Monday, October 27, 2014

Okra App Framework v0.9.8

For those of you following the Okra App Framework, I can announce that v0.9.8 has been released today. This release is mainly aimed at converging on a stable API for v1.0, although a small number of new features have also been included.

Details of how to obtain the latest version of the framework are available here. In the approach to v1.0 I’d be very interested in any feedback and bug reports, which you can post in the Okra.Core issues tracker.

New Features in v0.9.8

  • You can now navigate back multiple pages in the navigation stack, for example directly to the application home page from deep in the navigation hierarchy. This is supported by an INavigationStack.GoBackTo(…) method and associated extension methods.
  • Built in support for keyboard back navigation.
  • Built in support for mouse back button navigation.
  • Support for variable-sized settings panes has been reintroduced. The width can be set using a SettingsPaneInfo.Width property in your XAML.
  • A number of minor bug fixes.

Code Changes When Updating From v0.9.7

In readiness for a v1.0 release, a number of breaking changes have been made,

  • Any methods that return or consume the WinRT ‘NavigationMode’ enumeration now use an Okra specific ‘PageNavigationMode’ enumeration.
  • Sharing support (for both share targets and share sources) has been moved into a new ‘Okra.Sharing’ namespace along with a number of changes to the API surface. This removes dependencies to WinRT types and allows sharing code to be included in portable class libraries.
  • The INavigationTarget.NavigateTo(…) method now takes an associated INavigationBase as a second parameter.
  • The FlyoutPane class and FlyoutEdge enumeration have been marked as obsolete and will be removed prior to v1.0. If you still require this control then feel free to include the source code directly in your solution (FlyoutPane code, FlyoutEdge code).