WindowsAppSDK

Windows App SDK 0.8.3 is now available

Windows App SDK 0.8.3 is a stable servicing release that continues to fix critical bugs for 0.8.0.

• If you're building an app with the Windows App SDK for the first time, follow the installation instructions here.
• If you are already using the Windows App SDK 0.8 and would like to update to the latest release, you can do so by following the update instructions here.

Bug fixed in Windows App SDK 0.8.3:

Keyboard focus was being lost when a window was minimized and then restored, requiring a mouse click to restore focus.

Windows App SDK 0.8.2 is now available

Windows App SDK 0.8.2 is a stable servicing release that a couple more critical bugs for 0.8.0.

Bugs fixed in Windows App SDK 0.8.2:

• Windows App SDK and WinUI 3 are now supported in Visual Studio 2022 Preview 2 and above.
• For .NET apps, you may receive the following error when passing in an array of enums: Object contains non-primitive or non-blittable data.
• Writing using the HandWriting Panel inside a textbox causes a crash
• Icons/images always load at their 100% scale value rather than based on the monitor scale value
• Garbage collection of EventSource<T> causes subsequent failure to unsubscribe handlers (see GitHub issue for more details)
• Security fix – see CVE-2021-34533 for more details.
• SwapChainPanel.CompositionScaleChanged sometimes returning incorrect CompositionScale values after changing display scale

The limitations and known issues for v0.8 also apply to v0.8.2, unless marked otherwise in our documentation.

0.5.9 Windows App SDK Release

This release is a stable servicing release that includes a security fix. For more information, please check it all here.

Check all our new and updated features, limitations, and known issues for this release on our full release notes here.

What's next

To keep up with progress being made on Windows App SDK, please see our feature roadmap which gets updated regularly. We also give monthly updates on our Windows App SDK Community Calls, where you can directly ask the team any questions you have.

1.0 Experimental (1.0.0-exp)

We've just released our 1.0 experimental release of Windows App SDK! This is the latest release of the experimental channel that supports all experimental channel features. This release includes bug fixes and provides access to non-stable APIs and features for WinUI3, Push notifications, Windowing, and Deployment of unpackaged apps.

Check all our new and updated features, limitations, and known issues for this release on our full release notes here.

What's next

To keep up with progress being made on Windows App SDK, please see our feature roadmap which gets updated regularly. We also give monthly updates on our Windows App SDK Community Calls, where you can directly ask the team any questions you have.

Attached are the Windows App SDK Installer and MSIX packages needed to test deployment of unpackaged apps or you can find it here.

Windows App SDK 0.8.1 is a stable servicing release that fixes a few critical bugs.

Bugs fixed in Windows App SDK 0.8.1:

• Windows App SDK cannot run on latest Insider build
• Crash in editable ComboBox when entering a value that does not appear in dropdown
• WebView2 doesn't allow user to tab out once focused has been received
• Fully qualify Windows.Foundation.Metadata.DefaultOverload namespace in WinUI generated code to avoid namespace ambiguity
  • This fixes bug #5108.
• Security fix – see CVE-2021-34489 for more details.

The limitations and known issues for v0.8 also apply to v0.8.1, unless marked otherwise in our documentation.

v0.5.8 is now available!

Version 0.5.8 is a new servicing release that includes a security fix for Project Reunion 0.5.

For more details, see CVE-2021-34489.

We just released the 0.8 GA release of Windows App SDK formerly known as Project Reunion! This release consists of stabilization improvements, critical bug fixes, and some new functionality. This is an opportunity for our customers to try this out and provide feedback.

If you're building an app with Windows App SDK for the first time, follow the getting started instructions here.

Full release notes here.

NOTE: This release is not supported on the current Windows Insider Dev channel. We will be fixing this issue in our first 0.8 servicing release coming soon.

Attached are the Windows App SDK Installer and MSIX packages needed to test deployment of unpackaged apps.

To keep up with progress being made on Windows App SDK, please see our feature roadmap which gets updated regularly.

NOTE: The Windows App SDK was previously known by the code name Project Reunion. Some SDK assets such as the VSIX extension and NuGet packages still use the code name, but these assets will be renamed in a future release. Some areas of the docs still use Project Reunion when referring to an existing asset or a specified earlier release.

