What's New for React in the R3 2018 Release of Kendo UI

Catch up on the latest updates in the R3 2018 release of Kendo UI for React, including new native components, visualizations and more.

We've had quite a busy couple of months over here on the React side of the Kendo UI house. With a huge set of new components being released, along with important features added to existing components, I wanted to take time beyond the summary post you may have already read and dive in to what's new with the R3 2018 release for React!

New Native UI Components for React

Starting off with the new components, let's just head straight in to each new widget:

Menu

This menu widget is perfect for building out site navigation, or to provide a contextual pop-up with options for other UI elements on your page.

MultiViewCalendar

The MultiViewCalendar widget provides two calendars side-by-side (often showing two different months) to give users an intuitive way to deal with date ranges or selecting dates while giving a bigger picture view.

DateRangePicker

Building off of the MultiViewCalendar, the DateRangePicker gives developers a way to collect start and end dates for something within one single component. No more need to set up two DatePickers and manually define the range!

MultiSelect

The name gives it away, but for scenarios where your users need to input multiple pre-defined values from a list the MultiSelect component for React is the perfect way to go.

Tooltip

The Tooltip can be attached to any basic HTML element, as well as more advanced components like our native React UI widgets.

Dialog

Whenever a prompt with specific actions (yes/no or accept/cancel, for example) needs to be displayed in a modal popup, the Dialog component is the perfect choice. Content can be customized through simple strings, or customized further through our configuration options.

New Data Visualization Library Updates

The Data Visualization library also received some juicy new updates and components.

Sparkline Chart

The image above is taken straight from our demos and showcases how the Sparkline chart can easily be added in to a paragraph and mix effortlessly with text around it. Another big use case would be adding this to a column of a Grid.

Stock Chart

Financial data is a huge part of any business application, and oftentimes this calls for a specific set of markers and interactions when it comes to charts. Luckily the new React Stock Chart component has you covered!

Gauges

Choose between our Linear, Radial, or Arc Gauges (also the order they're displayed in the above image) to provide a unique data visualization for your applications. All these types are built in to the new React Gauge component.

Components Get Exciting New Features in React

Beyond the new components we also went ahead and added some of the most sought-after features for the existing set of native React UI components.

The Grid received some big updates both in terms of features and under-the-hood changes.

• Multi-header Columns
• Persist Grid State
• Display Loading Indicator

Through our input elements, often used for forms, we added official integration with HTML5 form validation. This can be seen on individual component pages, like this one for our DateInput component.

The Calendar widget also received the ability to hide its navigation and configure the calendar view depth through simple configuration options.

Documentation Updates

While this may only be noticed by existing React users, we also went ahead and did some updates to our documentation - specifically within the organization of documentation articles. Once you dive in to a component you will find the menu on the left-hand side to be more intuitive to browse through, with clear indications of when a sub-section exists. This also helped with the overall performance of the application as you navigate through all of the available options. Check it out by going  to our React components page and selecting your favorite component!

Got Feedback?

I always say this, but I want to hear what you think about this release! Did we miss your favorite component? Any features that you want to see added to existing components? You can post in the comment section below, or vote and/or submit items  to our public feedback portal. The feedback that we get from our users drives our roadmap so if you want to see something added in a future release definitely make your voice heard!

Join Us for the Live Webinar!

I've covered a lot here, but if you want to see all of these release highlights and more then you should join us for the LIVE Kendo UI Webinar happening on September 27th at 11 a.m. ET! Join me and the Kendo UI Developer Advocate team in a live webinar where we'll take you through the R3 2018 release of all Kendo UI flavors! Seats are limited so make sure to reserve yours today!

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