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Latest preview channel release notes for the Windows App SDK

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Important

The preview channel is not supported for use in production environments, and apps that use the preview releases cannot be published to the Microsoft Store.

The preview channel includes releases of the Windows App SDK with preview channel features in late stages of development. Preview releases do not include experimental features and APIs but may still be subject to breaking changes before the next stable release.

Important links:

Preview channel release note archive:

Version 1.5 Preview 1 (1.5.0-preview1)

This is the latest release of the preview channel for version 1.5.

In an existing Windows App SDK 1.4 (from the stable channel) app, you can update your Nuget package to 1.5.0-preview1 (see the Update a package section in Install and manage packages in Visual Studio using the NuGet Package Manager).

For the updated runtime and MSIX, see Downloads for the Windows App SDK.

XAML Islands runtime and shutdown updates

  • There is a behavioral difference between WinAppSDK 1.4 and WinAppSDK 1.5 for Xaml Islands-based apps when the last Xaml Window on any thread is closed.
    • In WinAppSDK 1.4, the Xaml runtime always exits the thread's event loop when the last Xaml window on a thread is closed.
    • In WinAppSDK 1.5:
      • If your app is a WinUI Desktop app, the default behavior is still the same as in WinAppSDK 1.4.
      • If you're using Xaml for the DesktopWindowXamlSource ("Xaml Islands") API, the default behavior is now that Xaml does not automatically exit the thread's event loop.
      • In both modes, you can change this behavior by setting the Application.DispatcherShutdownMode property.
    • For more information, see the documentation for the Application.DispatcherShutdownMode property when available.
  • There is a behavioral difference between WinAppSDK 1.4 and WinAppSDK 1.5 for Xaml Islands-based apps in the lifetime of the Xaml runtime:
    • In WinAppSDK 1.4, the Xaml runtime shuts down on a thread if either all WindowsXamlManager and DesktopWindowXamlSource objects on a given thread are closed or shut down, or the DispatcherQueue running on that thread is shut down (the Xaml runtime shuts down during the DispatcherQueue.FrameworkShutdownStarting stage).
    • In WinAppSDK 1.5, the Xaml runtime shuts down on a thread only when the DispatcherQueue running on that thread is shut down (the Xaml runtime shuts down during the DispatcherQueue.FrameworkShutdownStarting stage).
    • For more information, see the documentation for the WindowsXamlManager class when available.

WinUI Maps control

The initial release of the WinUI Maps control is now available! This control is powered by WebView2 and Azure Maps, providing the following features:

  • Panning and zooming with either the map buttons or touch.
  • Changing the style of the map to satellite, terrain, or street view.
  • Programatically adding interactable pins with developer-customizable icons to the map.
  • Developer customization for where the map is centered on initial load.
  • Control for developers over hiding or showing the buttons for panning, zooming, and map styles.

Note

To use the Maps control, you'll need an Azure Maps key. To create the key, see the Azure Maps documentation page for creating a web app.

The Maps control is entirely new and we welcome your feedback to evaluate its future direction!

Other new features from across the WinAppSDK

Bug fixes

  • Fixed an issue from the 1.5-experimental2 release where the projection DLL was not generated. For more info, see GitHub issue #4152.
  • Fixed an issue where the ellipsis button on the text formatting popup of the RichEditBox was not displaying the list of actions properly. For more info, see GitHub issue #9140.
  • Fixed an issue where ListView didn't handle keyboard accelerators properly. For more info, see GitHub issue #8063.
  • Fixed an access violation issue with using AccessKey to close a window. For more info, see GitHub issue #8648.
  • Fixed an issue affecting text alignment in a MenuFlyoutItem within a MenuBar. For more info, see GitHub issue #8755.
  • Fixed an issue where highlighted text would not remain highlighted upon right-click. For more info, see GitHub issue #1801.
  • Fixed an issue causing inactive windows to crash the app when closed. For more info, see GitHub issue #8913.
  • Fixed an issue that could hang applications when scrolling with the middle mouse button and left-clicking immediately afterwards. For more info, see GitHub issue #9233.

New APIs in 1.5.0-preview1

Version 1.5-preview1 includes the following new APIs compared to the stable 1.4 release:

Microsoft.Graphics.DirectX
 
    DirectXPixelFormat
        A4B4G4R4

Microsoft.UI.Input
 
    FocusNavigationReason
    FocusNavigationRequest
    FocusNavigationRequestEventArgs
    FocusNavigationResult
    InputFocusController
        DepartFocus
        NavigateFocusRequested
 
    InputFocusNavigationHost

Microsoft.UI.Xaml
 
    Application
        DispatcherShutdownMode

    DebugSettings
        LayoutCycleDebugBreakLevel
        LayoutCycleTracingLevel

    DispatcherShutdownMode
    LayoutCycleDebugBreakLevel
    LayoutCycleTracingLevel

Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Controls
 
    MapControl
    MapControlMapServiceErrorOccurredEventArgs
    MapElement
    MapElementClickEventArgs
    MapElementsLayer
    MapIcon
    MapLayer
    SelectorBar
    SelectorBarItem
    SelectorBarSelectionChangedEventArgs
    WebView2
        EnsureCoreWebView2Async
        EnsureCoreWebView2Async

Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Hosting
 
    WindowsXamlManager
        GetForCurrentThread
        XamlShutdownCompletedOnThread
 
    XamlShutdownCompletedOnThreadEventArgs

Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core
 
    CoreWebView2
        FrameId

    CoreWebView2AcceleratorKeyPressedEventArgs
        IsBrowserAcceleratorKeyEnabled

    CoreWebView2BrowserExtension
    CoreWebView2BrowsingDataKinds
        ServiceWorkers

    CoreWebView2CustomSchemeRegistration
        CoreWebView2CustomSchemeRegistration (String)
        AllowedOrigins
        SchemeName

    CoreWebView2Environment
        GetProcessExtendedInfosAsync

    CoreWebView2EnvironmentOptions
        AreBrowserExtensionsEnabled
        CustomSchemeRegistrations

    CoreWebView2Frame
        FrameId

    CoreWebView2FrameInfo
        FrameId
        FrameKind
        ParentFrameInfo

    CoreWebView2FrameKind
    CoreWebView2MouseEventKind
        NonClientRightButtonDown
        NonClientRightButtonUp

    CoreWebView2NavigationKind
    CoreWebView2NavigationStartingEventArgs
        NavigationKind

    CoreWebView2NewWindowRequestedEventArgs
        OriginalSourceFrameInfo

    CoreWebView2ProcessExtendedInfo
    CoreWebView2Profile
        AddBrowserExtensionAsync
        Delete
        Deleted

Microsoft.Windows.Management.Deployment
 
    AddPackageOptions
    EnsureReadyOptions
    PackageDeploymentContract
    PackageDeploymentManager
    PackageDeploymentProgress
    PackageDeploymentProgressStatus
    PackageDeploymentResult
    PackageDeploymentStatus
    PackageRuntimeManager
    PackageSet
    PackageSetItem
    PackageSetItemRuntimeDisposition
    PackageSetRuntimeDisposition
    PackageVolume
    ProvisionPackageOptions
    RegisterPackageOptions
    RemovePackageOptions
    StagePackageOptions
    StubPackageOption

Microsoft.Windows.Widgets.Feeds.Providers
 
    CustomQueryParametersRequestedArgs
    CustomQueryParametersUpdateOptions
    FeedDisabledArgs
    FeedEnabledArgs
    FeedManager
    FeedProviderDisabledArgs
    FeedProviderEnabledArgs
    FeedProviderInfo
    IFeedManager
    IFeedProvider