We're getting close to releasing the stable version of 0.8, and have a release candidate available to try! 🎊 This release candidate does not contain experimental features, as it is an early candidate for the final release. This release candidate contains several new bug fixes compared to the previous 0.8 Preview. This RC is NOT published on NuGet.org, you can find the packages and VSIX attached at the bottom.

What's new

These are all of the new changes in Project Reunion since the release of Project Reunion 0.5.

• The Pivot control has been added back in and can now be used in any WinUI 3 app.

• All bug fixes from Project Reunion v0.5.5, v0.5.6, and v0.5.7 are included with this release.

• New bug fixes, including:

  • Mouse right-click in TextBox crashes the application
  • NavigationView causes crash in UWP, Reunion 0.5 Preview
  • ProgressBar doesn't show difference between Paused and Error option
  • Crash in RichEditBox when copying/pasting/changing text style
  • Window caption buttons are misplaced when SetTitleBar is not set or null

  To see the full list of bugs fixed, see the bugs fixed section below.

• The ColorHelper.ToDisplayName API is no longer available.

• The following types have been removed:

  • Microsoft.Graphics.IGeometrySource2D
  • Microsoft.Graphics.IGeometrySource2DInterop

  Please use Windows.Graphics.IGeometrySource2D and Windows.Graphics.IGeometrySource2DInterop instead.

• All types in the Microsoft.System namespace have been moved to the Microsoft.UI.Dispatching namespace, including the DispatcherQueue class.

• The AcrylicBrush.BackgroundSource property has been removed, since HostBackdrop is not supported as a BackgroundSource in WinUI 3.

Experimental features

This release does not include experimental features. If you'd like to continue using experimental features in your app, feel free to continue using the latest Project Reunion 0.8 Preview.

Known issues

Please keep in mind that the Project Reunion 0.8 release candidate is still a pre-release product, and has a number of known issues and limitations that our team continues to work on:

• WinUI 3 tooling such as Live Visual Tree, Live Property Explorer, and Hot Reload are currently not supported for the 0.8 release candidate. You can expect to see support for these features in Visual Studio 2019 16.11 Preview 3.
• Apps currently using WinUI 3 and Project Reunion 0.8 RC will not be able to use class libraries that are using Project Reunion 0.5. Please update the class libraries to use Project Reunion 0.8 RC.

Known issues carried over from previous releases...

• No support for Any CPU build configuration: Project Reunion is written in native code and thus does not support Any CPU build configurations. The WinUI project templates only allow architecture-specific builds. When adding Project Reunion to an existing .NET application or component that supports Any CPU, you must specify the desired architecture: x86, x64 or arm64.
• #921: .NET apps must target build 18362 or higher: Your TFM must be set to net5.0-windows10.0.18362 or higher, and your packaging project's must be set to 18362 or higher. For more info, see #921
• #922: Cannot build class library using Project Reunion, AnyCPU error. See #922 for workaround.
• microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#4926: NullReferenceException in ABI.Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Data.ICustomProperty

Bugs fixed in 0.8 RC

This is the list of all bugs fixed since the 0.8 Preview. For a list of bugs previously fixed in the Project Reunion 0.8 Preview, see this list.

• #923: Building class library with XAML controls in Release config fails
• Fix tooltip to get the current pointer position rather than using the last seen pointer ID
• microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#4197: Change in Appearance of AppBarButton with Flyout on CommandBar in WinUI3
• Crash in shadows code when device goes on low-battery
• microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#3001: EffectiveViewport does not work in certain cases for WinUI desktop apps
• microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#3658: Rotation in Manipulation events is wrong
• Crash in RichEditBox when copying/pasting/changing text style
• microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#4536: Padding of Minimize/Maximize/Close Buttons is Not Consistent When Using ExtendsContentIntoTitleBar

Get started

This release candidate is NOT published on NuGet.org or the Visual Studio Marketplace. You'll need to download the assets attached below. Here's two quick key things to note...

• This RC requires dev mode (sideloading) enabled on PCs your app runs on (the stable release won't). But you probably already have dev mode enabled anyways since it's required to deploy your locally built WinUI 3 packaged apps 😉
• This RC requires .NET SDK version 5.0.300 or later if using VS 16.10, or .NET SDK version 5.0.204 or later if using VS 16.9

Upgrading an existing 0.8 Preview app

To upgrade from 0.8 Preview, simply update to use the attached NuGet packages!

