Add Geographic Context to Your App with the Q3 2013 Release of RadControls for Windows 8

It is with great enthusiasm that we announce the Q3 2013 release of RadControls for Windows 8. Our development team has put a lot of effort in it and you can tell that from the result – a lightning fast Map control for XAML and a feature-rich Scheduler for HTML, along with the ever so smooth RadialMenu in both suites. And this is not all, so read on to learn about all the great stuff in the new release.

Let us start with more details about the new additions:

NEW CONTROLS

Map CTP (XAML)

The Map for Windows 8 XAML is the star in this release. You can now visualize ESRI shapefiles that define thousands of shapes. This includes not only geographical shapes but custom ones as well. It is now easy to visualize the seats in a theatre hall, a plane or other seating plan for your reservations application. Additionally, the control supports a user layer that allows you to display your own custom shapes in the map. Using this feature, you can show standalone data in a geographical context, e.g. statistical data about countries. An important fact is that we built the Map control with performance in mind – it uses Direct2D rendering and is optimized for minimal memory consumption.

Stay tuned for the upcoming blog post dedicated to the Map control only, where you will learn more details and tips about the control. 

Scheduler CTP (HTML)

Another control that was much expected is the new Scheduler for Windows 8 HTML. It packs the features required for planning events, showing timetables, holidays, special events, etc. The Scheduler comes with four views of its events – day, week, month and agenda as well as rich resources and templates support. These features allow you to display events in different layouts that fit the specific scenario – movie halls screening times, holidays, work schedule, etc. The support for editing events with a built-in or a fully customized edit form, will allow your users to add easily their own events to the Scheduler. Add to this the recurring events support and a dedicated data layer and you have a solid scheduling solution for your Windows Store application using HTML/JavaScript.

RadialMenu (XAML/HTML)

The radial menu or, to be more precise, toolbar that you have seen in Microsoft OneNote can be a part of your application, too. We now have it in both HTML and XAML suites and it comes with the same UI and UX. The control enables the end-user to choose among hierarchically grouped commands and options in a convenient way where the menu items are available only across a designated area. Apart from being very useful as it is, the RadialMenu goes further exposing a variety of customization properties.

ColorPicker (HTML)

The ColorPicker is yet another new control in the HTML suite. In fact, it you can regard it as three controls, since it includes three standalone modes – RGB picker, HSB picker and a palette picker – with each having its own set of elements. The ColorPicker has been designed for use on touch devices where changing a color is performed by using simple gestures across a designated area, similarly to the RadialMenu. Speaking of the RadialMenu, we have already integrated the ColorPicker in the RadialMenu for HTML. This makes providing a palette of colors for selection a straightforward job.

 RangeSlider(XAML)

To let you cover all scenarios where the user has to select values from a range, we added the RangeSlider for XAML. The control complements the native WinRT Slider and is especially useful in filtering scenarios.

NEW FEATURES

We further improved our existing controls and Data Storage component.

Following are the major changes available in the new release.

Data Storage (C#/JavaScript)

Our Data Storage component goes from CTP to Beta version and gets many new features. The JavaScript version now has support for schema definition. You can use a schema to define rules about your table data, as well as indices, with simple JavaScript syntax. Stay tuned for the upcoming blog post that will describe this big feature in more detail.

The C# version of the Data Storage has also been updated with new features the most important being the indices support. Using indices, you can speed up data retrieval from large data sets and Data Storage makes this easy to set up.

Grid (XAML)

The DataGrid control for XAML has a new incremental loading feature. Thanks to it, you can load data in chunks that results in shorter initial loading time.

Chart(HTML)

The Chart for HTML has six new series types grouped in two main categories – polar and radar, each having a subset of area, scatter and column series.

Calendar (HTML)

To let you set up date selection in a few simple steps, the HTML Calendar now comes with range selection and support for related calendars. Using these features, you can easily allow your users to select a date range spanning over different months.

 

For a full list of new additions and fixes in the products, check the Release Notes.

WINDOWS 8.1

The Q3 2013 release of RadControls for Windows 8 is Windows 8.1 ready. This means you can use the controls in Visual Studio 2013 and target Windows 8.1 but they are not built natively against 8.1. For full details about Windows 8.1 support and the upcoming Windows 8.1 RadControls release check our recent blog post.

GETTING STARTED WITH Q3

You can now download the Q3 2013 release of RadControls for Windows 8 from your account. You can play with the demos locally once you install the controls, or download them from the Windows Store.

If you have any questions, write in the forums for HTML and XAML or contact us through the support ticketing system.

We would be happy to hear from you, so do not hesitate to provide us with feedback through the Ideas and Feedback portal.