The Runtime team is pleased to announce version 100.15 of the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs. 100.15 is a long-term support release that focuses on stability and bug fixes. It is also the last release to support a number of developer technologies before version 200.0 introduces support for updated developer tools.
Bug fixes and stability
As a long-term support release, version 100.15 delivers two years of General Availability instead of one, before the usual year of Extended Support and two years of Mature Support. That means a total of 5 years of support before 100.15 is retired.
To that end, development for 100.15 has focused on bug fixes and stability. Our goal is to deliver a release that you can rely on for years to come should you need to. We’ve worked on reliability, on improving performance and reducing resource usage, and on updating the 3rd party libraries we use within ArcGIS Runtime.
Improved functionality
Although 100.15 doesn’t introduce any new APIs, we have been able to quietly update some capabilities behind the scenes. We’ve improved consistency with other parts of the ArcGIS system, as well as cleaning up some behavior.
Highlights include:
- Labeling improvements, in particular around line labels.
- Better handling of flipping rotated text while navigating a map.
- Updated utility network version support.
- Floor-aware geotriggers.
- Support for significantly larger indoor positioning files.
- Improved indoor positioning accuracy and floor level estimation.
- Updated Arcade support.
- Updated attribute rules support.
- