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ASP.NET Core Blazor UI is Coming - XAF, DevExpress

ASP.NET Core Blazor UI

We are fully committed to XAF and are continuing to evolve its capabilities. For those targeting Web browsers & Mobile devices, we have chosen to focus our efforts on a new UI powered by Microsoft Blazor. For more information on XAF's Blazor UI, please review the following:

Online DemoGetting StartedDevelopment Blog
App Security Made Easy - XAF, DevExpress

App Security Made Easy

Role-based Access Control and User Authentication for .NET Apps Powered by the XPO and EF Core ORMs. From WinForms, WPF and ASP.NET, to .NET server technologies like ASP.NET Web API/OData, WCF – XAF's Security System is the perfect choice for the enterprise.

Read about App Security
App Security Made Easy - XAF, DevExpress

Considerations for Newcomers

This article documents some of XAF's capabilities, and describes the experience/knowledge level required to maximize its potential. XAF has a learning curve and is best suited for experienced developers who wish to deliver CRUD-based apps in the most efficient manner possible.

Learn more about XAFRoadmap

Design Once. Run Everywhere. Fast.

With DevExpress eXpressApp Framework (XAF) you can quickly create functional and highly responsive apps that meet the needs of your ever changing enterprise and target both Windows, the Web and Mobile.

XAF uses a hybrid rapid software development flow - a flow that lies somewhere between a traditional 'all manual' development methodology and a totally 'codeless' (low-code) approach.

5 Unique XAF Blazor Features Designed to Rival Windows Desktop Solutions

Documentation: The XAF Advantage | XAF App Architecture

I stumbled across DevExpress and tried out the XAF framework. To say I was blown away would be an understatement! I was simply amazed at the ability to define my data model and have the basic UI for CRUD created automatically. With every new feature I discovered, I was more amazed. David Landry
XAF Web and WinForms Desktop Applications
XAF Mobile Application

Fastest App UI Builder for EF Core

From C# Entity to Powerful Web, Desktop, and Mobile UI Forms in Minutes

XAF allows you to build feature-rich Office-like LOB apps that target .NET 6+ using Windows Forms and ASP.NET Core Blazor UI. With its integrated wizard, you'll create Web/REST API Services in minutes. Entity Framework Core for data access allows you to consume data from popular relational database management systems (RDBMS) including Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySql, SQLite, Firebird, etc. You can get started quickly with EF Core community (third-party) modules and ready-to-use built-in XAF modules such as Audit Trail, Validation, and Security System.

XAF also helps developers create multi-tenant or SaaS-ready apps with multiple databases using a few declarative lines of code instead of writing hundreds of lines of code. The Multi-Tenancy module automatically creates a host and tenant databases at runtime. You can also authenticate with an email or OAuth2 account (like Microsoft Entra ID or Google) - the domain automatically resolves the tenant and its storage.

Read the documentation

App Builder for Entity Framework | DevExpress

Model-Driven UI. Flexibility.

Easy-to-use and highly customizable form layout.

Generate your data model of any complexity from an existing database using XAF wizards, or define the model manually in code or using the visual scheme designer. XAF automatically generates a final and fully customizable UI based on your data model. This includes everything you need: various data forms, menus and app navigation, reporting, charting, analytics – powered by award-winning DevExpress controls and libraries. When user requirements or the context of use change, the data model changes accordingly and so does the supporting UI.

Thanks to its rich set of runtime UI customization options (for developers and end-users alike), XAF's Blazor and WinForms UI allows you to address changes in business requirements without the need for redeployment. If you've used Microsoft Office apps, you already know that runtime UI customization (especially in your web browser) can be a time saver.

Learn more about UI & Behavior Customization

Multi-Tenancy and Integration of Custom UI Components
Overview of End-User Grid Filtering Options

Model-Driven Application Framework

Straightforward Interoperability API

Connect Your XAF App to any External Solution

XAF's Solution Wizard includes a "1-Click" solution to create ASP.NET Core Web/HTTP API services (via OData and Swagger/OpenAPI). This service allows developers to reuse XAF application data, logic, and modules (like CRUD, security authorization and authentication) within non-XAF apps. You can use OAuth2, JWT or custom strategies for authentication and tools like Postman or Swagger for API testing.

XAF-powered WinForms apps can also connect to a middle-tier application server for optimum data security. With this additional layer of protection, desktop UI clients cannot access database connection information or modify database tables directly. XAF’s built-in security system also filters out secured server data based on permissions granted to users.

Watch our tutorial videos:

View PDF Reports from Backend Web API Endpoints in .NET MAUI Apps with EF Core
Authenticate Users & Authorize CRUD Operations
Add Custom Web API Endpoints to Check Permissions & Query Media Data
A 1-Click Solution for CRUD Web API with Role-based Access Control via EF Core & ASP.NET

Featured Examples:

Blazor WebAssembly (WASM) | .NET MAUI (iOS/Android) | Docker & Kubernetes
JS (DevExtreme) | JS (Svelte)

Straightforward Interoperability API

Modularity. Native DI Support.

Jump start app development with prebuilt modules designed to promote a clean and maintainable codebase.

DevExpress application framework includes over 20 ready-to-use packages (modules), including analytics, reporting, scheduling, security, multi-tenancy (SaaS) and more. Address major development pain points including UI theme support, error and audit event logging, data filtering and validation, data printing and doc export, file and document management.

The application startup templates is built atop a battle-tested architecture with a modular and layered design, secure database connections and API services, configurable authentication and authorization settings, account management, e2e tests. All prebuilt modules are distributed via NuGet and can be plugged in using Fluent API.

XAF natively supports Dependency Injection (DI) for ASP.NET Core and WinForms, including 3rd-party Inversion of Control (IoC) Service Containers like Autofac or DryIoC. You can replace or extend prebuilt XAF services, modules, UI forms and individual components, styles or default behaviors as needs dictate.

Modular Application Architecture

When Quality Matters.

Unit & Functional Testing Delivered.

XAF ships with flexible unit & functional testing options for XAF's primary target audience - development teams that build complex enterprise apps.

  • Better test-ability thanks to XAF's modular MVC architecture. XAF gives you the freedom to write fast and lightweight unit tests or advanced integration tests as necessary.
    Read Documentation
  • Ships with a cross-Platform test engine for automated functional or end-to-end testing with C#, VB.NET or a human-readable scripting language.
  • Ready for Continuous Integration systems like Azure DevOps, NUnit, Moq and other popular testing frameworks.
    Read Documentation
  • Hit the ground running from day one. Access to comprehensive documentation, with community and technical support.
    Read Documentation
  • Optimize your build and test processes with DevExpress NuGet Gallery.
Unit and Functional Testing - XAF | DevExpress
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XAF Customer Success Stories

See how our customers have used XAF to change their businesses for the better.

No amount of marketing hype and hyperbole can mask a company's ability to deliver products that meet and exceed customer expectations. The following is a brief list of case-studies sent to us from our XAF end-users – developers such as yourself who don't have time and money to waste – developers who need to get down to business and address client needs in the shortest possible timeframe.

PraKom Software GmbH

VenDoc - XAF Case-Study | DevExpress

PraKom, an Austrian software company, was founded in 2008 and has 8 developers. PraKom's VenDoc (an ERP software) addresses the needs of over 750 companies in both the DACH and South Tyrol regions of Europe.

Read the story

CTL Computertechnik Lang

CTL - XAF Case-Study | DevExpress

CTL is an IT-Solution Provider located in the Swabian Alb area of Germany. CTL customers range from personal consumers to large companies with over 1000 employees. CTL has more than 10 developers.

Read the story

Galaktika Corporation

Galaktika - XAF Case-Study | DevExpress

Galaktika Corporation is an international software company that has more than 25 years of success developing control systems in Russia, CIS, and Europe. Galaktika Corporation has more than 15 developers.

Read the story

Vanguard AI

Vanguard AI - XAF Case-Study | DevExpress

Vanguard AI (Philippines) provides fully customizable automation services to both retail and professional traders, helping them navigate and understand complex markets.

Read the story

UKIGMO

- XAF Case-Study | DevExpress

UKIGMO is an IT consulting company in Japan. It primarily utilizes Microsoft technologies to develop business apps for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Read the story

Exelixis Software

Exelixis Software - XAF Case-Study | DevExpress

Exelixis Software is a software company in Greece. It was founded in Thessaloniki in 2012 and has 5 software developers.

