The Uno Platform has unveiled its latest update, version 5.4, packed with over 290 new features and enhancements. As part of this update, the team has prioritised addressing concerns raised by enterprise clients, alongside improving the overall performance of applications built on the Uno Platform.
Uno platform is an alternative UI platform for building multi-device applications in C# and XAML. It was launched in 2018, after years of internal use by a Canadian company nventive. It allows developers to write applications for Windows, iOS, Android, WebAssembly, macOS and Linux. It is released under Apache 2.0 open-source license on GitHub.
A key focus of the 5.4 release is performance, with significant improvements aimed at making apps run faster and more efficiently. The Uno team reduced memory allocations by 15% on the DependencyObject in event arguments that are used in many app operations. This reduction directly impacts apps with large visual trees, resulting in smoother performance and a better user experience. Also, by optimising the critical code paths of DependencyObject, the team has alleviated the load on the garbage collector part of the framework.
Among the features of this release is the introduction of markup IRootObjectProvider support. This addition allows developers to create more dynamic and context-aware markup extensions by allowing the extension to traverse the visual object tree of the XAML page where the extension is used. Markup extensions are ways to extend the capabilities of XAML, allowing for more sophisticated and reusable code.
For developers ready to upgrade to Uno Platform 5.4, a detailed migration guide has been provided.
In response to feedback from both enterprise clients and the broader community, the 5.4 release includes several notable enhancements aimed at making the platform more robust and accessible. Among these improvements are:
- The addition of new automation peers for better accessibility support, which enables a more inclusive user experience.
- Improved scaling detection for Linux X11 systems, enhancing cross-platform performance.
- GIF support for Skia Desktop
- AppWindow API that provides greater control over app windows, including functionality to move, resize, and toggle window visibility.
The full list of changes for the 5.4 release is available on the UNO GitHub account.
According to .NET developers' discussions on social media, the main advantage of the Uno platform over MAUI or Xamarin is being the only cross-platform .NET framework to support writing WebAssembly and Linux applications in C# and XAML.