v26.1 Release Notes

Jul 09, 2026
9 minutes to read

Tip

Visit our website to explore new features and capabilities available across the DevExpress product line: What’s New in our Latest Update.

AI Agent Skills

WPF v26.1 introduces AI agent skills, structured knowledge packages that equip AI coding assistants with accurate, product-specific expertise for WPF controls.

Each skill defines the correct NuGet packages, entry-point classes, API patterns, XAML markup, and configuration for a specific WPF control or usage scenario. AI assistants use this knowledge to generate accurate WPF code from the first prompt.

Skills follow the open Agent Skills standard and work with Claude Code, GitHub Copilot (CLI, VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains Rider), Cursor, and Gemini CLI.

WPF skills are available in the DevExpress AI Agent Skills repository.

For more information, see Agent Skills for DevExpress WPF Controls.

Fluent Theme (CTP)

v26.1 introduces a new Fluent Light Theme for DevExpress-powered WPF applications. The new theme incorporates modern design practices inspired by the latest Microsoft 365 applications.

Features include:

Improved contrast and readability
Token-based theme customization
Semantic resource naming
Unified styling with DevExpress Blazor for Blazor Hybrid applications

WPF Fluent Theme, DevExpress

Note

In v26.1, Fluent Theme support is available for specific DevExpress WPF controls. Controls that do not support Fluent Theme automatically use the Win11Light theme. Refer to the following help topic for additional information: Lightweight Themes.

WPF AI Chat

AI Agent Integration

The DevExpress WPF AI Chat Control ships with a new IChatResponseProvider abstraction layer. This layer decouples the UI from AI services and allows you to bind the AI Chat Control to different AI backends, including:

IChatClient, AIAgent implementations
OpenAI Responses API
Azure AI Projects
Microsoft Agent Framework (including agents and workflows)
Custom IChatResponseProvider implementations

Prerequisites

Install the following NuGet packages to begin:

DevExpress.AIIntegration.Agents
DevExpress.AIIntegration.Wpf.Chat
DevExpress.Wpf.Core
Microsoft.Agents.AI.OpenAI (1.0.0-rc1)
Microsoft.Extensions.AI.OpenAI (10.4.0)

Read Tutorial: Chat with Your Own Data

Agent API Demos

Our Demo Center includes new examples that demonstrate real-world AI agent usage scenarios and integration patterns with the DevExpress WPF AI Chat Control.

Workflow as Agent

Wraps a multi-step workflow behind the IChatResponseProvider abstraction and exposes it as a chat client.

Run Demo: Workflow as Agent

Group Chat Workflow with Tool Calling Approval

Implements a multi-agent workflow with “Content Reviewer” and “Publisher” agents. Demonstrates human-in-the-loop control.

Run Demo: Group Chat Workflow

Responses API with Reasoning

Connects the AI Chat Control to a reasoning-capable model that processes tasks step by step.

Run Demo: Responses API with Reasoning

Workflow with Executors

Implements a deterministic workflow without AI model calls.

Run Demo: Workflow with Executors

Stream Workflow Responses

Streams intermediate results from a multi-step workflow.

Run Demo: Stream Workflow Responses

AG-UI Integration

Connects the AI Chat Control to an external agent server via the AG-UI protocol.

Run Demo: AG-UI Integration

Chat Fluent UI

Our updated Chat UI aligns with modern Fluent design standards.

Enhancements include:

Simplified layout
Updated typography
Refined spacing

Fluent UI - WPF AI Chat Control, DevExpress

Run Demo: AI Chat Control

Customize Chat Input Placeholder

Use the AIChatControl.InputBoxNullText property to specify placeholder text in the input box:

aiChatControl1.InputBoxNullText = "Ask me anything...";

API Enhancements

We updated message processing APIs and refined naming for consistency.

The MessageSending event replaces MessageSent and includes an e.Cancel parameter. Handle this event to process input before it is added to chat history and sent to the AI service. Set e.Cancel to true to prevent automatic send operations.

async void AiChatControl1_MessageSending(object sender, AIChatControlMessageSendingEventArgs e) {
    // Add a message to chat history without sending it to the AI service.
    await e.Chat.AppendMessageAsync("Translate text to Spanish", ChatRole.System);
}

AI-powered Extensions

Prompt to Expression — WPF Filter Editor and Expression Editor

We added AI-powered expression generation to help users create filter and column expressions for DevExpress data-aware WPF controls using natural language.

