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WPF Property Grid 2.0 is here

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We’re pleased to announce version 2.0 of the WPF Property Grid. Since we launched version 1.0 in January, we’ve been continuing to enhance the product, and version 2.0 wraps up all those new features and adds a couple more. Here are some highlights.

Exciting new styles

Version 2.0 includes three new visual styles for the property grid, on top of its default Windows Forms-like appearance: Alloy, a dark brushed-metal style; Whalesong, a relaxed light-blue theme inspired by Office 2007; and Radium, a bright, colourful green style with animated highlights. You can use these styles directly, or you can use them as a starting point for your own customisations — the full source for all three styles is included. The templating samples from version 1.0 are still available but the new styles are much more comprehensive.

You can play with the new styles online here. (See below for .NET Framework and browser requirements.)

Multiple selected objects support

One frequently requested feature has been support for a SelectedObjects property which would allow users to select multiple objects and edit their properties all in one go. Version 2.0 of the property grid includes exactly that feature.

Sorting and grouping in XAML

The property grid has always supported sorting and grouping, but it wasn’t always as obvious as it could be, and you had to go into code to set it up. We’ve fixed that, providing properties on the grid that you can set through XAML for common sorting and grouping scenarios.

Partial trust

As WPF arrives on more and more machines, and with the recent introduction of Firefox support for XBAP, it’s becoming increasingly practical to deliver WPF applications over the Web. We’ve eliminated some of the code access security requirements of version 1.0, so that you can now use the grid in partial trust scenarios such as ClickOnce and XAML browser applications.

Plus there are a ton of smaller features and fixes — check the release notes in the documentation for details. We’ve also added a number of “how to” articles to the help file based on some frequent support questions.

Try it out

You can get a 14-day trial of WPF Property Grid 2.0 from our downloads area — take it for a spin today!

You can also try out the interactive demo. (You will need to have .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 or above, and be using an XBAP-friendly browser — Internet Explorer for .NET 3.0 SP1, Internet Explorer or Firefox for .NET 3.5 or above.)

For existing users

If you already have a licence for WPF Property Grid 1.0, version 2.0 is a free upgrade, which you can get from the store. A couple of things to be aware of:

• Version 2.0 installs side by side with version 1.0, rather than over the top. If you want to upgrade an existing project to use 2.0 (and you have not copied the DLL to a custom location), you will need to update your DLL reference path to “WPF Property Grid 2.0″. You might also need to update licenses.licx to reflect the new version number, though in practice we’ve found that this seems to be unnecessary.
• Although version 2.0 is highly compatible with version 1.0, you might need to make small changes to existing code if you are customising the built-in editors or retemplating the grid. These changes will be very minor: we will post details shortly, or in the meantime we will be happy to advise you on the forums.

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Posted by Ivan Towlson on 26 November 2008

One Response to “WPF Property Grid 2.0 is here”

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