If you’re new to the Toolkit, the Windows Community Toolkit is a collection of controls for WinUI 2, WinUI 3, and Uno Platform developers! It simplifies and demonstrates common developer tasks building experiences for Windows 10 and Windows 11 with .NET. The Toolkit is part of the .NET Foundation<\/a>. You can download our Sample Gallery<\/a> from the Microsoft Store to discover and try Toolkit components before getting started on your project. You can find an introduction video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This update is a complete re-work<\/strong> of how the Windows Community Toolkit is built and published from top-to-bottom. Be sure to read our breaking changes and migration notes!<\/em><\/p>\n After shipping our 7.x releases for WinUI 3 and the WindowsAppSDK, we realized it wasn’t going to be feasible to maintain two independent branches<\/em> of the Toolkit with completely different namespaces, package identities, and codebases. Therefore, we set out with a plan to overhaul how we worked on the toolkit to not only allow us to target multiple platforms from a single-codebase<\/strong><\/em> but make it much easier to develop<\/strong>, maintain<\/strong>, and contribute<\/strong> Toolkit components.<\/p>\n If you’ve been following our previous blogs<\/a>, you know we’ve made changes to how namespaces and packages work with 8.0.<\/p>\n We’ve restructured many packages for a few reasons, but the main benefit is it allows developers targeting or migrating between multiple platforms to easily migrate code written on 8.0 without having to change their source. It also enables library developers to multi-target components with XAML easily.<\/p>\n Regardless of which new features and packages you use (see below<\/a>), the namespaces<\/strong> for code within the packages are now unified<\/strong> with a root of Previously, starting with 7.x, UWP packages started with There are now two sets of packages for each component:<\/p>\n Regardless of the package chosen, as mentioned above, all namespaces have converged on If you’re using Uno Platform<\/a>, the same<\/strong> package can be used across your various platform heads now! Just be sure to select the package that corresponds to the target of your Windows<\/strong> platform head, either The Toolkit is huge! It’s had a lot of features added over the course of the last 7<\/strong> years. Unfortunately, this means we couldn’t migrate everything in this initial transition. Also, some features may not be available on all platforms due to platform limitations or unimplemented APIs.<\/p>\n Our initial focus has been on UWP<\/strong> and Windows App SDK<\/strong> compatibility, followed by Web Assembly (WASM)<\/strong>. If you find an issue on a particular platform, please let us know<\/a>, but we may defer you to the underlying platform’s repository if an API is missing.<\/p>\n If there’s a feature from the Toolkit that wasn’t migrated (and not<\/strong> listed below), open a discussion<\/a> to garner support for future migration or to get information on contributing to migrate it for everyone.<\/p>\n The following is a partial list of known things<\/em> which are not<\/strong> included in this release:<\/p>\n Be sure to read the rest of the breaking change notes above!<\/em> \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Most UI controls have their own package now under For individual grouped control packages of 7.x, you can find the following changes:<\/p>\n Other controls either have their own package or have not been migrated yet. Search and then open a discussion<\/a> if you need assistance.<\/p>\n The Toolkit has grown a lot since its inception, both in terms of the amount of code and the number of people using it. As we bring over components, we want to ensure they’re working across our supported platforms, well-documented, showcased with samples, thoroughly tested, and up-to-date with the latest Windows design language.<\/p>\n We’ve brought over the most commonly used<\/strong> controls from the existing codebase already, but this doesn’t include everything<\/em>. Future releases may include more, with a mix of new and prior components moved and improved to the new systems. Some things are even in the platform now as seen above<\/a>! For those, we want to work on providing better guidance on how to utilize built-in equivalents for prior Toolkit components, if anything.<\/p>\n The existing The Toolkit Gallery app has undergone a major overhaul! It now has a sleek and modern design that integrates samples and documentation in single page, enabling us to integrate multiple (mini) samples into a single experience. This makes it easier for your to play around and explore a components feature set!\nOn top of that, we have added new and revamped existing samples so they are easier to understand.<\/p>\n The new The new The new The new Replacing the We have updated our existing controls with a fresh coat of paint: they are now inline with WinUI and use compatible brushes, styles and meet a11y requirements!<\/p>\n Search for either ![\"Image](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2023\/09\/Header.light_.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAt a Glance \ud83d\udd0d<\/h2>\n
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<\/a> New Package Structure & Breaking Changes \ud83d\udea8<\/h2>\n
<\/a> One namespace to rule them all \ud83d\udc8d<\/h3>\n
