WPF — Year-End Roadmap (v25.2)

In this post, I'll outline WPF enhancements/features we expect to ship in our next major update (v25.2). If you'd like to share feedback about the features outlined herein, feel free to submit your thoughts/comments using the survey below or create a Support Center ticket. We’ll be happy to follow-up. 

.NET 10 Support

We plan to officially support .NET 10 after its final release. If you're wondering what enhancements .NET 10 brings to the platform itself, be sure to check the following Microsoft help topic: What's new in WPF for .NET 10 Preview.

DevExpress MCP Server for AI-Powered Documentation Access

Available in Preview

We will introduce an MCP server that connects GitHub Copilot Chat, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible AI tools directly to our comprehensive documentation database. The server will provide instant access to over 300,000 help topics through natural language queries within your IDE. This will allow you and AI coding agents such as Claude Code to access current DevExpress documentation directly within the AI assistant's context.

AI Chat Control

Tool Calling API

Visual Tool Execution Indicators

Our Chat Control will provide clear visual indicators when executing AI tools, whether declared locally within your application or connected via MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. These indicators will enhance transparency and help users understand which actions are being performed in real-time.

Resources

RAG Project Template

DevExpress Template Kit

Rider Integration

DevExpress Template Kit includes dozens of project templates and building blocks available in Visual Studio and VS Code. With v25.2, you'll be able to use these templates in JetBrains Rider.

Item Templates

You’ll be able to use our templates when creating new apps AND in existing projects via the Add | New Item dialog. Our gallery includes almost 40 templates, including:

• Kanban View
• Interactive Charts
• Master-detail Data Grid representations
• Pre-designed editing forms
• Infrastructure for MVVM and Dependency Injection 
• Pre-configured dashboards
• Document processing functionality (Mail merge, Excel imports & generation, Word to PDF conversion and more)

Keyboard Navigation Enhancements

Chart Control

WPF Filter Editor & Filter Panel

You’ll be able to navigate, modify, and delete filter nodes using the keyboard. Combined with the header navigation introduced in earlier releases, this update makes all core WPF Data Grid functionality fully accessible via the keyboard.

WPF ColorEdit

WPF StepProgressBar

Screen Reader Support for DevExpress Office-Inspired WPF Controls 

To help meet accessibility standards, we’re beginning work on screen reader support for the DevExpress WPF Rich Text Editor, Spreadsheet, and PDF Viewer (full support for all controls should be completed after our v25.2 release). As you'd expect, this capability will allow users to access document content via screen readers, such as Narrator and NVDA.

WPF Data Grid

UI Automation Enhancements

    private void TableView_AutomationRequested(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {           
        switch(e) {
            case CellAutomationEventArgs cellArgs: {
                    TableView_CellAutomationRequested(sender, cellArgs);
                    break;
                }
            case RowAutomationEventArgs rowArgs: {
                    switch(rowArgs.AutomationProperty) {
                        case AutomationProperty.Name:
                            ProcessRowNameRequested(sender, rowArgs);
                            break;
                    }
                    break;
                }
            default: break;
        }
    }

Selector Column Position

Column Print Width

<dxg:GridControl>
    <dxg:GridControl.Columns>
        <dxg:GridColumn FieldName="Name"
                        Width="170"
                        PrintWidth="300" />
        <dxg:GridColumn FieldName="Email"
                        Width="200"
                        PrintWidth="400" />
    </dxg:GridControl.Columns>
</dxg:GridControl>

Dependency Injection Markup Extension

<Window ...
    xmlns:dx="https://schemas.devexpress.com/maui" 
    DataContext="{dx:Ioc Type={x:Type vm:MainViewModel}}">

public partial class App : Application {
    protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e) {
        //...
        builder.Services.AddTransient<MainViewModel>();
    }
}

//not required anymore
public MainWindow(MainViewModel viewModel) {
    DataContext = viewModel;
    InitializeComponent();
}

<Window ... x:Class="MauiExample.MainPage">
    <views:ChildView/>
    <!--...-->
</Window >

<UserControl x:Class="MauiExample.Views.ChildView" 
        DataContext="{dx:Ioc Type={x:Type vm:ChildViewModel}}" >
</UserControl>

Rich Text Editor

Word to PDF/UA Conversion

Enhanced Master-Detail Mail Merge

• Define repeatable detail sections using region-based merge fields.
• Use a single template to generate multi-level reports, invoices, or personalized documents.
• Perform complex document generation from hierarchical business objects (for example, Customer → Orders, Order → Items).
• Integrate with custom data sources.

Spreadsheet Editor

Excel to PDF/UA Conversion

We’ll enhance our Excel to PDF/UA conversion engine to address accessibility issues related to graphical object tagging and artifact generation (for decorative content).

OLE Object Support Enhancements

• XLS
• XLSB

New Excel Functions

• XLOOKUP
• XMATCH
• FILTER
• UNIQUE
• And more

Reports

Enhanced PDF Export — Accessibility Enhancements

We will extend DevExpress Reports APIs and give you granular control over PDF accessibility features. This enhancement allows developers to specify PDF layout artifacts — elements skipped by assistive technologies — and define alternative text for report watermarks.

Enhanced DOCX Export — Accessibility Enhancements

The report controls' AccessibleDescription property will be available when exporting reports to DOCX files.

Report Design Analyzer — Accessibility Checker

We will extend the Report Design Analyzer pane with a new "Accessibility" error source category to help report designers create accessible documents across multiple Microsoft Office/PDF export formats. This feature mirrors accessibility assistant functionality found in Microsoft Office products and provides proactive guidance during the design phase. As you would expect, this capability will dramatically improve accessibility compliance while reducing the learning curve for developers new to accessibility standards. This feature will also: 

• Enable report designers to identify and fix accessibility issues before export
• Reduce accessibility violations in exported documents
• Provide clear, actionable guidance for accessibility improvements
• Support multiple export formats with format-specific checks

DevExpress Report Designer for JetBrains Rider

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