Users describe the desired logic in plain text. The system sends the prompt to the configured AI service and returns a valid expression. The DevExpress Expression Editor and/or Filter Editor display and validate results immediately.

Prompt to Expression — WPF Filter Editor and Expression Editor, DevExpress

Supported controls include:

Read Tutorial Run Demo: Prompt to Expression

Accessibility Enhancements

Our WPF Pivot Grid includes full keyboard access to the Filter Panel.

Set the PivotGridControl.AllowFilterPanelNavigation property to true to activate Filter Panel keyboard navigation:

XAML

<dxpg:PivotGridControl 
        AllowFilterPanelNavigation="True">
    <dxpg:PivotGridControl.Fields>
        <dxpg:PivotGridField FieldName="Country" Area="RowArea" AreaIndex="0"/>
        <dxpg:PivotGridField FieldName="Name" Area="RowArea" AreaIndex="1"/>
        ...
    </dxpg:PivotGridControl.Fields>
</dxpg:PivotGridControl>

Use the following keyboard shortcuts to navigate between the WPF PivotGrid control and the Filter Panel:

Keyboard Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `F`	Focus moves to the Filter Panel.
`Ctrl` + `Tab`	Focus moves from the active data cell to the Filter Panel.
`Tab`	Shifts focus from the last navigable cell in the data region to the Filter Panel.
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Tab`	Restores focus from the Filter Panel to the previously active data cell.

Read Tutorial: Filter Panel Keyboard Actions

Spreadsheet documents are now accessible to screen readers (Narrator, NVDA). You can navigate through document sheets, rows, columns, and cells. Readers can pronounce all worksheet headings, cell text, comments, text boxes, and alt text for images, charts, and other drawing objects.

PDF/UA-2 Format Support

Our PDF export engine now supports the PDF/UA-2 format (for enhanced accessibility compliance). You can specify PDF/UA-2 conformance for exported documents to meet the latest accessibility standards. The new PDF/UA-2 option is available for the following products:

WPF Rich Text Editor
WPF Spreadsheet Control

Set the PdfExportOptions.PdfUACompatibility property to PdfUA2 to specify PDF/UA-2 conformance for exported documents.

WPF Data Grid

Expression Editor for Custom Format Conditions

Our Expression Editor (for both the TableView and TreeListView) now supports custom conditional formatting rules. Users can define formatting rules with complex logical expressions beyond predefined rule types.

Use the following properties to enable custom expressions:

When enabled, our Conditional Formatting Rules Manager displays the Expression Editor button for formula-based rules.

Expression Editor for Custom Format Conditions - WPF Data Grid, DevExpress

Advanced Column and Band Drag-and-Drop

A new ColumnDragOver event allows you to control column and band drag & drop behavior. Handle this event to validate or modify drop operations. You can execute the following:

Prevent column reordering
Restrict drop targets
Apply drag & drop rules for individual grid columns

XAML

<ThemedWindow ...
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:dxg="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/grid" >

    <dxg:GridControl ItemsSource="{Binding Items}">
        <dxg:GridControl.Columns>
            <dxg:GridColumn FieldName="ID" />
            <dxg:GridColumn FieldName="Name" />
            <dxg:GridColumn FieldName="Date" />
        </dxg:GridControl.Columns>
        <dxg:GridControl.View>
            <dxg:TableView ColumnDragOver="TableView_ColumnDragOver" />
        </dxg:GridControl.View>
    </dxg:GridControl>
</ThemedWindow>

void TableView_ColumnDragOver(object sender, ColumnDragOverEventArgs e) {
    // Cancel the drop operation if the user attempts to drop a column onto a column header area.
    e.Cancel = e.TargetArea == HeaderArea.ColumnHeader;
}

Search Panel Customization

We enhanced Search Panel customization with the following options:

Group Panel Customization

Group Panel customization capabilities include:

Enable the ShowGroupPanelColumnsAsSingleRow option to display grouped column headers in a single line without indentation:

Column Header Customization

New customization options include:

Display custom sort icons
Adjust icon size
Display, hide, or reposition filter icons
Apply custom templates

Row Indicator Customization

Row Indicator Panel customization options include:

Specify foreground and background colors
Display custom UI elements and icons

Expand Button Customization

New options allow you to display custom glyphs/icons within expand/collapse buttons in TreeList layouts, group and master-detail rows.

