Winslop - Final WinUI3 Release

[Belim]

Previously built on WinForms now fully rewritten in WinUI 3 (.NET 10).

This release is a pretty hard break from the old Winslop WinForms / .NET Framework legacy build.

This wasnt a lazy port, a paint job, or one of those "internally modernized" updates nobody notices. Around 50% of the codebase was rewritten from scratch. Because apparently I enjoy making my life harder. Genius move 🤦‍♂️

🚀 Winslop – WinUI3 Final release

"I told myself I'd stop after 4–5 releases. That turned out to be absolute nonsense"

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So yeah, here we are: the final WinUI 3 release of Winslop.

If you've been following the project, you already know the pattern.
If youre new here: welcome to probably the most unnecessarily overengineered Windows tweaker on GitHub 😄

Release III was the point where I finally felt like I understood WinUI 3.
Release IV is where I actually managed to do something useful with that knowledge. And now I've got something that genuinely works pretty well. Whether I personally like it yet is another story. I'll probably need a little more time to get used to it

As for the legacy Winslop version, I wrote more about that here: #36 (comment)
That version isnt dead. It'll still get new feature toggles here and there
But as things stand right now, it probably wont get the bigger stuff that made it into this branch, like localization, dark mode, and other actually modern features. At some point I have to go along with where Windows is heading, otherwise I'll just get left behind.
You guys probably know the feeling.

The community poll is still ongoing, and right now the modern version is slightly ahead with 51% vs 48%.

I'm keeping the poll open because I’m genuinely curious to see whether that 48% will shift over time and maybe, under the right circumstances, end up giving the modern version a chance after all.

The Microsoft emails are still coming in.
And I did rewrite about half the app, so make of that what you will.

🗳 Haven't voted yet? There's still time:
Join the poll

Whats new?

Not everything made it into this listm, mostly because I lost track

Added

• Full app localization with support for English, German, and French
  For translators: LOCALIZATION.md
• Keyboard shortcuts for all major menu actions:
  • Ctrl+T – Toggle All
  • Ctrl+Z – Undo last changes
  • F5 – Refresh
  • Ctrl+L – Copy log to clipboard
  • Delete – Clear log
• Zoom support for the Home page > Feature tree (Ctrl+Scroll). So WinUI 3 controls carry significantly more padding and spacing than their WinForms equivalents; a ZoomMode was added as a practical workaround to let users reclaim vertical space on smaller screens
• Language-independent profile matching for feature tree selections
• Built-in AI Panic Mode profile for quickly disabling Windows AI-related features
• WINSLOP_SELECTION_V2 Changed the selection export format and added a stable profile selection format based on internal feature IDs and plugin file IDs
• Reworked Settings page with centralized extension management
• Context menu on right-click for individual tree nodes: Analyze, Fix, Restore, Help
• Plugin analysis now included in the combined analysis summary dialog
• Combined analysis summary after full inspection showing native features and plugins separately:
  • Windows Features : X of Y OK
  • Plugins : X of Y OK
  • Total : X of Y OK
• Hyperlink to Online Log Inspector directly in the analysis result dialog
• "No plugins selected" message in log when plugin analysis is skipped
• Profile ComboBox with built-in Export, Import, and "Open profiles folder" actions
• [CRITICAL] Search filter respects IsVisible state, so context menu actions (Analyze/Fix/Restore) now correctly skip hidden nodes
• Log output now color-coded by severity using RichTextBlock and not TextBox
  • 🔴 Red – Errors
  • 🟠 Orange – Warnings
  • Gray – Info (theme-sensitive via TextFillColorPrimaryBrush)
• Nav highlight auto-refreshes on Windows light/dark theme switch
• Per-page menu state: Export, Import, Undo, Manage Plugins disabled on non-Features pages
• More options flyout button (⋯) replaces separate Toggle/Undo/Refresh buttons and old log actions ComboBox
• Log actions submenu under More options: Inspect online, Copy, Clear, Log checked/unchecked/summary
• Plugin counters (TotalChecked, IssuesFound) added to PluginManager so it mirrors FeatureNodeManager
• [CRITICAL] UnhandledException + TaskScheduler.UnobservedTaskException handlers to prevent silent crashes