Read the story

 

Read more stories

Reviews from Your Peers

 

Piero Giorgi   ★★★★★

Started using DevExpress as an experiment in 2008. Now, every application I write is ALWAYS using DevExpress UI controls and services. I have been able to convince every IT manager I met to get the DevExpress suite, both for the exceptional quality of the controls, and the really quick comeback from support, every time it's needed.

Mustafa Çağrı ALTINDAL   ★★★★★

In general, I met the DevExpress Application Framework (XAF) in 2016. Since the day I met, I am a person who makes the best use of functionality and time savings in software production and programming. Currently, we are still using 100% DevExpress modules in our software. It's great to be supported between 4 and 10 hours in the comeback. Again, thank you to the DevExpress team.

Christian Cigler     ★★★★★

For over 5 years now we have been using DevExpress components and in particular XAF. The decision for XAF was made immediately after a test project, because the time for implementing customer requirements is radically reduced. Is everything always ideal? - No, but the exceptional support always helps quickly and reliably. I have never experienced anything like this with other manufacturers until now. If someone wants to develop professional applications for their customers quickly and efficiently, there is no way around XAF.

 

Roman Shelomanov   ★★★★★

Quality, Speed, and Cost - For us, XAF-is the ability to conduct high quality, rapid and thus inexpensive development of modern, good-looking business apps.

High Quality - DevExpress is considered to be the gold standard in the development of graphical UI. Using XAF is like hiring a team of professional developers, analysts and graphical designers to design our program. It also gives us testers for free, because XAF ships with a built-in functional testing framework - Easy Test that helps us to automatically check the quality of the programs we created.

Andrei Iorga     ★★★★★

This just might be the best development suite in the world. It has great components and tools, by far the best RAD framework available anywhere (XAF), and the best support team anywhere. The documentation is great and you simply cannot go wrong with DevExpress.

I highly recommend it to everyone, especially to anyone that needs a mature RAD framework with great support.

Marc Greiner   ★★★★★

DevExpress XAF is an elegant answer to low-code and RAD, without limits. I am using the XAF framework intensively, and each day, I feel like sending to the DevExpress developers the caviar and the Champagne that they deserve for having build such a marvelous and unique application development tool.

More Reviews
Read over 70 reviews from XAF users on Visual Studio Marketplace.

Consulting and Training Classes

Get XAF-trained by the following third-parties. Note that these links are provided for informational purposes only. DevExpress is not responsible for nor does it endorse any content, information or services offered by third parties.

Llamachant

Watch DevExpress XAF YouTube Training Series

Bit Frame Works
Bit Frame Works
ISDK
Black Snow
Paragon 9

Developer Groups

Become a member of the ever-growing XAF Developer Community. Follow us on social media. Connect, follow, grow your network, and communicate with the eXpressApp Framework team and colleagues who rely on XAF to build and support business software.


Facebook   Twitter   XAF Blog   LinkedIn   Facebook (Unofficial)   Gitter Chat (Unofficial)

XAF Community Extensions

eXpand Extensions

eXpand is an open source community-driven toolkit built on top of the DevExpress App Framework. It extends XAF's capabilities with 50+ cutting-edge libraries containing tools and reusable modules that target numerous business scenarios.

Learn more on Github

Llamachant Extensions

Llamachant combined the most requested features from its clients all over the world into a set of reusable modules for XAF, available for free.

Visit the website

Ultra Extensions

Ultra is a set of open source modules to extend the capabilites of XAF created by José Manuel Ojeda Melgar, a DevExpress MVP.

Visit the website

Xenial Extensions

A set of reusable XAF modules for WinForms and ASP.NET Core Blazor created by Manuel Grundner, a DevExpress MVP. When it comes to XAF Application Model customization and unit testing, those who create large enterprise apps will find Xenial extensions indispensable.

Visit the website

Frequently Asked Questions

In a nutshell, what benefits does the eXpressApp Framework offer to software developers?

eXpressApp Framework (XAF) is a multi-purpose application framework. It is designed for .NET developers experienced in line-of-business app development. XAF allows developers to create, maintain and expand high-performance cross-platform apps with a relatively small team and with much less investment in time.

By leveraging the capabilities of XAF, you'll have immediate access to a broad range of award-winning DevExpress UI components, well-written documentation, and unmatched support services.

