Microsoft has proudly announced the availability of version 1.6 of the Windows App SDK, an update that promises to significantly improve the performance and functionality of native Windows applications. This version introduces a series of new features, including support for Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) native compilation, improvements in package deployment, and various optimizations in controls such as PipsPager and RatingControl.
The Windows App SDK offers a robust set of APIs and tools for building fast and aesthetically pleasing desktop applications on Windows. Whether it’s a Win32 C++ or C# .NET application, this solution allows developers to take advantage of modern controls and the polish of WinUI 3. Additionally, it provides frequent and independent updates from the operating system, ensuring that applications always have the latest innovations.
One of the key new features in version 1.6 is the support for Native AOT compilation, which allows converting the application code to native code ahead of time, resulting in faster startup times and lower memory consumption. In internal testing, this improvement has halved startup time and significantly reduced the size of the application package.
Another notable update is the decoupling of the WebView2 version from the Windows App SDK. Developers can now choose newer versions of the Microsoft.Web.WebView2 package, offering greater flexibility and better dependency management through NuGet. This ensures that applications using WebView2 can access the latest enhancements and features at any time.
Package management has also received significant improvements with new APIs that make it easier to remove packages, provision, and detect pending or locally available updates. These enhancements are designed to simplify the handling of applications using MSIX packaging, optimizing the developer’s workflow.
The TabView control in WinUI 3 has been enhanced with a new tab tear-off experience that emulates the functionality found in browsers like Edge and Chrome. This provides immediate visual feedback to the user dragging a tab out of the application, allowing for seamless movement to maximize or adjust the new window.
Other updates include improvements in minor controls like PipsPager, which now supports a new wrap-around mode between the first and last item, and RatingControl, which has become more customizable. New APIs and additional features have been added, such as the Microsoft.Windows.Globalization.ApplicationLanguages class to fine-tune the application’s display language.
For more details and to start developing with version 1.6 of the Windows App SDK, interested parties can visit the SDK overview page and follow the setup instructions in Visual Studio. Developers can also stay up to date with the development team through the Windows App SDK GitHub repository and the quarterly WinUI community calls.
The developer community is invited to take advantage of these improvements and share their experiences and creations using the #WindowsAppSDK and @WindowsUI tags on X. Happy coding!
Windows App SDK Team
via: Microsoft Windows blog
Source: MiMub in Spanish