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We are quite excited to announce the immediate availability of our RadControls for Windows 8 Q3 2013 BETA release. As described in this blog post there are several major new components as well as plenty of bug fixes and improvements both for the XAML and HTML suites. Windows 8.1 General Availability is forthcoming around mid-October and we are already updating our projects and components to target 8.1 natively. The Q3 2013 official release is scheduled for October 17th and our plans are to release a Windows 8.1 update of the two suites in a week or two after the release – probably by the end of October. The major reason behind our decision is to have the official Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013 version publicly released so that we can ensure our components working with the latest bits.

In this post I will summarize the current state of the suites, how they work in various environment configurations and some possible caveats that might be experienced.

Common for XAML & HTML:

Q: When will a native Windows 8.1 build be provided?
A: We will do our best to provide such an update to the suite by the end of October (in the beginning of November at latest).

Q: Will you continue to support Windows 8.0?
A: We will continue to support 8.0 but Q3 2013 will be the last release that targets 8.0. The next major releases will target 8.1. Still, the 8.0 build (Q3 2013) will be available for download and we will push all the bug fixes to it as well.

XAML specific:

Q: When I install the Q3 release I see two separate SDKs – “RadControls for Windows 8” and “RadMap for Windows 8”. Why is RadMap not part of the rest of the controls in the suite?
A:  RadMap’s Shape rendering is based on a native C++ library, using Direct2D for superior performance. Hence it brings a dependency to a processor-specific library, which will automatically exclude the AnyCPU build option for your applications. In other words, if you do not need RadMap in your project there is no point of losing the AnyCPU option.

Q: Can I target 8.1 using Visual Studio 2013 and the RadControls for Windows 8 SDK?
A: Yes. Although not natively build against 8.1, the components within this SDK are fully supported by the 8.1 runtime.

Q: Can I target 8.1 using Visual Studio 2013 and the RadMap for Windows 8 SDK?
A: No, but this will be possible with the forthcoming Windows 8.1 update of the RadControls suite. RadMap relies on a native C++ layer for rendering its shapes and as such it depends on the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Package, which is different for 8.0 and 8.1.

Q: Can I target 8.0 using Visual Studio 2013 and the RadMap for Windows 8 SDK?
A: Yes.

Q: I have added a reference to the RadMap for Windows 8 SDK but the “Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Package” and the “RadMap for Windows 8” references appear with yellow exclamation marks. Why is this?
A: If you check the warnings in the “Error List” window you will see the following:
The processor architecture of the project being built "Any CPU" is not supported by the referenced SDK "Microsoft.VCLibs, Version=11.0". Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project (in visual studio this can be done through the Configuration Manager) to one of the architectures supported by the SDK: "x86, x64, ARM”.
As mentioned above, RadMap depends on a native C++ rendering layer and requires concrete processor architecture to be built against.

Q: How will RadMap and its native C++ dependency affect my application deployment for the Windows Store?
A: You will need to prepare three separate packages built for the three supported processor architectures: ARM, x86 and x64.

Q: Adding the “RadMap for Windows 8” SDK automatically adds a reference to the “RadControls for Windows 8” SDK. Is this intentional?
A: Yes, RadMap depends on the Telerik.Core.dll and Telerik.UI.Xaml.Primitives.dll assemblies, available in the “RadControls for Windows 8” SDK.

Q: When I try to deploy an application, referencing RadMap, built in Debug Mode to a remote device an exception is generated. What is wrong here?
A: RadMap is built in Release only; the SDK does not provide a Debug build. Hence, when you deploy to a remote machine that does not have Visual Studio installed you will need to build you application in Release. Please, note that if you have Visual Studio installed (e.g. on your Desktop Machine), this issue will not be present.

HTML Specific:

Q: Can I target 8.1 using RadControls for HTML and Visual Studio 2013?
A: Yes, our HTML components are completely compliant with the 8.1 runtime.

Q: When I create an 8.1 project in Visual Studio 2013 and add a reference to the “RadControls for Windows 8” SDK the following warning appears:
warning MSB3842: Project "Test" depends upon SDK "RadControls for Windows 8 HTML v2013.xxx.xxx" which supports apps targeting "Windows 8.0". To verify whether "RadControls for Windows 8 HTML v2013.xxx.xxx" is compatible with "Windows 8.1", contact the SDK author”.
Is this critical for my application?
A: No, we confirm that the package is fully compatible with Windows 8.1.

DataStorage Specific:

Q: Does the DataStorage SDK support Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013?
A: Yes, the DataStorage component is built against Windows 8.0 and Windows 8.1.

Q: I see two DataStorage packages for download. Which one should I use?
A: You need to choose based on the target of your application.

Q: I have added a reference to the “Telerik DataStorage for Windows 8” SDK but the “Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Package” and the “Telerik DataStorage for Windows 8” references appear with yellow exclamation marks. Why is this?
A: See the answer to the same question regarding the “RadMap for Windows 8” SDK.

I hope that you will find this information useful and you are already eager to experiment with all the new bits for yourself:

XAML BETA Installation
HTML BETA Installation

As usual, we do encourage any questions and feedback that you have. You can write in the Beta forums for HTML and XAML to ask any question you have, provide us with feedback through the Ideas and Feedback portal, or report any bugs you encounter through the support ticketing system.

Georgi Atanasov 164x164
About the Author

Georgi Atanasov

Georgi worked at Progress Telerik to build a product that added the Progress value into the augmented and virtual reality development workflow.

 

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