Main Features
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This document presents a list of the features and benefits available to you in the WinForms Scheduler suite.
Built-In Views
Most views can show Time Indicator.
- Right-to-Left Support - For more information, see the Right-to-Left Support in Winforms Controls topic.
- Range Control - Provides end-users with the capability to intuitively navigate through different periods of time in the scheduler. For more information, see the RangeControl topic.
- Date Navigator Control - Enables end-users to navigate through dates in the Scheduler Control. For more information, see the Date Navigator topic.
- Resources Tree Control - Shows hierarchically organized resources in a tree-like structure synchronized with the Scheduler view. For more information, see the Resources Tree topic.
Data Binding
- Binding to a database - The scheduler can store its data in a database, so that any other data-aware control can access its data.
- Binding to an object data source that provides the IList interface - The scheduler can store and retrieve data from a list of business objects.
- Unbound data - If you do not need to store your data in a database, you can load the scheduler data in XML format.
- Binding custom fields to an appointment - The default data fields used to manage appointments do not represent all of the data an appointment can contain. You can specify as many fields as you need. If you specify custom fields, you can allow your end-users to modify field values via custom dialogs, or initialize these fields in code. With this approach, you do not have to create any additional data storage to maintain extended data for individual appointments.
For more information, see the Data Binding topic.
Appointment Features
- Status - Four different time display options for the day view.
- Label - Eleven appointment coloring types to indicate an appointment’s type/importance.
- Resources - An appointment can be assigned to a single resource or multiple resources.
- Recurrence - Recurring appointments are an important part of any scheduling application. DevExpress provides you with a comprehensive toolset for handling recurring appointments, series and exceptions. If you wish to manage them manually, the OccurrenceCalculator class and other helpers will do the job for you.
- Reminders - One reminder or multiple reminders can be associated with an appointment.
- Conflict checking - The scheduler can indicate appointment conflicts. Conflicts may arise when appointments share the same time or the same resource. The scheduler can resolve them by firing a specific event for you to make a decision, and by prohibiting or allowing the conflicts.
- Filtering - Appointments can be filtered using complex criteria. A specialized FilterControl can be used to facilitate the task of creating a logical expression for the end-user.
- Splitter - A set of recurring appointments can be split using a special “split” command.
- Free Time Calculator - This feature facilitates the search for free time slots in the schedule.
For more information, see the Appointments topic.
Resource Features
- Group by date - Appointments can be grouped by date.
- Group by resource - Appointments can be grouped by associated resources.
- Resource images - An image can be associated with a resource, so that it will be shown in the resource header.
- Resource coloring - A color can be specified to paint the time cell area associated with a specific resource.
- Resource filtering - All data can be filtered by a resource.
- Resource navigation - An embedded ResourceNavigator control allows end-users to scroll between resources. It can be shown if needed.
- Resource sharing - Multiple resources can be assigned to one appointment. This appointment will be displayed in time cells that correspond to all associated resources.
For more information, see the Resources for Appointments topic.
Customization
- Localization (adapting the UI to different languages) - The scheduler displays text strings in dialogs and captions that can be modified or substituted with corresponding translations. See the Localization topic for more information.
- Set of native controls - XtraScheduler also ships with a set of extra controls such as AppointmentResourceEdit, TimeZoneEdit, multiple recurrence controls, and WeeklyRecurrenceControl, so that you can create custom forms using native XtraScheduler edit controls.
- Custom appointment images - Instead of the standard “classic” images used for appointments, it is also possible to embed custom icons that are shown within different appointments. For more information, see the How to: Display Custom Images for Appointments topic.
- Custom in-place editor - You can implement a custom form and use this form as an in-place editor for appointments. This means that end-users will see your custom form instead of a simple subject editor. For more information, see the How to Implement a Custom Inplace Editor topic.
- Custom appointment editing form - You can implement a custom form and use this form instead of the default editing dialog for appointments.
- Custom draw functionality for visual elements - You can handle a specific CustomDraw* event and paint the visual element your own way. For more information, see the Member Table: Custom Draw topic.
- Bar or Ribbon UI - You can provide your scheduling application with a Bar or Ribbon UI by automatically generating the required bars via the smart tag of the SchedulerControl at design time. For more information, see the Scheduler Command UI topic.
- Appearance - As with all DevExpress .NET controls, the XtraScheduler UI elements support Skins, Look and Feel settings, and customizable styles. If multiple look and feel options and customizable element styles are insufficient for your appearance customization needs, you can utilize the custom painting mechanism, which lets you manually paint the control’s elements.
- Reporting (printing via XtraReports) - XtraSchedulerReport provides the flexibility to construct print styles for XtraScheduler data. It utilizes the XtraReports Suite to create a report containing controls specially designed to represent Scheduler elements. Several Scheduler Report controls and the full-featured set of XtraReports controls can be combined in one report to accomplish a complex task. The WinForms Reporting provides end-users with the capability to edit reports, load and save report templates, and preview and export reports to various formats (including PDF and BMP). For more information, see the Printing a Report topic.Note: To enable reporting, the XtraReports Suite should be available on this machine. You should have a valid license for WinForms Reporting according to the License Agreement.
- Printing with predefined styles - six print styles (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Tri-fold, Calendar Details and Memo styles) are provided to print scheduler data via the XtraPrinting Library.
- Data Exchange - You can transfer data from the Microsoft Outlook Calendar to your scheduler application, and vice versa. The XtraScheduler Suite can export data in iCalendar format using the main set of elements in the iCalendar Data Exchange Standard, described in RFC 2445. It also provides support for import/export operations for the vCalendar 1.0 format. For more information, see the Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook and iCalendar Support topics.
- Time Zone Support - For more information, see the Scheduler Time Zones topic.
End-User Capabilities
- Resizing and moving appointments - The scheduler provides an easy-to-use appointment arrangement mechanism, with full support for resizing and moving appointments.
- Built-in popup menus - The scheduler implements a number of built-in context menus similar to those found in Microsoft Outlook. All of these menus are controlled by the scheduler’s properties, which allow you to disable specific items, or substitute a menu of your own. You can also customize these menus as required.
- Built-in dialogs - The DevExpress scheduler control provides a complete UI for your application, including all dialogs required by end-users (to navigate and edit calendars). You can also customize these dialogs as required.
- Zooming - You can zoom in and out of the schedule area using standard key combinations (CTRL+”+“, CTRL+”-“ or CTRL + the mouse wheel).
For more information, see the End-User Capabilities topic.