Released: Jul 2, 2025

Updates in 25.1

Features

WPF Template Kit

• The Template Kit v25.1 is packed with new performance optimized templates designed to jump-start development. DevExpress WPF Templates support the following:
  • Modern design patterns - MVVM best practices and built-in dependency injection (DI).
  • Responsive UI - Infrastructure for asynchronous data load operations and command execution.
  • Secure Data Layer - Includes OData, authentication, and permission management. With this additional layer of protection desktop UI clients cannot access database connection information or modify database tables directly.

Accessibility

• Keyboard Navigation in Backstage Navigation (Ribbon UI) - Added full keyboard navigation support to the WPF Ribbon Backstage View. Users can now navigate and interact with all Backstage elements (such as tabs, buttons, and menu items) without using a mouse. This enhancement improves accessibility and streamlines user workflows, especially for keyboard-centric business solutions.
• Keyboard Navigation in DateNavigator and DateEdit - The WPF DateNavigator and DateEdit controls now support keyboard navigation for all UI elements. When DateEdit is focused, press Alt+Down to activate the popup, then use the Down arrow to focus on the date area. You can navigate through dates using arrow keys, Shift+Tab to focus the header, and Tab to move between 'Today' and 'Close' buttons.
• Improved Keyboard Navigation in Layout Control - Enhanced keyboard accessibility in the WPF Layout Control to deliver a more intuitive and efficient user experience:
  • Layout Control - Users can now expand and collapse layout groups using the keyboard. This offers faster navigation and improved accessibility, especially for complex layouts.
  • Tile Layout Control - Users can navigate between tiles using arrow keys and press Enter to trigger a tile's associated action (fires the tile's Click event). This feature streamlines interaction in tile-based UIs and improves usability for keyboard users.

Avalonia XPF

• Avalonia XPF allows WPF projects to run on macOS and Linux. The Avalonia team has added support for DevExpress UI controls.

Performance Enhancements

• The Lightweight (LW) Themes significantly reduce view load time and memory consumption. v25.1 reworked Demo Center modules to help you evaluate performance improvements across the WPF controls.

.NET 9 Enhancements

• Drag and Drop Between Apps - Microsoft removed BinaryFormatter from .NET 9 for security reasons. Standard drag and drop operations between DevExpress WPF controls within a single application continue to work as expected (no changes are required on your end).

Windows 11 Colors

• System and Accent Color Support - To maintain visual consistency between your app and the operating system, DevExpress Win11 Lightweight themes can automatically select accent color based on a user's system settings.
• Set Theme-Specific Values in XAML - The new LWThemeValue markup extension helps you design views for multiple DevExpress themes. LWThemeValue allows you to set a property based on the current theme in XAML. You can assign it a specific value or a static resource.

New AI Chat Control

• The new AI Chat Control allows you to incorporate an interactive, Copilot-inspired chat-based UI within your WPF application. This AI-powered control leverages BlazorWebView and reuses the DevExpress Blazor AI Chat component (DxAIChat).

New AI-powered Extensions

• Semantic Search (Data Grid) - The WPF Data Grid now supports an enhanced, AI-powered search experience. Unlike traditional keyword-based search, semantic search leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand the meaning behind a query - not just exact words used.
• Smart Search (Ribbon and Accordion) - DevExpress WPF Ribbon and Accordion controls now support AI-powered search. Smart Search works alongside traditional search algorithms to deliver a more powerful and user-friendly search experience.
• Smart Paste (Data Grid and Layout Control) - Smart Paste is an AI-ready feature that transforms traditional copy-paste operations. DevExpress first introduced this AI-powered feature in the WinForms Data Grid and Layout Control in December 2024. v25.1 extends this functionality to the WPF Data Grid, TreeList, and Layout controls.
• AI Assistant (PDF Viewer) - You can now utilize AI-powered Summarize, Translate, and Ask AI features when using the DevExpress WPF PDF Viewer. You can desired AI operation using the PDF Viewer's context menu.

Data Grid and TreeList

• Multi-Cell Editing for Selected Rows - DevExpress introduced multi-cell editing in December 2024, allowing users to apply the same value to multiple selected cells simultaneously. Previously, this feature required multi-cell selection to be enabled. v25.1 improved batch-editing workflow. Multi-cell editing now also supports multiple row selection. Users can use this feature whether they select cells or entire rows.
• Per-Column Control of Editor Button Visibility - v25.1 added the EditorButtonShowMode property to the ColumnBase class. This property allows you to override the EditorButtonShowMode global setting for individual columns.
• Column-Level Control for Immediate Data Posting - Added the EnableImmediatePosting property to the ColumnBase class, allowing you to control when edited values are posted to the data source at the column level. Previously, this behavior was only configurable at the view level (DataViewBase.EnableImmediatePosting). In v25.1, you can override the global setting per column to fine-tune data update behavior based on your preferences.
• Outlook-inspired Side Panels - The WPF Ribbon Control now supports side panel layouts inspired by Microsoft Outlook. With the new RibbonControl.SupportSidePanels property you can display side elements (such as an AccordionControl) to the left or right edge of your application window - or display both elements/panels simultaneously.

Map Control

• Azure Maps Support - The DevExpress WPF Map Control can now utilize Azure Maps data using the following new data providers:
  • Azure Geocode Data Provider - Obtains geographical coordinates for a location based on address.
  • Azure Search Data Provider - Searches for locations using a specified address or keyword.
  • Azure Traffic Incident Data Provider - Obtains information about traffic incidents and displays incident icons on the map.
  • Azure Route Data Provider - Calculates a route between specified origin and destination points, passing through selected waypoints.
  • Azure Route Isochrone Data Provider - Calculates an isochrone and displays areas reachable from a specific location.

PDF Viewer

• Preserve Compressed Object Streams when Saving - In previous versions, DevExpress PDF processing tools supported compressed object streams only when reading documents. To reduce file size when saving PDF documents, v25.1 includes a new compression engine that preserves the original/compressed state of PDF object streams. The compression mechanism automatically applies to multiple document structures (text, PDF forms, fonts, etc) and allows you to modify and save PDF files more efficiently.
• PDF Redaction API - v25.1 includes new APIs to create and manage PDF redaction annotations. With this capability, you can hide/remove sensitive or private content from your documents and add a colored text overlay across the redacted area.

Spreadsheet Control

• OLE Objects - The DevExpress WPF Spreadsheet Control now supports OLE objects. OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) allows you to link external files and embed data (spreadsheets, PDF files, mail messages, presentations, etc.) into your Excel documents.

Rich Text Editor

• Right-to-Left (RTL) Engine Enhancements - Enhanced the Right-to-Left text rendering engine (improved text order in paragraphs, headers and footers, numbering lists, tables and shapes with bi-directional text including mixed Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right text blocks).
• CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) Text Wrapping - Added CJK text wrapping and line-break rule support to the DevExpress WPF Rich Text Editor.
• PDF Export - Convert Word Content Controls to PDF AcroForm Fields - The Word Document to PDF export engine supports the conversion of Word content controls to PDF AcroForm fields.
• Compare Word Documents - v25.1 includes new APIs designed to compare two Word documents programmatically. With the new CompareDocumentExtensions.Compare extension method you can:
  • Identify changes between two versions and generate document output with revisions.
  • Compare both document text and formatting (including case-sensitivity).
  • Compare content within document headers, footers and textboxes.
  • Setup author/date of output revisions.
  • Compare content at the word or character level.
  • Return the document along with revisions as a new Document instance for further processing (or automatically replace an input document with revised content).