1. Download and unzip the attached NuGet packages to a folder of your choice (like the Downloads folder).
2. Open your project in Visual Studio.
3. Open the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio, and configure a NuGet package source to point to the folder you unzipped the NuGet packages in (near the top right where it says "Package source", click the settings icon and add a new package source pointing to your folder, then after saving that, be sure to select that package source).
4. Go to the Updates tab, check the "Include prerelease" option, and you should see the 0.8.0-rc Project Reunion NuGet packages as an available update, install those updates to all three packages. You're now on 0.8.0-rc! Be sure to update all projects in your solution (don't mix and match versions in a single solution).
5. If your initial build fails, you may need to clean your solution first and then try building again.

Upgrading an existing 0.5 app

Follow the instructions above for updating a 0.8 Preview app, and additionally move the <AssetTargetFallback> property in the packaging project to be below the <TargetPlatformMinVersion> property. Your packaging project should look like this...

...
    <TargetPlatformVersion>10.0.19041.0</TargetPlatformVersion>
    <TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.17763.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>
    <AssetTargetFallback>net5.0-windows$(TargetPlatformVersion);$(AssetTargetFallback)</AssetTargetFallback>
...

Building a new app with 0.8 RC

1. Be using latest stable VS 16.10 with all typical Project Reunion prerequisites installed.
2. Download and install the attached VSIX below (if you have the previous Project Reunion non-Preview VSIX installed, this will replace it).
3. Open VS and create a new "Blank App, Packaged (WinUI 3 in Desktop)" app.
4. Download and unzip the attached NuGet packages to a folder of your choice (like the Downloads folder).
5. Open the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio, and configure a NuGet package source to point to the folder you downloaded the NuGet (near the top right where it says "Package source", click the settings icon and add a new package source pointing to your folder.
6. Build and run your app!

There are some more detailed getting started instructions here, although those instructions are for the 0.5 release and you will have to tweak things slightly as described above.

To keep up with progress being made on Project Reunion, please see our feature roadmap which gets updated regularly.

We've just released our preview of the 0.8 release of Project Reunion! This is the first release of Project Reunion that includes unpackaged app support for DWrite Core, App Lifecycle, and MRT Core. This release consists of stabilization improvements, critical bug fixes, and some new functionality. This is an opportunity for our customers to try this out and provide feedback.

If you're building an app with Project Reunion for the first time, follow the getting started instructions here.

Full release notes here.

Attached are the Project Reunion Installer and MSIX packages needed to test deployment of unpackaged apps. This preview is not intended for production apps.

To keep up with progress being made on Project Reunion, please see our feature roadmap which gets updated regularly.

Project Reunion 0.5.7 is a new servicing release that continues to fix a couple of critical bugs from Project Reunion 0.5.

If you're building an app with Project Reunion for the first time, follow the installation instructions here.

If you have an app that's already using any version of Project Reunion 0.5, you can update to the latest release by following the instructions here.

Bugs fixed in Project Reunion 0.5.7

• Crash in ListView when scrolling with pen

• Padding of Minimize/Maximize/Close Buttons is Not Consistent When Using ExtendsContentIntoTitleBar

• WinUI 3 Desktop apps always show focus rects on launch, even if the app was launched via mouse/touch/pen

• UIA isn't properly handling display scale value

Project Reunion 0.5.6 is now available

Project Reunion 0.5.6 is a small, stable servicing update that fixes a few more critical bugs.
If you're building an app with Project Reunion for the first time, follow the installation instructions here.
If you have an app that's already using any version of Project Reunion 0.5, you can update to the latest release by following the instructions here.

Bugs fixed in Project Reunion 0.5.6:

• Metadata is missing from attributes. The bug fixed can be found here.
• Crashes caused by XamlCompiler determining all types are not a part of WinUI framework. The bug fixed can be found here.

Project Reunion 0.5.5 is a stable servicing release that fixes a few critical bugs.

If you're building an app with Project Reunion for the first time, follow the installation instructions here.

