devexpress-xaf-appearance

DevExpress XAF — Conditional Appearance

Dynamic UI styling and element visibility based on business object state.

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Prerequisites & Installation

NuGet Package

Install the platform-agnostic package (same for Blazor and WinForms — no platform-specific variants):

DevExpress.ExpressApp.ConditionalAppearance

Module Registration

Blazor — MySolution.Blazor.Server\Startup.cs:

using DevExpress.ExpressApp.ConditionalAppearance;

services.AddXaf(Configuration, builder => {
    builder.Modules
        .AddConditionalAppearance();
});

WinForms — MySolution.Win\Startup.cs:

using DevExpress.ExpressApp.ConditionalAppearance;

var builder = WinApplication.CreateBuilder();
builder.Modules
    .AddConditionalAppearance();

Using Statements for Business Classes

using DevExpress.ExpressApp.ConditionalAppearance; // AppearanceAttribute, enums
using DevExpress.ExpressApp.Editors;                // ViewItemVisibility enum

Supported Customization Matrix

	Font Color	Font Style	Back Color	Enabled	Visible
Cells in List View	✅	✅
Edited cells in List View				✅
Property Editors in Detail View	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Static Text in Detail View	✅	✅	✅		✅
Layout Items	✅	✅	✅		✅
Layout Groups / Tabbed Groups	✅	✅			✅
Actions				✅	✅

ORM Criteria Compatibility

Criteria strings in AppearanceAttribute use CriteriaOperator syntax, which is ORM-agnostic. Appearance rules themselves work identically with both XPO and EF Core. However:

• XPO-specific criteria functions (e.g., expressions relying on [PersistentAlias]-decorated properties) evaluate correctly in XPO but may not translate for EF Core.
• EF Core projects should verify complex criteria against the EF Core criteria translator if problems arise.
• XAF-level functions such as CurrentUserId() and LocalDateTimeToday() work with both ORMs.
• Avoid Delayed Properties and Free Joins in criteria — AppearanceController evaluates criteria during paint, which can cause UI flicker or corrupt control state in WinForms.