.NET 5 support plans for TeeChart v4 Pro in WinForms applications

[bairog]

Hello.
.NET 5 RC1 is out for almost a month, RC2 is about to appear. Both version are Go-Live and supported in production.
When are you planning TeeChart v4 Pro to support .NET 5 in WinForms applications (ASP .NET Core app is not an option for our company, our software is fully desktop)?
Thank you.

[Christopher]

Hello.
.NET 5 RC1 is out for almost a month, RC2 is about to appear. Both version are Go-Live and supported in production.
When are you planning TeeChart v4 Pro to support .NET 5 in WinForms applications (ASP .NET Core app is not an option for our company, our software is fully desktop)?
Thank you.

We are presently in the process of producing a new suite of TeeChart assemblies for .NET 5, based on a core TeeChart assembly written in .NET Standard which acts as a 'Portable Class Library' for platform specific assemblies for .NET 5 WinForm, .NET 5 WPF, .NET 5 ASP (no dependency on System.Drawing/GDI+) and Xamarin/Xamarin.Forms. We hope to have these new suite ready for the release version of .NET 5 - scheduled for this November - and will keep our clients updated on our progress.

[bairog]

Could you please clarify:
When targeting .NET Framework nuget package Steema.TeeChart.NET has more features in WinForms (TeeChart.dll) than in WPF (TeeChart.WPF.dll) - I mean more powerfull designer, ShowEditor() function, etc.
When targeting .NET Core 3.1, again, nuget package Steema.TeeChart.NetCore.WinForm is expected to have more features than in Steema.TeeChart.NetCore.WPF - I mean same functionality (when WinForms designer for .NET Core will be finally released).
As you said above you are developing .NET 5 library based on a core TeeChart assembly written in .NET Standard. Is it going also to have different designer functionality on WinForms and WPF?
I'm confused by ".NET Standard" because as far as I know it is a smaller subset of APIs that WinForms have.

[Christopher]

Could you please clarify:
When targeting .NET Framework nuget package Steema.TeeChart.NET has more features in WinForms (TeeChart.dll) than in WPF (TeeChart.WPF.dll) - I mean more powerfull designer, ShowEditor() function, etc.

No, I don't think it is the case that TeeChart.dll has more features than TeeChart.WPF.dll; it is more the case that the designtime experience of Windows Forms and the Windows Presentation Framework is different for all visual components in Visual Studio, including TeeChart. Specifically in the case of TeeChart, the Windows Forms version has an editor build from Windows Forms (that you can call using ShowEditor), whereas the WPF version has no such editor.

When targeting .NET Core 3.1, again, nuget package Steema.TeeChart.NetCore.WinForm is expected to have more features than in Steema.TeeChart.NetCore.WPF - I mean same functionality (when WinForms designer for .NET Core will be finally released).

I think you might be conflating .NET Core with .NET 5.0 - .NET Core is already 'finally released,' but as we have identified, the designtime experience of the Windows Forms .NET Core version in Visual Studio has yet to arrive at the same level of functionality as the .NET Framework experience.

As you said above you are developing .NET 5 library based on a core TeeChart assembly written in .NET Standard. Is it going also to have different designer functionality on WinForms and WPF?

The difference in designtime experience between Windows Forms and the Windows Presentation Framework is not the work nor the responsibility of Steema Software - it is the work and responsibility of Microsoft and their Visual Studio team. The differences in designtime experience between Windows Forms and WPF exist prior to and independently of any software Steema Software has produced or will produce. More specifically to TeeChart code produced by Steema Software then yes, in .NET 5.0 we hope to be able to replicate the designtime experience of our Windows Forms and WPF controls that presently exists in our .NET Framework versions of them.

I'm confused by ".NET Standard" because as far as I know it is a smaller subset of APIs that WinForms have.

.NET Standard doesn't only target Windows Forms - as you can see here, it targets a wide range of platforms, many of which are targeted by TeeChart. The reason we are producing an assembly to target .NET Standard is basically explained in the 'reusable libraries' section here - once we have produced a TeeChart .NET Standard assembly containing the 'engine' of TeeChart, we can then use that assembly as the basis for all of our platform-specific assemblies.

[bairog]

No, I don't think it is the case that TeeChart.dll has more features than TeeChart.WPF.dll; it is more the case that the designtime experience of Windows Forms and the Windows Presentation Framework is different for all visual components in Visual Studio, including TeeChart.

Looks like I didn’t express my thoughts clearly. I was speaking only about situation that the Windows Forms version has an editor build from Windows Forms (that you can call using ShowEditor), whereas the WPF version has no such editor.

More specifically to TeeChart code produced by Steema Software then yes, in .NET 5.0 we hope to be able to replicate the designtime experience of our Windows Forms and WPF controls that presently exists in our .NET Framework versions of them.

once we have produced a TeeChart .NET Standard assembly containing the 'engine' of TeeChart, we can then use that assembly as the basis for all of our platform-specific assemblies.

Thank you for explanation, that is all I wanted to hear.

[bairog]

Any updates for this?

[Marc]

Hello,

If I've understood the question corrcetly, the latest progress in support for NET5 is available for download here:

https://www.nuget.org/packages/Steema.T ... 12.18-beta

We can answer specific questions on it if you have any.

Regards,
Marc

[bairog]

I'm especially insterested in .NET Framework-like designtime experience of .NET 5 Windows Forms - I mean an editor (that I can also call using ShowEditor()).
As I can see Steema.TeeChart.NET50 4.2020.12.18-beta lacks this feature for now:

So looking forward for it.
Thank you in advance.

[Christopher]

So looking forward for it.

So are we! It seems that the .NET 5.0 Windows Form designer still doesn't have exactly the same functionality as the .NET Framework Windows Form designer, which means we can't implement the functionality you mention until we have a resolution to the issue which I have detailed in the following StackOverflow question:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/655 ... snt-called

[bairog]

..issue which I have detailed in the following StackOverflow question:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/655 ... snt-called

I think it can be worthy to create an issue directly on winforms github as well - https://github.com/dotnet/winforms/issues
Some people post WinForms Designer bugs in What's new documentation is missing topic (https://github.com/dotnet/winforms/issues/4122) but I think that is not the right place for this..

[Christopher]

I think it can be worthy to create an issue directly on winforms github as well

Yes, I think I will do that if I don't get a workaround I can use from the StackOverflow question. I'll leave it a couple of days, and if I get nothing useful I'll post on github.

[bairog]

I'll leave it a couple of days, and if I get nothing useful I'll post on github.

6 days no reply at SO. Looks like we need to go "github route"..

[Christopher]

I'll leave it a couple of days, and if I get nothing useful I'll post on github.

6 days no reply at SO. Looks like we need to go "github route"..

Three working days and two hours, as Wednesday was a national holiday. I'll post to github before the end of today.

[Christopher]

Three working days and two hours, as Wednesday was a national holiday. I'll post to github before the end of today.

Let's see if we get a response to this:
https://github.com/dotnet/winforms/issues/4451

[bairog]

Let's see if we get a response to this:
https://github.com/dotnet/winforms/issues/4451

Are there any news about it?
Does TeeChart.NET is now .NET 5 ready annoncement at you forum means that this is finally fixed?
Or maybe on latest .NET 6.0 RC2 or with latest Visual Studio 2022 RC/Preview 5?