If you have an app that's already using Project Reunion 0.5, you can update to the latest release by following the instructions here.

Bugs fixed in Project Reunion 0.5.5:

• Memory leaks caused by subscribing to some framework element events and page navigation due to a C#/WinRT issue

• Alt+F4 does not close desktop apps

• Drag and drop does not work with touch or pen due to an issue with StartDragAsync()

• Black flash on WebView2 when setting Visibility to Collapsed

• Microsoft.ProjectReunion.Foundation is breaking WPF compilations

• Installing the Project Reunion 0.5 NuGet package results in build failures in projects that target AnyCPU

• Crash when panel containing SwapChainPanel is opened multiple times

• Acrylic brush renders transparent

• A few bugs having to do with GC/ObjectDisposedExceptions, marshaling value and nullable types (TimeSpan, IReference, etc) in C#/WinRT are now fixed. In order to get these GC fixes, you must use the latest .NET 5.0.6 SDK which will be available in May. See our update instructions for how you can explicitly reference the latest 5.0.6 SDK.

Our team is SUPER EXCITED to share with you that we have just released version 0.5 of Project Reunion! This is our first production-ready release, and the first complete release of Project Reunion that includes WinUI 3. This is the first opportunity to build new WinUI 3 desktop packaged apps meant for production. We're looking forward to hearing your feedback!

What's in Project Reunion 0.5?

Project Reunion is still in its early stages, but 0.5 includes production-ready support for packaged MSIX desktop apps to use...

• WinUI 3
• Text rendering
• Resource management

How do I use it?

See our documentation for installation instructions and getting started.

What's next?

We're working on support for unpackaged desktop apps, new features, and more. Check out our roadmap for more details!

We love feedback!

• For WinUI-specific topics...
  • Ask questions or file bugs
• For non-WinUI topics (text rendering, resource management, or general Project Reunion topics)...
  • Ask questions
  • File bugs

What's new compared to the 0.5 preview release?

Most of the features introduced in past preview releases have now been stabilized for use in production apps, including (but definitely not limited to):

• Ability to create desktop apps with WinUI, including .NET 5 for Win32 apps
• Chromium-based WebView2 control
• Custom titlebar support
• ARM64 Support
• SwapChainPanel

Where did preview features go?

As this is a stable release, preview features have been removed from this version of WinUI 3, including support for building UWP apps. You can still access these features by using the previous Project Reunion 0.5 preview.

Using Project Reunion 0.5 with our ecosystem partners

Project Reunion 0.5 is in the process of being integrated into several other important ecosystem technologies. To test out and follow that progress, check out some of our partner technologies below:

• Windows Community Toolkit (Microsoft): The latest version of the WCT is working towards supporting Project Reunion 0.5 in the near future, and provides tons of new controls and capabilities for use in your WinUI app. You can check out their open source repo here.
• Uno Platform: Developers using WinUI have an option to take WinUI-built applications to WebAssembly, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS via open-source project Uno Platform, and easily style them with Material and Fluent UI design systems for pixel-perfect experience everywhere. To set up your environment and get started with Uno Platform follow instructions laid out here.
• Telerik: Telerik UI for WinUI is a UI component suite targeting WinUI 3 UWP apps currently released as Preview. The Telerik UI Preview includes several feature-rich controls including Ribbon, DataGrid, Charts, Gauges, Barcode, and more.
• Syncfusion: The Syncfusion WinUI controls preview includes a large variety of high performance and modern controls for WinUI 3 UWP apps. The initial preview includes a suite of controls for data visualization, notifications, navigation, and content editing.
• DevExpress: The entire suite of DevExpress UWP controls is available in preview for WinUI 3 UWP apps. Some example controls include Scheduler, Charts, Navigation, DataGrid, and more
• GrapeCity's service components allow users to integrate data from popular online data sources such as Dynamics, Salesforce, Quickbooks and Google Analytics, and optimize performance with data virtualization. GrapeCity also plans to bring their popular desktop UI controls to WinUI3 later this year.
• Infragistics: Ultimate UI for WinUI brings business critical, high performing, and feature rich line of business controls to your apps that target any platform that runs Windows, including the new ARM64-based Surface Pro X. The Ultimate UI or WinUI Preview includes DataGrid, Charts (50+), Gauges, and more.
• Actipro Software is currently working on migrating their vast UI control offerings over to WinUI 3, including their popular SyntaxEditor code editor, property grid, native type edit boxes, docking/MDI, charts, and more.

