What’s New in .NET Framework 4.8.1
Microsoft .Net is back again, Microsoft recently announced the latest .Net Framework, and here we present you the latest updates and features of .Net Framework 4.8.1. and the new .Net Framework version was released in August 2022. It’s included in the Visual Studio 2022 17.3 release and is also available for download on the official Microsoft website.
How to download .Net Framework 4.8.1
You can see the complete list of improvements in the .NET Framework 4.8.1 release notes. in this release notes you will find some more information about .Net Framework 4.8.1.
.NET Framework 4.8.1 Web Installer Requires an internet connection during installation.
.NET Framework 4.8.1 Offline installer Can be downloaded and installed later in a disconnected state.
Additionally, .NET Framework 4.8.1 is included in the latest version of Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2022 17.3.
Supported Windows Versions
.Net Framework 4.8.1. supported with some client and server versions which are listed below
- Windows 11
- Windows 10 version 20H2
- Windows 10 version 21H1
- Windows 10 version 21H2
- Windows Server 2022
New Features in .NET Framework 4.8.1
.NET Framework 4.8.1 introduced many new improvements and features over .NET Framework. Some of the features you can expect in these newer version which are described below
Native support for Arm64
.NET Framework 4.8.1 adds native Arm64 backing to the .NET Framework family. As a result, when compared to running x64 code emulated on Arm64, your investments in the vast ecosystem of .NET Framework apps and libraries can now take advantage of the advantages of running workloads natively on Arm64 for improved performance.
WCAG2.1 compliant accessible tooltips
Microsoft is committed to making its platforms and products available to everyone. There are two Windows UI development platforms included in.NET Framework 4.8.1, both of which provide developers with the assistance they require to produce user-friendly applications. Both Windows Forms and WPF have improved accessibility-related reliability and added a number of new features in recent releases. Visit What’s new in Accessibility in the.NET Framework to learn more about the specifics of what we fixed or added in each release. Tooltip handling has been improved in this release for both Windows Forms and WPF, making them more user-friendly. In the two cases, tooltips now conform to the rules set out in the WCAG2.1 content on Float or Center direction. The following are prerequisites for tooltips:
- Tooltips must be displayed by hovering the mouse or by navigating to the control with the keyboard.
- Tooltips ought to be removable. That is, the tooltip should be removed by pressing the ESC key on the keyboard.
- Tooltips ought to be clickable. Clients ought to have the option to put their mouse cursor over the tooltip. With this, low-vision users can read the tooltip even when using a magnifier.
- Tooltips ought to be determined. After a certain amount of time has passed, tooltips should not automatically disappear. Instead, the user should dismiss the tooltips by moving their mouse to a different control or by dismissing the tooltip as previously stated.
WPF had implemented most of the requirements for WCAG2.1 compliant tooltips in .NET Framework 4.8. In this release, WPF improved the experience by ensuring that a tooltip in the current window can easily be dismissed by using the ESC key, the CTRL key (by itself), or by the combination Ctrl+Shift+F10. The scope of the Escape key was reduced in this release to apply only to the current window, when previously, it would have been any open tooltip in the application.
Windows Forms Accessibility Improvements
Windows Forms was the first Windows UI stack created for .NET Framework. As such, it was originally created to utilize legacy accessibility technology, which doesn’t meet current accessibility requirements. In this release, WinForms has addressed a number of issues. For a complete list of the accessibility-related changes, visit What’s new in Accessibility in .NET Framework
Here we’ll focus on the highlights of what WinForms has done in .NET Framework 4.8.1.
Text Pattern Support
In this release, WinForms added support for the UIA Text Pattern. This pattern enables assistive technology to traverse the content of a TextBox or similar text-based control letter by letter. It enables text to be selected within the control and changed, as well as new text inserted at the cursor. WinForms added this support for TextBox, DataGridView cells, ComboBox controls, and more.
Addressing Contrast issues
We’ve addressed high contrast issues in several controls and have changed the contrast ratio of selection rectangles to be darker and more visible.
Fixed several DataGridView issues
In this release, we’ve updated the scrollbar names to be consistent. We’ve addressed an issue where the Narrator was unable to focus on empty DataGridView cells. Developers are now able to set the localized control type property for Custom DataGridView cells. The link color for DataGridView link cells has been updated to have better contrast with the background.
If you’re migrating from .NET Framework 4.8 to 4.8.1, there are no application compatibility issues that will affect you.
Conclusion
The release of .NET Framework 4.8.1 brings exciting new features and improvements to the Microsoft development ecosystem. This update not only enhances the performance and accessibility of applications but also introduces native support for Arm64 architecture, making it a significant milestone for developers. All these Windows form improvements are only available on Windows 10 Versions (20H2+) and Server 2022+ for x64-based devices, Windows 11, or later operating systems. So new tooltip behavior only became available in Windows 11.