New appearance settings allow you to customize Filter Panel UI elements:

Foreground and background colors for fields, values, and operators
A color mode that switches between standard appearance and a plain style with transparent backgrounds and inherited text colors

New commands allow you to handle user actions:

ElementClickCommand: Handle clicks against filter elements (such as fields, values, and operators)
ClearingFilterCommand: Overrides or extends the “Clear Filter” action

WPF TreeViewControl

API Enhancements

We expanded TreeViewControl API to simplify customization and reduce reliance on implicit styles.

You can now configure view-level settings directly on the control:

Tooltips (CellToolTipTemplate, CellToolTipBinding)
Selection and focus visuals
Scrollbar visibility and focus
Search (SearchControl)
Active editor
Focused row

New methods and events allow you to manage in-place editors as necessary:

Display, hide, and close editors
Control editor activation
Handle keyboard operations

Template Kit

Visual Basic Support

The DevExpress Template Kit now supports Visual Basic. You can create DevExpress-powered WPF applications in VB.NET alongside C# templates.

DateOnly & TimeOnly Support

Charts

The DevExpress WPF Chart Control supports .NET DateOnly and TimeOnly data types.

Use these types for:

Arguments and values
Workday and work time settings
Strips, constant lines, and scale breaks
Filtering, sorting, and summaries

Pivot Grid

The DevExpress WPF Pivot Grid now supports DateOnly and TimeOnly data types for filtering, grouping, and summary operations in .NET applications.

MVVM Enhancements

Simplified Dependency Injection (DI)

The DevExpress MVVM framework v26.1 includes built-in support for Dependency Injection (DI) directly in XAML.

Use our new IocExtension to resolve objects or services from the configured dependency injection container. The extension uses the global IocServiceProvider.Default service provider to resolve dependencies at runtime.

Monaco-Based Code Editor (Demo)

We created an example that wraps the open source Monaco Editor (v0.55.1). The editor is hosted inside Microsoft WebView2 and exposed through a custom, reusable SyntaxEditor WPF control.

Note

The WPF SyntaxEditor control is available as part of the example. It is not included in the DevExpress WPF UI Control library.

WPF Monaco Editor, DevExpress

Features include:

Monaco Editor engine
WebView2-based hosting with seamless WPF integration
50+ built-in languages (C#, JavaScript, Python, SQL, XML, JSON, and more)
DevExpress theme integration
Theme token rule editor
Configurable editor options (line numbers, minimap, folding, word wrap, sticky scroll, tab size, IntelliSense, scrolling, indentation, and more)
Read-only mode
Track changes
Load/save files

Prism 9 Support

We added Prism 9 support to our DevExpress adapters. You can integrate Prism regions into the following DevExpress WPF controls:

LayoutGroup
DocumentGroup
TabbedGroup
LayoutPanel
DXTabControl
NavigationFrame
NavBarControl
NavBarGroup

WPF Localization

Simplified Resource Setup

We simplified initial setup for the DevExpress Localization Tool.

When you launch the tool for the first time, our Localization Tool downloads required localization resources from our GitHub repo and configures source, import, and export paths automatically.

Simplified Resource Setup - WPF Localization, DevExpress

Download 30-Day Trial

With numerous new products and dozens of high-impact features, DevExpress UI components allow you to build your best, without limits or compromise. Download our fully-functional 30-day trial today and experience the DevExpress difference today.

Download: Free 30-day Trial

Tip

Your Feedback Matters! Take part in the survey on our website: WPF Survey.

AI Agent Skills

Fluent Theme (CTP)

WPF AI Chat

AI Agent Integration

Prerequisites

Agent API Demos

Chat Fluent UI

Customize Chat Input Placeholder

API Enhancements

AI-powered Extensions

Prompt to Expression — WPF Filter Editor and Expression Editor

Accessibility Enhancements

WPF Pivot Grid — Filter Panel Keyboard Navigation

Spreadsheet Control — Screen Reader Support

PDF/UA-2 Format Support

WPF Data Grid

Expression Editor for Custom Format Conditions

Advanced Column and Band Drag-and-Drop

Search Panel Customization

Group Panel Customization

Column Header Customization

Row Indicator Customization

Expand Button Customization

Filter Panel Customization

WPF TreeViewControl

API Enhancements

Template Kit

Visual Basic Support

DateOnly & TimeOnly Support

Charts

Pivot Grid

MVVM Enhancements

Simplified Dependency Injection (DI)

Monaco-Based Code Editor (Demo)

Prism 9 Support

WPF Localization

Simplified Resource Setup

Download 30-Day Trial