Improved

• Analysis summary moved to end of log (after dialog closes) so auto-scroll always lands at the bottom
• More options menu replaces three separate icon buttons. Should bring a cleaner toolbar, less visual noise
• LogActionsController removed and actions are now wired directly as MenuFlyoutItem handlers, no ComboBox dependency
• Nav buttons theme-aware highlight via NavigationService.UpdateHighlight() so it reacts to live theme changes
• ApplyFilter now iterates item.Children.ToList() snapshot to prevent collection-modified crashes
• ApplySearch guards against _rootItems == null during page initialization
• Analysis dialog now uses a StackPanel content with a HyperlinkButton instead of plain string
• Improved profile import/export so selections no longer depend on localized feature or category names
• Improved plugin profile handling by using the plugin script filename as a stable identifier
• Improved extension discoverability by separating native Feature Tree plugins from tool scripts in Settings
• Improved accessibility for international users with a fully localized UI across three languages
• Changed the Settings page structure to manage extensions in a more native and unified way

Removed

• Log actions ComboBox (comboLogActions) is eplaced by flyout submenu
• LogActionsController class is no longer needed
• Separate Toggle All / Undo / Refresh buttons is consolidated into More options flyout
• Intermediate analysis dialog shown before plugin analysis are replaced by single combined dialog after both complete
• Removed support for the old path/name-based selection format

Fixed

• Context menu Analyze/Fix/Restore now respects active search filter (IsVisible check added to AnalyzeFeature, FixFeature, RestoreFeature)
• Plugin nodes correctly skipped during native feature analysis and vice versa
• Summary log entry no longer appears before plugin results

Migration note

WinForms allowed direct, compact tree manipulation via TreeNode.ForeColor, NodeFont, and AfterCheck –
all handled imperatively in a few lines. WinUI 3 has no equivalent built-in tree node model,
requiring a full custom FeatureTreeItem ViewModel with INotifyPropertyChanged, XAML value converters,
a RichTextBlock-based logger, and a NavigationService to replicate what was previously trivial.

Additionally, this project served as a hands-on migration from C# 7.3 to C# 14
adopting modern patterns including:

• record types and init-only properties
• Nullable reference types (string?, Button[]?)
• Switch expressions (status switch { ... })
• Target-typed new() and collection expressions
• is not null pattern matching
• Top-level using directives and file-scoped namespaces

For anyone coming from the WinForms version: the concepts are the same,
the implementation is almost entirely new.

Technical notes

• Fully rebuilt UI: WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK 1.8)
• Migrated from .NET Framework 4.8 (WinForms) to .NET 10 (Preview)
• Mica backdrop, page-cached navigation, MVVM TreeView, plugin manager
• Portable: No installer needed, just unzip and run

Included in the package:
• Winslop.exe (main app)
• Compiled XAML pages (*.xbf)
• Plugins folder (optional)
• .NET 10 runtime (self-contained, no install required)
• Only English language resources
• No MSIX/Store assets

Requirements:
• Windows 10/11 (1809 or newer)
• Windows App SDK Runtime (may need to be installed once)
• No .NET installation needed
• Windows App SDK DLLs (UI framework) needed

Release package:
Winslop-26.03.120.zip
The classic WinForms version is available as a legacy asset Winslop-26.3.31-legacy.zip for download.
The program folder now also includes Winslop.Legacy.exe if you still want to enjoy the classic version

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This discussion was created from the release Winslop - Final WinUI3 Release.

[RDMacLachlan]

Hi @Belim,

I am the Microsoft PM owner for WinAppSDK, I'd like to hear about your early experiences in adopting WinUI3.

Thank you,
Roy