Microsoft .Net Framework gets updated for Windows 10

Microsoft has launched .Net Framework 4.7 this week, offering enhancements for Windows Forms, cryptography, and touch.

Included in the Windows 10 Creators Update and supported in Visual Studio 2017, version 4.7 enhances functionality available with Eliptic Curve Cryptography. ImportParameters(ECParameters) methods were added to the ECDsa and ECDiffieHellman classes to enable an object to represent an already established key. Also, an ExportParameters(bool) method was added for exporting the key using explicit curve parameters.

“The .Net Framework 4.7 also adds support for additional curves — including the Brainpool curve suite — and has added predefined definitions for ease of creation via the new ECDsa.Create(ECCurve) and ECDiffieHellman.Create(ECCurve) factory methods,” said Rich Lander, of Microsoft’s Common Language Runtime team. Systems libraries provide this functionality; some features only work with Windows 10.

For security upgrades, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) version now matches Windows, and users can sign ClickOnce manifest files with a hardware security module in the Manifest Generation and Editing Tool. “HSMs make certificate management more secure and easier, since both the certificate and signing occur within secure hardware,” said Lander. ClickOnce also can now detect if the ClickOnce application store has been corrupted and automatically attempt to perform cleanup and re-install broken applications. The new version also features more reliable SQL Azure database connections, and TCP has become the default connection protocol.

Version 4.7 allows WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), Microsoft’s UI builder, to integrate with the touch and stylus/ink support in Windows 10. “The Windows 10 touch implementation is more modern and mitigates customer feedback that we’ve received with the current WISP (Windows Ink Services Platform) component that WPF relies on for touch data,” Lander said. Microsoft is pledging more reliability and compatibility with the new implementation, but there are still some situations where WISP works better; real-time inking does not function, for example.

The new version also features high-DPI support for Windows Forms applications on Windows 10. This allows Forms apps to lay out correctly at higher DPI, use high-resolution icons and glyphs, and respond to DPI changes, such as moving an application across monitors. Microsoft has made improvements for system-DPI-aware applications, fixing layout issues with controls like the calendar and checked list box, and plans further improvements for high DPI on Windows Forms.