2.6 Experimental (2.6.6-experimental) 🧪

Windows App SDK 2.6 Experimental extends the experimental controls and resource APIs, with more accessible WinUI interactions and new video-scaling options. It follows Windows App SDK 2.6.5 stable and brings forward the changes from that release alongside the experimental-only additions below.

What's new in WinAppSDK 2.6 Experimental:

• TableView hierarchy and live data. TableViewSource.ParentBy builds hierarchical rows, and IsLiveShaping keeps sorting, filtering, grouping, and hierarchy up to date as item properties change. The control also adds cell and column-header context menus, row expansion APIs and automation support, and improvements to high-contrast rendering and column resizing.
• Chart accessibility. ChartAutomationPeer and chart parts add UI Automation support to the experimental Chart control.
• Zero-copy resource access. ResourceCandidate.ValueAsMemoryBuffer provides access to embedded resource bytes without copying them. New native resource-view APIs bring the same capability to C and C++ callers.
• Scrolling content outside bounds. ScrollView.CanContentRenderOutsideBounds and ScrollPresenter.CanContentRenderOutsideBounds let apps opt out of viewport clipping so content can render outside the bounds. Both properties default to false.
• Video-scaling options. A new VideoScaler.CreateAsync overload accepts execution-device, scenario, and performance or quality preferences through VideoScalerCreationOptions. Input color-matrix and color-range settings let apps describe BT.601 or BT.709 frames with full or limited color ranges.

Bugs fixed:

Bug fix	Runtime Compatibility Change
Improved Window.Width and Window.Height behavior after a window closes, retaining the last restored client size. Explicitly set height is preserved when title-bar settings change on a restored window, and native size requests are limited to 65,535 physical pixels per dimension.	WinUI_WindowWidthHeight
Added UI Automation selection support for InkToolbar flyout items and a stroke-width slider automation peer so Narrator announces stroke widths instead of percentages. Fixed InkCanvas input clipping at display scaling above 100%.	InkCanvas_InkingSupport
Fixed custom dependency properties and metadata being lost when shutting down and restarting XAML.	WinUI_EnableShutdownRestart
Added clearer debugger guidance when XamlChartsResources is missing.	Charts_ExperimentalControlApi
Fixed ContentDialog entrance animations and unwanted keyboard-accelerator tooltips on MenuFlyout items when XamlChangeId.OptimizeApplyStyles is enabled. See microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#11257.	Xaml_OptimizeApplyStylesApplyTemplate
Fixed a reference cycle during input teardown by closing the system InputSite.	LiftedInput_CloseSystemInputSite
Fixed a crash when a Flyout theme changes before its presenter is available. See microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#12089.	WinUI_FlyoutCheckForNullPresenter
Fixed missing InkToolbar translations for accessible names, color descriptions, and pen configuration text. See microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml#12162.	N/A, shared localization-resource update

To see everything that's new and changed, see the full Windows App SDK 2.6 Experimental release notes.

Try it out

• Download the 2.6.6-experimental NuGet package to use WinAppSDK 2.6 Experimental in your app.
• Download and update the WinUI Gallery to see the WinUI 3 updates firsthand.

Getting started

To get started using Windows App SDK to develop Windows apps, check out the following documentation:

• Install developer tools.
• Create a WinUI 3 app.
• Continue your development journey.