XAF (Cross-Platform .NET App UI & Web API Service) — Year-End Roadmap (v25.2)

This blog post outlines some of our XAF-related development plans for the second half of 2025 (v25.2) and beyond. The announcement within this post is important and I don't wish to minimize its impact. My goal is to give everyone as much advance notice as possible. 

XAF Blazor/WinForms UI Enhancements in v25.2 for .NET 8+

.NET 10 and Visual Studio vNext Support

We plan to officially support .NET 10 after its final release (for our XAF Blazor/WinForms UI and Web API Service).

Microsoft also announced the next major version of Visual Studio, planned for release later this year. Needless to say, will introduce support for XAF's Model Editor, WinForms and Report designers, as well as other IDE tooling/integrations.

TagBox, ComboBox, Progress Bar, PDF Viewer Property Editors: Official Release/RTM

In our v25.1 release cycle, we published these new Property Editors as a Community Technology Preview (CTP) for XAF Blazor and XAF WinForms. In v25.2, we will officially release these features.

Middle Tier Security for Blazor UI: Official Release/RTM

Our next major update (v25.2) we will also officially support XAF Blazor UI + Middle Tier Security configuration (for secure communication between the frontend and backend, helping to protect sensitive data and enforce stricter access controls). See Also: Data Store Protection (Docs) | Security-related blog articles.

Windows/macOS Desktop Support via Blazor UI & Electron.NET 

The previous feature will help us publish a GitHub example with a new “hybrid” desktop app for Windows and macOS (powered by Electron.NET and XAF Blazor). In this GitHub example, an XAF Blazor app will be wrapped inside a native “web view” container for the target OS and connected to our Middle Tier application server (or database directly, if allowed). Based on user demand, we may transform this example into a Template Kit project in the future.

When used, XAF developers can deliver both Windows and non-Windows support when WinForms and browser-based apps do not meet client needs (a customer use-case). For end-users, this hybrid desktop app will feel and behave (performance-wise) no differently than Microsoft Teams, Visual Studio Code, Outlook (new), and similar hybrid apps. For many, this web-based approach can be an alternative to native WinForms/WPF/VCL/Avalonia desktop development ("write once, run everywhere").

Fluent Themes and Icons: Official Release/RTM

As first announced in our v25.1 roadmap, we expect to officially ship Dark and Light Fluent Themes for XAF Blazor v25.2 (currently in CTP). We also expect to extend our SVG icon pack with more colorful XAF-specific icons (filled or outlined) to match the Fluent Theme and its dark/light palettes.

Fluent UI style support for XAF WinForms has been postponed until v26.1 (once we finalize related WinForms component updates in v25.2).

Ribbon UI Support

With XAF v25.2, we will modify the main menu, navigation, account component, theme switcher, and layout structure (to mimic modern Office-inspired web apps). We will use the Ribbon UI (instead of a simple toolbar) and combine it with a Tabbed MDI by default (like XAF WinForms). Our implementation will support Ribbon UI command merging and better XAF Action support across both main and detail form templates (Window Controller's Actions will be processed like its done in XAF WinForms).

Configure XAF Report Data Sources within the Blazor Report Designer

With our next major release, end-users will be able to modify ViewDataSource/CollectionDataSource settings (data type, sorting, filtering, etc.) in the runtime Report Designer. 

Research: Blazor Filter Builder and Pivot Grid Integration

We hope to replace our existing JS-based filter editor with the new DevExpress Blazor Filter Builder (CTP in v25.1). The DevExpress Blazor Filter Builder supports simpler localization, better performance, and native Blazor themes/palettes. This change will also reduce maintenance costs for the XAF team. The following Filter Builder features are critical for XAF integration: collection operations and plain criteria text input/validation. 

We will also consider integrating the DevExpress Blazor Pivot Table (as part of the new XAF's DxPivotGridListEditor).

AI-related Enhancements

If you are unfamiliar with our existing .NET AI-powered Extensions, please review these documents.

XAF Blazor/WinForms v25.2 will simplify use of one or more AI-related capabilities from the following list:

• Semantic or Smart Search within DevExpress Data Grids and Lookup editors.
• Semantic or Smart Search within our Ribbon and Accordion controls.
• AI-powered Smart Paste within DevExpress Data Grids and Layout controls. Smart Paste analyzes content and intelligently assigns correct values to appropriate layout fields or row cells (to transform traditional copy-and-paste operations).
• AI Chat integration (including a project template).
• Easier activation of AI-powered extensions in the Reporting, Filter Editor, Office (Rich Text Editor) modules.