What types of software applications can I build with the eXpressApp Framework?

The DevExpress eXpressApp Framework allows you to build line-of-business (LOB) and Office-inspired applications that target Windows, Web browsers and Mobile devices. XAF supports the following platforms:

  • WinForms (.NET Framework and .NET Core)
  • ASP.NET Web Forms (.NET Framework)
  • ASP.NET Core Blazor Server (.NET Core)

Refer to the following case studies for insights into what's possible with XAF: VenDoc by PraKom, L'UnicaVia® by CTL, XAFARI by Galaktikasoft.

What does XAF's built-in Security System include?

  • The XAF Security System includes a user authentication and group authorization API for .NET Framework and .NET Core. It fully supports Microsoft Entity Framework (EF Core) and DevExpress ORM (XPO) data access libraries.

  • It includes fully integrated user, role, and permission entities to help you manage access/authorization configurations at runtime – without the need to redeploy your solution.

  • XAF's Security System also includes general-purpose Type, Object, Member-level (with criteria), and custom permissions. These can be with any entity type to address complex security-related requirements.

    Learn more about Security System

What are XAF's TOP 5 features and why do developers love XAF?

  • Automatic database and CRUD UI generation for Windows, Web and Mobile platforms including support for over a dozen RDBMS with EF Core and XPO ORM libraries.

  • Rich runtime UI customization for both developers and end-users. Your apps can address changing business requirements without the need for redeployment.

  • Common business essentials like reporting, information security, validation, data visualization and analytics are available out-of-the-box. These modules are fully configurable.

  • .NET business logic and UI configuration code are shared across platforms and databases.

  • With XAF, developers can stay focused on business rules, rather than on low-level coding such as database and UI management.

What skills should I have to be successful with XAF?

If you are familiar with object-relational mapping (ORM) and UI design/architectural patterns (MVC), you'll attain XAF proficiency quite quickly. Here are a few items to consider in advance of using XAF for your next software project:

XAF prerequisites:

  • Basic understanding of the Line-of-Business app development process.

  • Proficiency in object-oriented programming with C# or VB.NET, and knowledge of Visual Studio and the .NET infrastructure.

  • Basic familiarity with target .NET UI platforms (WinForms, ASP.NET) and related technologies (XML, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS). Learn more about XAF

How do I get started with XAF?
What does XAF's built-in Multi-Tenancy Module include?

The DevExpress Multi-Tenancy Module includes the following features:

  • EF Core and XPO ORM support.
  • Authentication: Log in with an email / OAuth2 account (like Microsoft Entra ID or Google), and a password (the domain automatically resolves the tenant and its storage).
  • Tenant Isolation: Multi-tenant app with multiple databases (a database per tenant).
  • Database Creation: The application automatically creates a tenant database and schema at runtime (if the database does not exist).

Documentation   Example

What does XAF's built-in Backend Web API Service include?

Basic functions of our Web API Service are available for free:

  • ASP.NET Core OData 8.0 (OData v4.0) support (paging, filtering, and other OData options; custom endpoints and multiple ways to change the entity data model structure).
  • Integrated authorization and CRUD operations powered by EF Core and our XPO ORM library (the built-in security system filters out secured server data based on permissions granted to users).
  • OAuth2, JWT or custom authentication strategies (you can use tools like Postman or Swagger for API testing).

Additional services/benefits of our Web API Service ship as part of the DevExpress Universal Subscription and include:

  • Advanced/enterprise functions such as audit trail, endpoints to download reports, file attachments, check validation, obtain localized captions for classes, members, and custom UI elements.
  • XAF's administrative UI to manage users and roles at runtime using WinForms, WebForms, and Blazor apps.
  • Technical support and full source code.

Documentation   FAQ   Examples

Best in Class Tools

DevExpress is honored to have been voted best in class 19 times in this year's Visual Studio Magazine Reader's Choice Awards.

Experience the DevExpress difference and see why your peers consistently vote our products #1. With our Universal Subscription, you will build your best, see complex software with greater clarity, increase your productivity and create stunning applications for Windows, Web and your Mobile world.

19 VSM Awards in 2023 x19
20 VSM Awards in 2022 x20
20 VSM Awards in 2021 x20
18 VSM Awards in 2020 x18