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Version Compatibility: Default Property Values

  • 14 minutes to read

DevExpress version updates introduce new features that may change control default behavior. When you migrate to a new version, you can revert these changes to the previous version using the static WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property. This option should be set at application startup.

namespace WindowsFormsApp1 {
    static class Program {
        [STAThread]
        static void Main() {
            DevExpress.XtraEditors.WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode =
                DevExpress.XtraEditors.SettingsCompatibilityMode.v16;

            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new Form1());
        }
    }
}

All recent changes are in effect if the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property is set to Latest.

Version 22.1

The table below illustrates the properties and behavior that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v22_1 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

Editors’ Automatic Width in Layout and Data Layout Controls

  • Affected controls: All BaseEdit class descendants.
  • Related property: Hidden static BaseEdit.AdvancedAutoWidthInLayoutControl property.
  • “v22_1” Behavior: All editors inside a Layout or Data Layout Control return the same minimal width (typically, 50 pixels).
  • “Latest” Behavior: Editors calculate their minimal widths individually, based on whether these editors have additional skin elements (for example, buttons). As a result, text boxes always have enough width to remain usable.

Editors' min width in layout control

Version 20.2

The table below illustrates the properties and behavior that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v20_2 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

Conditional Formatting - Between Operator in Expressions

  • Affected controls: Data Grid, Tree List, and Pivot Grid.
  • Related property: FormatConditionRuleBase.BetweenConditionsIncludeEndpoints
  • “v20_2” Behavior: The Between operator is exclusive (a range does not include endpoint values). The NotBetween operator is inclusive.
  • “Latest” Behavior: The Between operator is inclusive (a range includes endpoint values). The NotBetween operator is exclusive.

Visual Display Style of Filter Criteria

  • Affected controls: Controls that display filter criteria (Data Grid, Tree List, Vertical Grid, Pivot Grid, and Filter Control).
  • Related property: WindowsFormsSettings.FilterCriteriaDisplayStyle

  • “v20_2” Behavior: Default display style of filter criteria is Text.

    Text Style

  • “Latest” Behavior: Default display style of filter criteria is Visual.

    Visual Style

Filter Panel and Filter Control - Custom Expressions

  • Affected controls: Controls that display filter criteria (Data Grid, Tree List, Vertical Grid, and Filter Control)

  • “v20_2” Behavior: If the filter criteria contains custom expressions that cannot be converted to Filter Editor nodes, the control’s Edit Filter button is hidden, and the Filter Editor, if invoked from code, does not display these expressions. image

  • “Latest” Behavior: If the filter criteria contains valid custom expressions that cannot be converted to Filter Editor nodes, the following takes place:

    • The control displays the Edit Filter button.

      FilterPanel-CustomExpression-EditFilterButtonVisible

    • The Filter Editor, if invoked, displays these expressions as text.

      FilterEditor-CustomExpression-v21.1

Set the FilterEditorAllowCustomExpressions property to True to allow a user to add custom expressions (the Filter Control’s context menu contains the Add Custom Expression command), and edit existing custom expressions (click the custom expression text to open the Expression Editor). See also: ColumnViewOptionsFilter.FilterEditorAllowCustomExpressions, TreeListOptionsFilter.FilterEditorAllowCustomExpressions, VGridOptionsFilter.FilterEditorAllowCustomExpressions, FilterControl.AllowCustomExpressions.

Version 19.2

The table below illustrates the properties and behaviors that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v19_2 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

Tree List enhanced scrolling

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeList.EnableEnhancedScrolling
  • “v19_2” Behavior: Tree List uses the legacy scroll mechanism, which invalidates the scrollable area in its entirety.
  • “Latest” Behavior: Tree List uses an enhanced scroll mechanism, which only repaints the part of its area that becomes visible after a scroll operation.

ColorPickEdit - ‘Make Web-Safe’ button default visibility

  • Affected control: ColorPickEdit
  • Related property: ShowMakeWebSafeButton
  • “v19_2” Behavior: The property’s default value is true.
  • “Latest” Behavior: The property’s default value is false.