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XAF v25.2+ Will No Longer Include .NET Framework Support (WebForms & WinForms)

What

We will officially end WebForms & WinForms .NET Framework support in our v25.2+ release cycle. We will focus our efforts on .NET 8+ (Blazor & WinForms & Web API Service) going forward. We will ship security and other critical fixes for v25.1.XX minor builds for as long as we can. Example: we will ship XAF WebForms/WinForms v25.1.XX for security-related updates and answer technical support questions even when DevExpress v27.1.3 is released (and likely beyond our standard version support policy).

We appreciate all the wonderful XAF .NET Framework-related feedback you've given us over the last 20 years. Though cancelling a .NET Framework project is not fun (nor does it help anyone's bottom line) we are confident that this decision will be a win/win for everyone.

We recommend XAF .NET Framework users migrate their apps to XAF Blazor/WinForms UI or Web API Service for .NET 8+. Our online docs include many migration guidelines (see .NET Support and Migration).  The XAF team will also continue to extend these guidelines and help XAF customers with migration-related questions (in the DevExpress Support Center).

Why

While we hoped to maintain XAF legacy WebForms & WinForms apps as long as .NET Framework ships with Windows, it is no longer realistic. Reasons include:

• Growing technology gap: We can no longer combine tech from 2000 (.NET Framework ASP.NET WebForms/WinForms) with a platform from 2020 (ASP.NET Core/Blazor/Web API) in the same codebase. Modern requirements for scalable, multi-tenant, and cloud-ready apps require a new XAF core/architecture.
• Rising maintenance/opportunity costs: We can no longer ignore the following maintenance/opportunity costs: use of .NET Core/.NET Framework preprocessor directives; inability to leverage DI to its full potential; inability to use modern C# language/.NET SDK features (like Span<T>, Memory<T>, ReadOnlySequence<T>, just to name a few).
• Embracing AI-driven change: The disruption AI brings to the table for our .NET user base requires us to evolve more rapidly and pursue non-standard solutions. This is not feasible when .NET Framework is on board. 

What's Next/Main Focus

To recap: we will continue enhancing XAF Blazor UI for .NET 8+ in our year-end release. We will also maintain XAF WinForms UI for .NET 8+. We will gradually evolve XAF WinForms UI to meet modern Windows desktop standards/end-user expectations (such as Fluent UI, AI-powered functions, etc.).

Our core focus for the next few major release cycles will be scalability (number of concurrent web users). At the end of 2026 (not yet in v25.2), we want future XAF Blazor apps and XAF core to be:

• Scalable up to hundreds and even a thousand of web users reliably and predictably.
• Require simpler configuration for high-load and multi-tenancy scenarios (without Kubernetes -k8s- or other complicated horizontal/scale out solutions).
• Require much less compute resources (CPU/RAM).

As I noted earlier, this is especially important as scalable, cloud-hosted, multi-tenant/SaaS-based apps are becoming a standard requirement (for both internal and public LOB deployments). Achieving desired levels of XAF Blazor scalability will certainly help customers targeting hybrid desktop apps for both Windows and non-Windows environments (Electron.NET-powered). Better scalability will also drive the evolution of our Multi-Tenancy module (scalability is an "enabler" to add additional standard SaaS features later).

Other Anticipated XAF v25.2+ Changes (.NET 8+)

Focus on scalability may result in the following:

• XAF .NET 8+ will eliminate legacy/obsolete code. Example: legacy Domain Component interfaces (DC), SecuritySystemXXX and related security classes, not recommended for use in favor of PermissionPolicyXXX classes from 2016. Low-level API breaking changes (BC) are also expected.
• XAF Blazor v25.2+ core may separate from the XAF WinForms core. Desktop and web apps are fundamentally different technically and in terms of expected user load. Think of a single-user "fat" desktop client VS a multi-user client-server/distributed web app. While we have always maximized the amount of cross-platform XAF code (for ourselves and XAF customers), the same compatibility may be challenging due to differences between desktop apps/web apps. 
• Core feature set changes in XAF .NET 8+. This includes Types Info, Application Model, Security System and other modules (like no more WinForms PivotChart, KPI, ScriptRecorder modules). We will also have to limit XAF Blazor flexibility in favor of scalability/performance (likely under a feature toggle). Example: high-load multi-tenant XAF Blazor apps will enforce simplified security permissions OR limited Application Model layers.

As always, we will try to minimize impact on existing customers with detailed migration guides or auto-update tooling, where possible.

Your Feedback Matters

Your response to the following questions will help us fine-tune/refine plans for our next major release:

Thanks,
Dennis Garavsky
Principal Product Manager
dennis@devexpress.com

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