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Upgrade Your Application to a New DevExpress Version

  • 5 minutes to read

This document explains how to upgrade your projects after you downloaded and installed a new version of Developer Express libraries.

For instructions specific to NuGet Packages, refer to the following topic - DevExpress NuGet Packages: Install Updates.

You can refer to the Troubleshooting section if you encounter any difficulties while you upgrade your projects.

Important

If your project references other projects that utilize DevExpress components, make sure you upgrade these referenced projects and your main project.

Installation Upgrade Notes

When you install a new minor version (for example, from v20.1.4 to v20.1.6), the installer replaces the previous installation files by default.

When you install a new major version (for example, from v20.1 to v20.2), the installer does not remove the previous major version. The installer places the new installation files to a new folder (for example, "C:\Program Files\DevExpress 22.1").

General Instructions on Upgrading Your Projects (to a Major or Minor Version)

You can easily upgrade your projects using the Project Converter tool, available within the DevExpress .NET installation.

The basic steps to upgrade your projects are as follows.

  1. Remove the contents of the Bin and Obj directories, if possible, to avoid referencing old assemblies.
  2. Run the Project Converter dialog window. It can be found in the Start menu: All Programs | DevExpress 23.2 | Project Converter 23.2.

  3. Specify the path to the project(s) to be upgraded.

    Ensure that the “Process Subdirectories” option is checked if you want to upgrade the necessary files in subdirectories.

    Confirm that the “Create Backup Files” option is enabled. In this case, the Project Converter will create copies of the files that are to be upgraded (the .bak extension will be added to the copies of the files), so that you can restore them if you have any problems.

  4. Click the Upgrade button.

    Project Converter will replace references to old DLL libraries in your projects with references to the most recent libraries.

  5. Open the updated project in Visual Studio. If there are any design-time forms open, close them without saving. Then, rebuild the project. Run and test the updated project.

Note

For more information on using the Project Converter, refer to its documentation.

WinForms Control Specifics

When upgrading DevExpress WinForms components to a new major version, rebuild custom skin libraries via the Skin Editor utility. Otherwise, you may see various artifacts or even exceptions.

WPF Control Specifics

When you upgrade DevExpress WPF components to a new major version, upgrade your custom theme with the WPF Theme Designer.

Topic: Upgrade Themes

Satellite Assemblies

You can download the latest version of the corresponding localization resources using the Localization Service. You can also copy your existing translations and apply them to a different DevExpress assembly version.

Upgrading ASP.NET Applications

  1. Back up your project(s).
  2. Upgrade your project(s) using the Project Converter tool.
  3. Remove old DevExpress assemblies from the Bin folder (if any).

Note

If you use Custom Themes in your project, don’t forget to upgrade them to a newer version of DevExpress products.

Important

When deploying a website, remove old DevExpress assemblies from the server.

Troubleshooting

Normally, no errors should be generated while you are compiling a project. The compiler can generate certain warnings if specific members that are currently marked obsolete are called from the project. We suggest that you fix these warnings by following the hints provided in the warning message and in the documentation.

Initialize Component Warnings

Specific warnings that come up from the form’s InitializeComponent method can automatically be fixed by regenerating this code as follows.

  1. Open the required form at design time.
  2. Force the InitializeComponent method to regenerate by changing the form or any of its child components. You can do this by resizing the form/control or by changing the form’s property, and then reverting it back. For instance, you can modify the Boolean AllowDrop property in this manner.
  3. Save your form file.

In specific cases, you may encounter some problems while opening forms (especially localizable ones) at runtime. Most of these problems can often be resolved by regenerating the form’s InitializeComponent method as described above.

Slow Form Loading

Windows does not immediately generate native images for newly installed assemblies of DevExpress UI components. Windows keeps track of the assemblies and creates native images for them later. You can use the Ngen.exe - Native Image Generator process to force Windows to create native images.

For the latest information on design-time issues and methods that can be used to resolve them, please refer to the Troubleshooting design-time problems Knowledge Base article.

If none of these topics help, please use one of our Support Services to report the problem.

History of Changes

We always do our best to minimize the impact each new version may have on your projects. Occasionally, however, it is necessary to change control behavior and/or make certain members obsolete. We do this to improve the quality of our products. The following document describes these changes.

Note: The functionality of private, protected and non-documented members can be changed without notice, as these methods are primarily intended for internal use.

See Also