Version 19.1

The table below illustrates the properties and behaviors that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v19_1 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

ImageUri icon type

  • Affected controls: all controls that support context-dependent images.
  • Related properties ImageOptions.ImageUri properties.
  • “v19_1” Behavior: when you specify the ImageUri property, the control receives a raster icon.
  • “Latest” Behavior: when you specify the ImageUri property, the control receives a vector icon.

Data Grid FindPanel location

separate-find

embedded-find

Set the GridViewOptionsFind.FindPanelLocation property to Panel to revert to two separate elements.

ProgressBarControl - Custom Display Text

Text Editors - Display of Null Value Prompt

Tree List Node Menu

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeListOptionsMenu.ShowExpandCollapseItems
  • “v19_1” Behavior: When a user right-clicks a node in v19.1 and prior versions, the node menu is created without commands. Since the TreeList control does not display empty menus, the node menu is hidden by default.
  • “Latest” Behavior: The node menu now contains commands that expand/collapse nodes.

image

You can use the TreeListOptionsMenu.ShowExpandCollapseItems property to hide these commands for individual Tree List controls.

Report and Dashboard Designers

Version 18.2

The table below illustrates the properties and behaviors that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v18_2 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

Custom Functions in Filters

  • Affected controls: FilterControl, DevExpress.XtraFilterEditor.FilterEditorControl

  • Related properties and features: display custom functions (registered with the CriteriaOperator.RegisterCustomFunction or CriteriaOperator.RegisterCustomFunctions method) as nodes in a filter control’s visual tree, when underlying criteria contain these functions.

  • “v18_2” Behavior: a filter control’s visual tree does not display nodes for the registered custom functions.

  • “Latest” Behavior: a filter control’s visual tree displays nodes for the registered custom functions.

DateTime functions in Filters

  • Affected controls: FilterControl, DevExpress.XtraFilterEditor.FilterEditorControl

  • Related property: FilterControl.ShowDateTimeFunctions

  • “v18_2” Behavior: DateTime functions are hidden.

  • “Latest” Behavior: DateTime functions are available.

Multiple words in data-aware control’s Find Panels

Control appearance inside disabled PanelControls

  • Affected controls: PanelControl and its descendants
  • Related property: PanelControl.UseDisabledStatePainter
  • “v18_2” Behavior: an additional semi-transparent gray layer is painted above disabled Panel Controls to accentuate this disabled state.
  • “Latest” Behavior: all controls inside a disabled Panel Control are painted with the standard “disabled” appearance.

FilterEditor menus embedded in Data Grid

The appearance of caption buttons in a disabled layout group

  • Affected control: LayoutControl
  • Related property: none
  • “v18_2” Behavior: buttons are not grayed out in a disabled layout group.
  • “Latest” Behavior: buttons are grayed out in a disabled layout group.

Version 18.1

The table below illustrates the properties and behaviors that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v18_1 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

Excel Filters

  • Affected controls: all controls that support Excel-style filters
  • Related property: ExcelFilterOptions.Default.PreferredDateTimeValuesTreeFilterType (static property)
  • “v18_1” Behavior: the default value is TreeView: filters embed the default VS TreeView control.
  • “Latest” Behavior: the default value is TreeListBox - filters embed the templated ListBoxControl control that provides a more solid appearance, yields better performance on large data sources, and supports features like Scrollbar Annotations.

Printing and exporting editors that show SVG images

  • Affected controls: data editors that use vector images.
  • Related images:
  • “v18_1” Behavior: vector images are converted to regular raster images when printing or exporting Grid data.
  • “Latest” Behavior: vector images are printed/exported as is.

Default filter type in Pivot Grid

Skin\Appearance priority

Version 17.2

The table below illustrates the properties that may change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v17_2 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

FilterEditorControl embedded in data-aware controls

LookAndFeel inheritance

  • Affected controls: controls whose LookAndFeel settings are handled by the BarAndDockingController component:
  • Related properties: XtraForm.LookAndFeel properties of affected controls.
  • “v17_2” Behavior: controls do not take into account the form’s look-and-feel settings (XtraForm.LookAndFeel). To specify the look-and-feel settings for these controls within a certain form, place a BarAndDockingController component onto the form.
  • “Latest” Behavior: controls inherit form look-and-feel settings without a BarAndDockingController component.

