly, within a responsive grid interface.
  • FlexGrid for WinForms (part of ComponentOne Studio WinForms by MESCIUS) allows you to drill through layered data, exposing meaningful details.
  • Infragistics WinDataGrid (part of Infragistics Ultimate UI for Windows Forms) facilitates drill down navigation, enabling users to uncover granular information while maintaining clarity.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our .NET WinForms grid controls comparison.

Compare .NET WinForms Grid Controls

Track Network Paths with Precision

November 14, 2025
TraceRoute support in .NET components helps developers diagnose latency, map packet routes, and optimize performance in network apps.

TraceRoute is a network diagnostic protocol used in .NET Communications and Messaging controls to determine the path packets take from the source to a destination across an IP network. It works by sending packets with incrementally increasing Time-To-Live (TTL) values, which prompts routers along the path to return error messages that help identify each hop and measure transit delays. This functionality is particularly useful for monitoring network latency, diagnosing connectivity issues, and understanding the routing behavior of networks in distributed systems. By integrating TraceRoute into a .NET application, developers gain visibility into network paths, enabling more informed troubleshooting and performance optimization of communication processes.

Several .NET Comms & Messaging components offer support for TraceRoute protocol including:

  • IPWorks .NET Edition by /n software lets you perform a TraceRoute to map network hops to a designated host and analyze latency across each segment.
  • PowerTCP Sockets for .NET by Dart Communications supports an asynchronous TraceRoute feature to identify packet‑routing paths and measure round‑trip delays.
  • SocketTools .NET Edition by Catalyst Development Corp. allows a TraceRoute operation by sending timed‑echo packets with incremental hop limits to detect intermediate routers.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of .NET Comms & Messaging.

Compare .NET Comms & Messaging

Generate PDFs That Meet Accessibility Standards

November 14, 2025
TX Text Control .NET 34.0 adds support for the PDF/UA standard, ensuring digital documents are accessible and compliant with global regulations.

TX Text Control .NET is a royalty-free, fully programmable document editor that empowers developers to add rich WYSIWYG word processing to desktop and web applications across various platforms. It provides everything from comprehensive text formatting and mail merge to PDF creation and processing, all through a robust API and intuitive user interface.

The TX Text Control .NET 34.0 Enterprise now supports the PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) standard, enabling developers to generate PDF documents that comply with ISO 14289-1 accessibility guidelines. This update ensures that documents are properly structured and tagged for assistive technologies like screen readers, helping organizations meet legal and regulatory requirements for accessible digital content. With this enhancement, TX Text Control makes it easier to deliver inclusive, compliant PDFs across industries where accessibility is essential, such as government, healthcare, and education.

To see a full list of what's new in version 34.0, see our release notes.

TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms and TX Text Control .NET for WPF are licensed per developer and are available as a Perpetual License with a 12 month support and maintenance subscription. See our TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms licensing page or TX Text Control .NET for WPF licensing page for full details.

TX Text Control .NET is available to buy in the following products:

Simplify PDF Export Setup with Permission Toggles

November 13, 2025
ActiveReports.NET v19.2 adds a new permissions configuration panel for Web Viewer PDF exports, enabling granular control of user interactions.

ActiveReports.NET from MESCIUS, is a comprehensive reporting solution for developers building applications in .NET. It helps you to design and deliver visually appealing reports through user-friendly designers and a wide range of controls. ActiveReports simplifies report creation and distribution with a versatile API, rich data source connectivity, and support for multiple export formats. This translates to increased developer productivity and improved end-user experience with powerful reporting functionalities within your .NET applications.

The ActiveReports.NET v19.2 update introduces configurable permissions for PDFs exported from Web Viewers, allowing developers to apply precise controls over how end users interact with generated documents. By enabling encryption and selecting permissions such as copying, printing, annotating, modifying, filling forms, and accessing content through assistive readers, developers can enforce security, compliance, and workflow requirements directly within the export process. This update optimizes permission management across the JS Viewer, Blazor Viewer, and ASP.NET WebViewer, providing a consistent and efficient way to govern document behavior without additional code or external tooling.

To see a full list of what's new in v19.2, see our release notes.

ActiveReports.NET is licensed per developer and is available with or without a 12 month support and maintenance subscription. See our ActiveReports.NET licensing page for full details.

Learn more on our ActiveReports.NET product page.

Add Images to Grid Cells for Visual Context

November 10, 2025
Display images directly within grid cells to make information instantly clear, improving usability, visual appeal, and overall data comprehension.

Displaying an image within a grid cell allows developers to combine visual and textual data, making information more intuitive and engaging. This feature enables images such as icons, product photos, or user avatars to appear directly alongside related values, providing immediate visual context and helping users quickly interpret complex datasets. The result is a more dynamic and user-friendly interface that enhances clarity, recognition, and overall usability. Common use cases include showing product images in inventory lists, employee photos in directories, or country flags in international sales reports, allowing users to connect visuals with data for faster understanding and improved decision-making.

Many .NET WinForms grid controls support displaying images within cells, including:

  • DevExpress WinForms Data Grid (part of DevExpress WinForms) lets you embed images directly in cells, enriching data presentation with intuitive, visually informative elements.
  • Telerik UI for WinForms GridView (part of Telerik UI for WinForms) enables image display inside cells, combining visuals with data to create polished, interactive grid interfaces.
  • FlexGrid for WinForms (part of ComponentOne Studio WinForms by MESCIUS) allows you to display images alongside text, creating visually engaging data views.
  • Infragistics WinDataGrid (part of Infragistics Ultimate UI for Windows Forms) facilitates image integration within cells for enhanced clarity across complex data sets.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of .NET WinForms Grid Controls.

Compare .NET WinForms Grid Controls