We've just released our first preview of the 0.5 release of Project Reunion! This is the first release of Project Reunion that includes WinUI 3. This release consists of stabilization improvements, critical bug fixes, and some new functionality. This is an opportunity for our customers to try this out and provide feedback. This is the first round of validating our work with customers prior to release. We’ll continue to refine and improve the process going forward.

What's new in Project Reunion 0.5 Preview

• WinUI 3 is now part of Project Reunion!
  • In-app acrylic is now supported!
  • The Pivot control is no longer supported, and has been deprecated in WinUI 3. We recommend using the NavigationView control for your in-app navigation scenarios.
• Project Reunion will be supported down-level to Windows 10 version 1809 - it requires build 17763 or newer.
• A few bug fixes, including:
  • App does not respond to theme changes in Windows when selecting Windows Default theme until restarted
  • ProgressBar doesn't show difference between Paused and Error option
  • Crash in Desktop XamlControlsGallery when trying to reorder ListView items with touch

Please keep in mind that Project Reunion 0.5 Preview is still a pre-release product, and has a number of known issues and limitations that our team continues to work on.

This preview is not intended for production apps.

Getting started with Project Reunion 0.5 Preview

First, you'll need to set up your dev environment with the appropriate technologies. See our documentation for installation instructions and more information on project types:

• Install Project Reunion 0.5 Preview
• Create WinUI 3 Projects

API Reference documentation for Project Reunion 0.5 Preview is coming soon.

Take a look at the walk-through documentation on getting started with Project Reunion!

We love feedback! We encourage you to file any bug, big or small, on our repo using this template. Knowing which issues and features are important and/or critical to our customers highly influences which ones we tackle.

What’s Supported

• This preview is not intended for production apps
• Only MSIX packaged desktop apps (WPF, WinForms, Win32, and console) can use the 0.5 preview
• To use WinUI 3, it's best to start a new app project and, if useful, copy any existing code/business logic from past projects into the new project

The following features are part of the 0.5 preview...

• WinUI 3
• Text rendering
• Localization/globalization

Using Project Reunion 0.5 Preview with our ecosystem partners

Project Reunion 0.5 Preview is in the process of being integrated into several other important ecosystem technologies. To test out and follow that progress, check out some of our partner technologies below:

• Windows Community Toolkit (Microsoft): The latest version of the WCT supports Reunion 0.5 Preview, and provides tons of new controls and capabilities for use in your WinUI app. You can check out their open source repo here.
• Uno Platform: Developers using WinUI have an option to take WinUI-built applications to WebAssembly, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS via open-source project Uno Platform, and easily style them with Material and Fluent UI design systems for pixel-perfect experience everywhere. To set up your environment and get started with Uno Platform follow instructions laid out here.
• Telerik: Telerik UI for WinUI is a UI component suite targeting WinUI 3 UWP apps currently released as Preview. The Telerik UI Preview includes several feature-rich controls including Ribbon, DataGrid, Charts, Gauges, Barcode, and more.
• Syncfusion: The Syncfusion WinUI controls preview includes a large variety of high performance and modern controls for WinUI 3 UWP apps. The initial preview includes a suite of controls for data visualization, notifications, navigation, and content editing.
• DevExpress: The entire suite of DevExpress UWP controls is available in preview for WinUI 3 UWP apps. Some example controls include Scheduler, Charts, Navigation, DataGrid, and more
• GrapeCity's service components allow users to integrate data from popular online data sources such as Dynamics, Salesforce, Quickbooks and Google Analytics, and optimize performance with data virtualization. GrapeCity also plans to bring their popular desktop UI controls to WinUI3 later this year.
• Infragistics: Ultimate UI for WinUI brings business critical, high performing, and feature rich line of business controls to your apps that target any platform that runs Windows, including the new ARM64-based Surface Pro X. The Ultimate UI or WinUI Preview includes DataGrid, Charts (50+), Gauges, and more.

What's Next

To keep up with progress being made on Project Reunion, please see our feature roadmap which gets updated regularly.