The cross-platform dev framework moves to Preview 14, with general availability planned for the second quarter of 2022. Credit: Thinkstock As Microsoft moves closer to general availability of its .NET MAUI (Multiplatform App UI) cross-platform development framework, the company has just added a menu capability for desktop developers. Preview 14 of .NET MAUI, featured in Visual Studio 2022 17.2 Preview as of March 16, features a MenuBar to meet the need for a traditional menu at the top of the app window on Windows and in the title bar on MacOS. Menus may be expressed in XAML or in C# for any ContentPage hosted in Shell or a NavigationPage. Developers can begin by adding a MenuBarItem to the page’s MenuBarItems collection and adding MenuFlyoutItem for direct children or MenuFlyoutSubItem for containers of other MenuFlyOutItem. An evolution of the Xamarin.Forms cross-platform framework, .NET MAUI enables development of native and mobile desktop apps with C# and XAML. Leveraging a single, shared code base, apps can run on Android, iOS, Windows, and MacOS. With .NET MAUI, APIs for the different platforms are united into a single API enabling a write-once, run-anywhere developer experience with access to native platforms. A release candidate of .NET MAUI is due in April, with general availability by June. Once the production release of .NET MAUI ships with .NET 6 and Visual Studio, the focus will shift to tasks pertinent to a planned .NET 7 release later this year. To access the preview, install the Visual Studio 2022 preview and confirm .NET MAUI (preview) is checked under the “Mobile Development with .NET Workload.” Other highlights of Preview 14, which offers issue resolutions and completed features, include: Device and Essentials reconciliation was added, along with interfaces for Essentials APIs. The Shell WinUI implementation was moved over to reuse most of the same components as a non-Shell app. This enables iterating on the rest of the Shell APIs in a more collaborative way, which can apply to non-Shell structures. iOS image caching is being implemented. Handlers were created for shapes such as lines and rectangles. The Cookies property is implemented in WebView. Related content analysis Beyond the usual suspects: 5 fresh data science tools to try today The mid-month report includes quick tips for easier Python installation, a new VS Code-like IDE just for Python and R users, and five newer data science tools you won't want to miss. By Serdar Yegulalp Jul 12, 2024 2 mins Python Programming Languages Software Development analysis Generative AI won’t fix cloud migration You’ve probably heard how generative AI will solve all cloud migration problems. It’s not that simple. Generative AI could actually make it harder and more costly. By David Linthicum Jul 12, 2024 5 mins Generative AI Artificial Intelligence Cloud Computing news HR professionals trust AI recommendations HireVue survey finds 73% of HR professionals trust AI to make candidate recommendations, while 75% of workers are opposed to AI making hiring decisions. By Paul Krill Jul 11, 2024 3 mins Technology Industry Careers how-to Safety off: Programming in Rust with `unsafe` What does it mean to write unsafe code in Rust, and what can you do (and not do) with the 'unsafe' keyword? The facts may surprise you. By Serdar Yegulalp Jul 11, 2024 8 mins Rust Programming Languages Software Development Resources Videos