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What's new in this 2007V3 edition of NetAdvantage for Windows Forms:

 

Vista Navigation for Windows Forms  - ALL NEW !

Microsoft Windows Vista introduced breadcrumb navigation in its Address Bar as a new metaphor for getting around the file system and network neighborhood, and now you can include support for this innovative paradigm in your own Windows Forms applications whether they are running on Vista PCs or not with the new WinNavigationBar™ control in NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3. When space constraints hem you in, the WinNavigationBar has a leaner and more compact display compared to the WinTree™ while offering many of the same features for hierarchical navigation.

 

WinNavigationBar used in a File Explorer with Drop Down Visible

WinNavigationBar melds a breadcrumb control with a navigational toolbar control based on a hierarchical structure of locations shown as text/drop down button pairs. At the left-hand side of the navigation bar your user's navigation starts from a root location, but from that point it can branch off into deepening levels of child locations that are contained in a nested Locations collection property. In this collection, only one location at a time can be the SelectedLocation which gets displayed with the text button-like appearance in the navigation bar (other locations within the collection are not seen until the user clicks the drop down button.) The navigation path is the sequence of locations that identify where the user is at. You can customize a location's appearance at the granularity of individual locations through the Settings property of each location object, and these locations (and their drop down buttons) can appear hot-tracked as the user mouses over the control.

You can use WinNavigationBar to apply navigation in scenarios reaching beyond simply browsing the file system or network. Representative use cases where you might also consider the WinNavigationBar include:

An additional feature of the WinNavigationBar emerges from its capability as a navigational toolbar.  It can have Action buttons placed on the right-hand side of the control that provide a way for the user to perform arbitrary actions related to your application.  There is also a previous locations drop down list that offers history-like functionality to users who want to return to a previously-visited location.

WinNavigationBar delivers flexibility to users' navigation experience by allowing direct access to any ancestor with a single click on its location. Each location also can furnish a separately-stylable drop down button that can be used to present a list of accessible children. Users will get around the navigation model of your application more quickly and easily with WinNavigationBar.

 

Navigation Toolbar in WinToolbarsManager - NEW!

The commitment to Vista navigation in NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3 doesn't stop with the WinNavigationBar. An all new Navigation toolbar added to the WinToolbarsManager component and exposed through its NavigationToolbar property delivers additional navigation functionality such as prominent Back and Forward buttons, a drop-down list of recently visited locations, and a region to contain additional controls (including perhaps a nested WinNavigationBar navigation control if you want to simulate the Windows Explorer appearance of Windows Vista more closely) with the use of a ControlContainerTool.

Navigation Toolbar with Callouts

Initially hidden (for backwards compatibility), this new toolbar becomes visible in the top dock area of the WinToolbarsManager when you enable it. Consistent with the manner in which it appears on Windows Vista Explorer windows, the navigation toolbar is non-draggable, and appears above all other toolbars that are visible (with the exception of an Office Ribbon.)

The Navigation toolbar displays three mandatory buttons: Back, Forward and Recent History, which are lightweight UI elements based on the Presentation Layer Framework™ or PLF. They do not participate in standard Tool events, but do fire BeforeNavigation and AfterNavigation events on the WinToolbarManager component. Styling their appearance is also simplified because there are Appearance objects for each of these buttons on the NavigationToolbarSettings class.

Using Navigation Toolbar and WinNavigationBar Together

The Navigation toolbar can be synchronized with the current location shown in a WinNavigationBar you add into a ControlContainerTool of the WinToolbarsManager component by handling its AfterNavigation event.  You would also want to handle the SelectedLocationChanged event on the WinNavigationBar to synchronize any changes users make there with the Navigation toolbar.

 

Office 2007 Compatibility

When Office 2007 compatibility is turned on, the Navigation toolbar will not appear if an Office Ribbon appears concurrently on the WinToolbarsManager. If you turn off the Office 2007 compatibility, then you can display the Navigation toolbar beneath the Office Ribbon.

 

Windows Vista Styling - NEW!

Enable your NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3 powered applications to appear as if they were running on a Vista PC when running on non-Vista environments like Windows XP with new Vista styling support that includes:

WinChart™ – Enhanced

NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3 adds a new chart type -- the Histogram chart -- and several new features to the WinChart control that will enhance the data visualization capabilities of your desktop applications.

 

New Chart Type - HistogramChart

Histogram is a new kind of column (or line) chart geared towards producing graphs where the X-Axis represents a number of discrete ranges (for example, adults aged 25-34) and the Y-Axis represent a total number of occurrences falling into each range. The ranges with the highest incidence of occurrences end up producing the tallest columns, clearly depicting for your users that there is a higher probability rate among those in the sample space who fall into that range.

