New Version of GAX
It has been a while since I posted a message, but this occasion is hard to pass; we will be releasing a new version of GAX.
Since the last release in December we have been using GAX and GAT extensively on a number of projects including the Smart Client Software Factory project (practices.gotdotnet.com/scbat) and the Web Services Software Factory project (practices.gotdotnet.com/svcfactory). Needless to say, we found some things that needed fixing and some opportunities for improvements. Here is the list of major fixes and improvements that are coming up
- GAX and GAT will now work in non-English versions of Windows
- We have fixed the annoying bug that prevented text from appearing in wizard fields if you changed the font size on the desktop to Extra Large Fonts (this one caused me a very tense moment during a demo).
- We have moved the guidance package state from the .suo file to a separate file stored in the solution root folder (this one is actually interesting and may require a separate discussion).
- We have provided a mechanism to associate ms-help pages (or plain html pages) with wizards.
A brand new feature is the Guidance Navigator. The navigator is a new VS view (by default shown as a tab in the same workspace as the Properties view) showing for each guidance package
- applicable recipes and templates (the recipes and templates that cannot be executed are not show)
- history of the executed recipes with suggested applicable next steps
- help pages associated with each recipe.
The navigator addresses a common request of the community to make the recipes and templates easier to discover and apply.
So when will the new version be available? If nothing unexpected happens, it should be available to the community in the next two weeks.
-- Wojtek
