.NET Framework 4.8

Discover the latest enhancements and improvements.

What's New in .NET Framework 4.8

.NET Framework 4.8 represents a significant milestone, focusing on accessibility, high-DPI support, and performance improvements while maintaining backward compatibility. This version continues to provide a robust and feature-rich platform for building Windows applications.

Key Enhancements

Accessibility Improvements

.NET Framework 4.8 brings substantial enhancements to accessibility, making applications more usable for individuals with disabilities. Key improvements include:

  • UI Automation Support: Enhanced support for UI Automation, allowing assistive technologies to better interact with application elements.
  • High Contrast Mode: Better compatibility with Windows High Contrast mode for improved visual clarity.
  • Keyboard Navigation: Refinements in keyboard navigation to ensure all interactive elements are reachable and manageable via keyboard.

High-DPI and Display Improvements

Addressing the growing need for better display scaling on modern monitors, .NET Framework 4.8 introduces significant advancements in high-DPI support:

  • Per-Monitor DPI Awareness: Applications can now be DPI-aware on a per-monitor basis, leading to crisper rendering across multiple displays with different scaling settings.
  • Improved WPF and Windows Forms Scaling: WPF and Windows Forms controls have been updated to scale more gracefully, reducing blurriness and layout issues on high-DPI screens.
  • New APIs for DPI Management: Introduced new APIs to allow developers more control over DPI scaling behavior.

Performance and Reliability

While focusing on accessibility and display, .NET Framework 4.8 also includes under-the-hood performance and reliability enhancements:

  • JIT Compiler Optimizations: Continued optimizations to the Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler for improved runtime performance.
  • Garbage Collection: Enhancements to the garbage collector for more efficient memory management.
  • Security Updates: Incorporation of the latest security patches and updates to strengthen application security.

Other Notable Updates

  • Rendering Improvements: Updates to the rendering engine for sharper text and graphics.
  • Runtime Enhancements: General runtime stability and performance improvements.

Getting Started with .NET Framework 4.8

.NET Framework 4.8 is available as an in-place update for .NET Framework 4.7.2. You can download the latest version from the official Microsoft website.

For detailed information on specific API changes, migration guides, and best practices, please refer to the official .NET Framework documentation.

Code Example: High-DPI Awareness

To enable per-monitor DPI awareness in your WPF application, you can add the following to your App.xaml file: 

<Application xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
             mc:Ignorable="d"
             x:Class="YourAppNamespace.App"
             xmlns:dx="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/core"
             dx:ThemeManager.ThemeName="LightGray">
    <Application.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
                <dx:ThemeKeyResourceExtension x:Key="ThemeKey"/>
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        </ResourceDictionary>
    </Application.Resources>
</Application>

For Windows Forms, you can set the application manifest to declare high-DPI support.