73 - Histogram

You can data bind a histogram chart to a DataSet, DataTable or multi-dimensional numeric arrays (use the ColumnIndex property on HistogramChart to identify a particular column by its zero-based integer index), and numeric value lists. The data values depicted by a histogram represent the count of occurrences within a corresponding "range" (appearing as an axis label) which gives it countless applications when creating probability graphs based on actual incidences (for example, mortality charts in actuarial applications that show the mortality rate experienced by people in a given underwriting class based on their age range).

A histogram chart can be shown using either columns and/or as a line (for example, a normal distribution curve), and you can set Appearance properties similar to those that you can set on column chart types (e.g., ColumnSpacing to control how densely packed the columns appear) and line chart types (e.g., DrawStyle to control the line style used).

 

Export Charts to PDF/XPS

WinChart adds new support for exporting itself to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and XML Paper Specification (XPS) file formats that leverage the capabilities found in the new Infragistics Document Export Engine™. All you need do is create a Report using the DOM of the Infragistics Documents class library, create a Graphics context object using the CreateGraphics method of a Canvas in your Report, and then call the new RenderPdfFriendlyGraphics method which renders the scene graph of your chart to this Graphics context object. By creating the Report manually, you only need to include a reference to the Infragistics2.Documents.v7.3.dll in your Windows Forms application when you actually need to use this feature.

Transparency and gradient paths are not supported in charts exported to PDF or XPS. Any gradient paths will be replaced with an approximate linear or radial gradient where appropriate.

 

Positive and Negative Stacked Bar and Column Charts

Previously, WinChart would only support displaying all positive or all negative data in stacked bar and stacked column chart types with an error message indicating the data was invalid. Beginning in NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3, you can freely mix positive and negative data values in the data you supply to a stacked bar or stacked column chart type. Stacked bars and columns will render above and/or below zero. The contribution of any negative value to its proportion of a stacked bar or column continues to be based on its absolute value.

73 - Positive Negative Stack Chart

Support for Zero Data Points in Charts Having Logarithmic Axes

Mathematically, the logarithm of zero is undefined, and as a consequence of this axiom previous versions of WinChart would throw an exception if zero data values were passed as data for a chart with a Logarithmic axis. However, sometimes you may want to substitute another value for the logarithm of 0 to allow zero data points (perhaps standing for data without a value) to be supplied as part of a data set you wish to view on a logarithmically-scaled chart. Therefore, NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3 adds the LogZero property to the AxisAppearance objects which allows you to specify a substitute value for the logarithm of 0.

The LogZero property has a default value of Double.NaN (Not a Number) which continues the legacy behavior of throwing an exception for invalid zero data points when the axis of the chart is set to scale logarithmically. However, by setting this property to 1.0 (or another value) you cause the zero data point to plot as if it had this value. Causing the zero data point to plot parallel to the axis minimum value is equivalent to causing the zero data point to plot no visible chart element at all, which is typically what you will want when you allow zero data points in a logarithmically-scaled chart.

Fill Scene Graph Event

The new FillSceneGraph event is raised when all of the Primitives have been added to the WinChart's scene graph, but before the WinChart renders. You can handle this event and you will receive a FillSceneGraphEventArgs object with several properties such as the scene graph which allows you to add or remove Primitives before the chart renders instead of having to implement your own custom ILayer.

 

WinGauge™ Designer – Enhanced

The new Relative Bounds Editor introduced in the WinGauge's Visual Studio .NET design-time wizard for NetAdvantage for Windows Forms 2007 Volume 3 enables you to more quickly create complex brushes visually and intuitively with no code. Each brush element on the control supports this new time-saving editor that lets you specify the (X, Y) of the top/left corner, the Width and the Height (in your choice of pixels or as a percentage) that define the bounds and the clip region of the brush.

Using the New Relative Bounds Editor in WinGauge Designer

The preceding screen shot illustrates how the Relative Bounds editor can be used to set percentage and pixel bounds for the blue MultiStopRadial brush element appearing in the WinGauge preview.  The designer can constrain the area in which this brush element will apply, and gets visual feedback in the preview pane rightaway on what effect their change would have on the finished radial gauge.

 

See What's New in Prior Releases

Every release of NetAdvantage for .NET adds value and features onto the release that came before. You can read more about what was new in previous volume releases here or at anytime consult the "What's New" pages in the accompanying documentation.