CommunityToolkit.WinUI.*<\/code>. This ensures that if you target multiple platforms or migrate between them, no code referencing the Toolkit needs to change (just the package)!<\/p>\n<\/a> Package Naming \ud83d\udce6<\/h3>\n
Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.UI.*<\/code> and had similar namespaces, and WindowsAppSDK package started wih CommunityToolkit.WinUI.UI.*<\/code> and had a similar namespace. See this blog for more information on our package identity journey<\/a>. These packages will be deprecated and point to their 8.0 equivalents (continue reading).<\/p>\n\n
CommunityToolkit.Uwp.*<\/code> for UWP + WinUI 2 or Uno.UI<\/li>\nCommunityToolkit.WinUI.*<\/code> for Windows App SDK + WinUI 3 or Uno.WinUI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nCommunityToolkit.WinUI.*<\/code> (note the dropping of the additional .UI.<\/code><\/em> in namespace and package names).<\/p>\n.Uwp.<\/code> or .WinUI.<\/code> for the Windows App SDK corresponding to Uno.UI<\/code> and Uno.WinUI<\/code>, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/a> Removed Features \ud83e\uddb4<\/h3>\n
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Extensions<\/code> and Media<\/code> package.<\/li>\nStackedNotificationsBehavior<\/code> in our Behaviors<\/code> package to build on top of the platform InfoBar<\/code> control.<\/li>\nMenuBar<\/code>.<\/li>\n<\/a> Migration Notes \ud83d\ude9a<\/h3>\n
CommunityToolkit.<Uwp|WinUI>.Controls.*<\/code>; we’re working to have a meta package again, but do not have one at this time<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n
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DropShadowPanel<\/code> has been replaced with Attached Shadows<\/strong> in the Extensions<\/code> and Media<\/code> packages.<\/li>\nInAppNotification<\/code> is now the StackedNotificationsBehavior<\/code> for WinUI’s InfoBar<\/code> in the Behaviors<\/code> package.<\/li>\nMenu<\/code> is part of WinUI now, see MenuBar<\/code>.<\/li>\nRadialProgressBar<\/code> is part of WinUI’s ProgressRing<\/code> now, IsIndeterminate=\u201cFalse\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n
Expander<\/code> is part of WinUI now.<\/li>\nGridSplitter<\/code> is part of the Sizers<\/code> package, it’s also been entirely re-written, but with defaults should look\/behave the same, if not better!<\/li>\nHeaderedControls<\/code> package, HeaderedItemsControl<\/code> now uses ItemsPresenter<\/code>‘s Header<\/code> and Footer<\/code> new<\/strong>, Orientation<\/code> has been removed, customize the ItemsPanel<\/code> instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\nUwp\/WinUI<\/code> and Uwp\/WinUI.UI<\/code> packages, look for our Collections<\/code>, Converters<\/code>, Extensions<\/code>, Helpers<\/code>, and Triggers<\/code> packages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/a> What about the original repository? \ud83d\udcfc<\/h3>\n
WindowsCommunityToolkit<\/code> repository will be archived soon to provide better access to its codebase for future migrations. This should allow us to migrate issues and discussions as needed as well to our new repository and Windows Community Toolkit Labs.<\/p>\n<\/a> New Features \u2728<\/h2>\n
<\/a> New Gallery & Samples<\/h3>\n
![\"Windows](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2023\/09\/SampleGallery.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> Overhauled GridSplitter, now with ContentSizer and PropertySizer<\/h3>\n
Sizers<\/code> package introduces a revamped GridSplitter<\/code> (adopting a modern look-and-feel, improved behavior, and more wpf polyfills) and two new controls: ContentSizer<\/code> and PropertySizer<\/code>. These controls allows you to make existing controls resizeable, like an expanded NavigationView<\/code> or a pop-out drawer made with Expander<\/code>.<\/p>\n<\/a> HeaderedTreeView<\/h3>\n
HeaderedControls<\/code> package (which contains the HeaderedItemsControl<\/code> and HeaderedContentControl<\/code> now introduces a new component: the HeaderedTreeView<\/code>.<\/p>\n<\/a> Segmented Control<\/h3>\n
![\"Shows](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2023\/09\/SegmentedControl.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSegmented<\/code> control lets users pick one of several options. This is a great control to allow users to e.g. set filters, or to changing a view. With new, built-in, styles you can easily customize this control to fit for your app experience.<\/p>\n<\/a> Settings Controls<\/h3>\n
![\"Shows](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2023\/09\/SettingsControls.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSettingsCard<\/code> and SettingsExpander<\/code> makes it super easy to create great looking settings experiences: flexible, yet very simple to use. Some of our built-in apps (like Store, Photos and Media Player) are already powered by these new controls!<\/p>\n<\/a> StackedNotificationsBehavior<\/h3>\n
InAppNotification<\/code>, the new StackedNotificationsBehavior<\/code> allows you to provide notifications within your app using an InfoBar<\/code> control.<\/p>\n<\/a> Style Updates<\/h3>\n
![\"Shows](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2023\/09\/Restyling.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> Packages\/Feature Overview \ud83d\udce6<\/h3>\n
CommunityToolkit.Uwp<\/code> or CommunityToolkit.WinUI<\/code> (Windows App SDK), depending on your target platform, and one of the packages listed below should appear. Today’s release is version 8.0.230907<\/code>.<\/p>\n