Back in 2001, Windows Forms has been introduced with the first version of .NET and Visual Studio. Since then it has grown in popularity specifically for rapid, WYSIWYG development. And it is still alive. Based on our user base and the very high number of downloads of our free Express version, we can see that Windows Forms is still popular and used in many applications.

Return on Investment

Many software companies invested heavily into Windows Forms (and WPF) over decades and need to maximize the return on investment including the time on learning the Windows Forms programming model, the development time and the investments into third-party components such as TX Text Control.

Notwithstanding, typically new projects are based on other platforms including ASP.NET Core, Angular and Blazor and based on the number of downloads, sales numbers and the technical support volume, we also see the highest growth in these technologies. But for us, it is very important to support our community by providing updates and full commitment for existing technologies.

.NET Core and Windows Forms

With the release of .NET Core 3.0 and later versions of .NET, Windows Forms and WPF got modernized and can be used with modern .NET versions and is no longer bound to the .NET Framework. We supported .NET 5 with our Windows Forms and WPF products in version 30.0, but Visual Studio was not really production ready for these platforms. Since .NET 6 and Visual Studio 2022, Microsoft introduced a new designer for .NET Windows Forms Apps that will be fully supported by TX Text Control 31.0.

Full Support

The upcoming version 31.0 is in the works and for ASP.NET, Windows Forms and WPF, we are working on enhancements to fully support .NET 5, 6 and 7 (Preview) features including:

  • NuGet packages
  • Visual Studio design-time support (Windows Forms)
  • .NET 5, 6 and 7 compatible licensing
  • Easy (integrated) deployment

A detailed description of these features can be found in this blog article:

Visual Studio 2022 and .NET 5, 6 and 7 (Preview) Support and Strategy

New Samples

For version 31.0, we created a complete new set of sample applications to show the most typical applications, workflows and features of TX Text Control. The pre-compiled demo TX Words has been divided into separate projects that are based on each other.

TX Text Control 31.0

The following samples are available to show different areas and applications of TX Text Control:

  • TX Text Control Words base project
    • TX Text Control Words Conditional Instructions
    • TX Text Control Words Context Menu
    • TX Text Control Words Drag And Drop
    • TX Text Control Words Open Hyperlink
    • TX Text Control Words Reporting
    • TX Text Control Words Ribbon
    • TX Text Control Words Right To Left
    • TX Text Control Words Shortcuts
    • TX Text Control Words User Access

When looking at the project, you can see the referenced classes from the base project. This way, you can reuse modules from our shipped samples for your own application in a very easy way.

TX Text Control 31.0

.NET 7 Compatibility

We tested version 31.0 with Visual Studio 17.4.0 Preview 1.0 and .NET 7 and all Text Control related features including toolbox and design-time support, deployment and licensing work as expected. We have been testing our components against all preview builds including the latest version and we don't expect any showstoppers prior to Microsoft's official release of .NET 7 later this year.

Your Feedback

We would love to hear your feedback on this. Are you (still) using Windows Forms? You have our full support. Also, let us know, if you plan to migrate to another platform soon. We can help with this process as well. Happy coding!