Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Microsoft introduces AI-powered UI controls for .NET

news
Mar 21, 20242 mins

Currently experimental .NET Smart Components for Blazor, MVC, and Razor Pages bring Azure OpenAI intelligence to forms, menus, and text areas in apps.

Wired brain illustration - next step to artificial intelligence

Microsoft has introduced .NET Smart Components, AI-powered UI controls intended to make it easier to add AI features to existing software. These components are currently experimental and not officially supported. 

Announced March 20, .NET Smart Components can be added to .NET apps without developers having to redesign their UX or researching machine learning and prompt engineering, Microsoft said. The components use Azure OpenAI to provide prebuilt end-to-end AI features that can be dropped into existing app UIs.

.NET Smart Components are initially available for Blazor, MVC, and Razor Pages with .NET 6 and later. Components for other .NET UI frameworks are expected as well, such as .NET MAUI, Windows Presentation Foundation, and Windows Forms.

Features currently offered via .NET Smart Components include:

  • Smart Paste, to fill out forms automatically using data from the user’s clipboard with the click of a button. This can be used with any existing form in a web app.
  • Smart TextArea, to autocomplete whole sentences using a preferred tone, policies, URLs, and more. This capability helps users type faster and not have to remember URLs.
  • Smart ComboBox, to speed navigation of the traditional combobox menu by making suggestions based on semantic matching.

Developers can try out .NET Smart Components with Blazor, MVC, or Razor Pages using the .NET Smart Components sample apps on GitHub. To get started with the sample apps, developers must download and install the .NET SDK and clone or download the .NET Smart Components sample repo from GitHub. They must also deploy an Azure OpenAI back end if they do not already have one. Microsoft is soliciting feedback from users of .NET Smart Components on GitHub.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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