Among the numerous features included in our recent release, Essential Studio® 2015 Volume 1, you may have noticed quite a few have to do with Xamarin, especially the new DataGrid control for Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS. Since our first Xamarin.Forms suite was released at the Xamarin Evolve 2014 conference last October, we have added 23 new controls, including 11 more in our current version.
Volume 1 also brings updates to all our other suites and introduces a new set of file format libraries for Microsoft PowerPoint™. What follows is a brief review of the highlights.
Essential Presentation
We introduce a new file format library called Essential Presentation. It can be used to create, read, write, and modify PowerPoint files by rendering them as PDF, vector, or scalar files. The library does not have any external dependencies, and it does not require PowerPoint to be installed on any machines. It has a full-fledged object model, allowing you access to elements—such as slides, text, images, tables, charts, shapes, and formatting—through a comprehensive set of APIs.
Essential Presentation is a background class that can be used in Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, and ASP.NET MVC applications.
Image Support in Essential Presentation
New DataGrid Control for Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android
This mobile-ready DataGrid control comes with 11 features covering everything from sorting and filtering to data formatting.
Xamarin.iOS DataGrid
New File Explorer
The File Explorer enables users to access and manage system files through a web interface similar to Windows Explorer™. It supports tree, grid, and thumbnail views, and allows users to search, sort, and upload files as well as change file structure. This new control is available in Essential Studio® for JavaScript and ASP.NET MVC.
File Explorer for JavaScript
Ribbon Gallery
Our Ribbon control for JavaScript and ASP.NET now allows items, which would typically be listed in a menu, to be grouped together and easily viewed within a gallery window, saving valuable UI space.
ASP.NET Ribbon Control with Gallery
Chart Enhancements
The Chart controls for JavaScript, ASP.NET, and ASP.NET MVC now allow users to annotate with text or other content types. For WPF, WinRT, and Windows Phone, the Chart control enables the default appearance of a series to be customized based on a template.
New UI Controls for Android, iOS, and Xamarin.Forms
Essential Studio® for Andriod, iOS, and Xamarin.Forms continues to grow with the addition of busy indicators that have 10 built-in animations, range sliders for selecting a value within a specified range, and a Barcode control that can render 12 variants of one- or two-dimensional codes.
Android Barcode
You can try our latest version at www.syncfusion.com/downloads/evaluation. Be sure to give us your thoughts on the new release via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
