For years, Windows Community Toolkit has helped developers handle various tasks that help build UWP and .NET applications for Windows 10. Today, bringing the many demands and bug fixes from the last version, Microsoft has announced Windows Community Toolkit v7.0.
Windows Community Toolkit v7.0
The latest version is available for download from today itself. The toolkit is a part of the .NET Foundation, and the company encourages developers to install this suite for a streamlined app development experience. Version 7.0, however, comes with quite a few notable features like a revamped .NET Standard MVVM library and new Toast Notification helpers.
An essential feature in this version is the new MVVM Toolkit for .NET. This package has been designed to provide a modern and modular MVVM library management experience to developers. Quite noticeably, the package is platform and runtime independent, easy to use, enables reference implementation, and even offers developers the freedom to choose the components they want and use them.
Microsoft ensures that the package is compatible with many app platforms, including Xamarin, Uno Platform, UWP, WPF, and more. Similarly, it will not have any problem working with runtimes such as .NET native, .NET Core. NET Framework, or Mono. The tech giant says this new library system will make multi-platform development easier than ever before.
“After many months of invigorating the Windows Community Toolkit with a multitude of improvements and features; we are happy to announce version 7.0 is available today! Made possible again with the support and contributions of our developer community,” Microsoft said.
Besides, Microsoft has optimized the notification system within the Windows Community Toolkit. Now, the toolkit can handle native notifications with ease. The company has also introduced a new ‘Explicit Animation System,’ making it easy to introduce stunning animations to apps in development.
The latest version also packs an upgraded ColorPicker UI and an app-level navigation interface called the TabbedCommandBar. It is also worth noting that there are better ways to layout and organize XAML, speeding up how quickly you can group elements. While these features seem different when looked at individually, they can improve the overall development environment, indicates the company.
On top of all these, Microsoft is working on the Project Reunion 0.5 Preview, and the same will be available through the Windows Community Toolkit preview version in the coming weeks. The company also plans to integrate more features such as the future NuGet package identity changes soon.