AutoScaleFactor in Layout and Data Layout Controls

Version 17.1

The table below illustrates which properties may change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v17_1 (compared to the Latest mode).

Tree List column width

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeListColumn.Width
  • “v17_1” Behavior: a column width does not exactly match the Width property value.
  • “Latest” Behavior: the Width property specifies the exact column width.

Minimal Tree List column width

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeListColumn.MinWidth
  • “v17_1” Behavior: a Column MinWidth property values change dynamically when TreeListOptionsView.BestFitNodes is set to Visible.
  • “Latest” Behavior: the MinWidth property has a constant value that depends only on the maximum available node indent.

Tree List best fit operations

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeListOptionsView.BestFitMode
  • “v17_1” Behavior: best fit operations take more time, but calculate the width more accurately.
  • “Latest” Behavior: best fit operations prefer calculation speed.

Tab Key behavior in Tree List

Default filter availability in Vertical Grid

  • Affected control: VGridControl
  • Related property: VGridOptionsFilter.AllowFilter
  • “v17_1” Behavior: the default property value is false (the VGridControl cannot filter its data).
  • “Latest” Behavior: the default property value is true.

Vertical Grid context menu availability

AeroGlass effect in Ribbon Forms

  • Affected control: RibbonForm
  • Related property: RibbonForm.AllowFormGlass
  • “v17_1” Behavior: you can manually enable Aero glass effects for any RibbonForm.
  • “Latest” Behavior: if a RibbonForm contains a Ribbon with the Default RibbonControl.RibbonStyle property value (which is interpreted as Office2013), you cannot enable Aero glass form effects.

Version 16

The table below illustrates the properties and behaviors that change if you set the WindowsFormsSettings.DefaultSettingsCompatibilityMode property to v16 (in comparison to the Latest mode).

Embedded Expression Editor type

AutoFilterRow conditions

  • “v16” Behavior: users cannot modify filter conditions when utilizing the Data Grid and TreeList automatic filter rows. As a developer, you can manually select the desired condition using the OptionsFilter.AutoFilterCondition property for a Data Grid or Tree List column.
  • “Latest” Behavior: in Data Grid and TreeList controls, automatic filter rows display buttons that allow users to change the filter expression operator. Users are limited to a specific set of conditions, depending on the column data type and filter mode (the GridColumn.FilterMode and TreeListColumn.FilterMode properties). For instance, users cannot select conditions such as “Begins with…” for numeric columns (the default setting).

DataGrid - Filter Conditions in Auto Filter Row

The same limitations apply to developers. If you switch the OptionsFilter.AutoFilterCondition option to BeginsWith for a numeric column, it has no effect unless you change this column’s filtering mode to DisplayText.

Data-Aware Export

BestFit operations

Merged Grouping

Default Find Panel availability

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeListOptionsFind.AllowFindPanel
  • “v16” Behavior: find panel is not available by default; the Ctrl+F shortcut does not invoke this panel.
  • “Latest” Behavior: find panel is available.

Default Filtering availability

  • Affected control: TreeList
  • Related property: TreeListOptionsBehavior.EnableFiltering
  • “v16” Behavior: filtering in Tree List is disabled (the default setting).
  • “Latest” Behavior: filtering in Tree List is enabled (the default setting).

Default filter mode

Compatibility - Filter mode standard

Compatibility - Filter mode extended

Automatic row generation

Default filter type

  • “v16” Behavior: controls display standard filter dropdown menus.
  • “Latest” Behavior: controls display Excel-style filter dropdown menus.

Empty date items

Default Ribbon style

Transparent editor background

Compatibility - Transparent Editors Off

  • “Latest” Behavior: when focused, these editors have a transparent background.

Compatibility - Transparent Editors On

Form title bar skinning

Form Skinning