.NET News

Improve Spreadsheet Data Readability

November 28, 2025
Using formatting and presentation features allow you to easily present information to help users navigate complex worksheets with less effort.

Formatting and presentation features shape how information is communicated within a spreadsheet, turning raw values into content that is clearer, more readable, and visually consistent. These capabilities help users emphasize key data, establish a coherent visual style, and create worksheets that are easier to interpret at a glance. By supporting both subtle adjustments and more expressive enhancements, they play a central role in making spreadsheets suitable for reporting, analysis, and presentation-focused tasks across a wide range of scenarios.

Common features include:

  • Barcodes convert cell values into machine-readable symbols that can be used for tracking, inventory, or integration with external systems.
  • Cell Formatting controls the appearance of content through adjustments to fonts, colors, borders, alignment, and number formats.
  • Charts present data visually through a variety of graphical formats, making patterns and comparisons easier to understand.
  • Conditional Formatting applies visual cues dynamically, helping users identify trends, exceptions, or threshold-based results without manual intervention.
  • Inserting Images enables users to place graphics directly into worksheets, supporting richer presentations and adding contextual detail where needed.
  • Themes provide a foundation for consistent styling by applying coordinated colors, fonts, and effects across an entire spreadsheet.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our ASP.NET Core spreadsheet components comparison.

Explore ASP.NET Core Spreadsheet Features

Fine-Tune Value Input with Sliding Controls

November 27, 2025
Provide users with an intuitive trackbar data editor that improves numeric input, maintains valid ranges, and delivers visual feedback.

A trackbar in data editors provides a sliding control that allows users to adjust numeric values within a defined range through an interactive visual interface. It reduces the need for manual text entry, prevents invalid inputs by enforcing minimums, maximums and step increments, and offers immediate feedback as values change. Trackbars are especially useful in scenarios where users need to fine tune settings such as selecting volume levels, adjusting brightness, setting filter thresholds or choosing time or price ranges, making them ideal for applications that benefit from quick, intuitive and precise value selection.

Several .NET WinForms components offer Trackbar Data Editors including:

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

Compare .NET WinForms Data Editors

Import and Export Excel XLSX Files Using WPF

November 27, 2025
Use Spread.NET to effortlessly import and export Excel spreadsheets within your WPF application.

Spread.NET helps you create spreadsheets, grids, dashboards, and forms. It includes a powerful calculation engine with 450+ functions and the ability to import and export Excel spreadsheets. You can develop in Visual Studio using VB or C# for WinForms, ASP.NET, and WPF.

In this blog post, MESCIUS Product Marketing Specialist Mackenzie Albitz guides you through four essential steps for importing and exporting Excel spreadsheets in your WPF applications:

  • Create a C#/VB WPF Spreadsheet Application
  • Define the User Interface for a WPF Spreadsheet App
  • Add Excel XLSX Import Code - OpenExcel Method
  • Add Excel XLSX Export Code - SaveAs Method

Detailed sample code is included and you can even download a finished sample project to follow along.

Read the complete blog post to learn the steps for integrating this powerful Excel functionality into your WPF applications.

Spread.NET is licensed per developer and is available as a Perpetual License with a 12 month support and maintenance subscription. We can supply any Spread.NET license including new licenses, maintenance renewals, and upgrade licenses. See our Spread.NET licensing page for full details.

For more information, visit our Spread.NET product page.

Add Handwritten Notes to PDFs in Web Apps

November 26, 2025
ASP.NET Core PDF controls with freehand drawing and ink annotation let users add signatures, sketches, and notes directly to documents.

Freehand Draw, also known as Ink Annotation, in ASP.NET Core PDF Viewer controls allows users to add freeform, hand-drawn annotations directly onto PDF documents. This feature mimics natural handwriting or sketching by enabling input through mouse, touch, or stylus, making it especially useful for scenarios requiring personal notes, signatures, or diagrammatic feedback. The annotations are embedded as part of the PDF, ensuring they remain accessible and visible across different platforms and viewers. It is commonly used in applications where document review or digital signing is required, enhancing interactivity and collaboration within PDF-based processes.

Several ASP.NET Core Assembly PDF Viewer components offer support for Freehand Draw/Ink Annotation including:

  • Document Solutions for PDF by MESCIUS allows you to draw free‑hand ink annotations that capture user‑stroke paths and embed them as editable vector markup within a PDF.
  • ImageGear .NET by Accusoft enables freehand and polyline annotation so developers can capture scribbles, arrows or curves and save them as PDF annotation objects.
  • Syncfusion ASP.NET Core PDF (part of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise) supports ink annotation within its viewer, enabling users to draw and add signatures to PDFs.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of ASP.NET Core Assembly PDF Viewer Components.

Compare ASP.NET Core Assembly PDF Viewer Components

Build Visual Workflows with Powerful Elsa Tooling

November 26, 2025
ABP Platform 10.0 adds the Elsa Workflow module, allowing developers to design, execute, and manage visual workflows directly in their applications.

ABP Platform is a comprehensive framework designed to accelerate the development of enterprise software solutions by offering an opinionated architecture built on best practices for .NET and ASP.NET Core. It equips developers with the essential infrastructure, production-ready startup templates, pre-built application modules, and modern UI themes needed to build robust, scalable, and maintainable applications. With powerful tooling, detailed guides, and extensive documentation, ABP Platform improvs implementation, reduces repetitive tasks, and ensures consistency across projects. Ideal for organizations seeking to enhance productivity and maintain high-quality standards, it enables teams to focus on delivering business value while the platform handles architectural complexity and automation.

The ABP Platform 10.0 update introduces the Elsa Workflow module, giving developers a fully integrated way to design and execute visual, event-driven processes within both monolithic and microservice architectures. With built-in support for Elsa Studio, developers can model and manage behavior through a hybrid UI while relying on ABP to handle execution, state management, and service interactions, resulting in a more consistent and maintainable approach to orchestrating application processes.

To see a full list of what's new in version 10.0.0, see our release notes.

The ABP Platform is available as a Team, Business or Enterprise license, which entitles developers to use the platform's Pro features and provides software updates and technical support for 1 year. See our ABP Platform licensing page for full details.

For more information, visit our ABP publisher page.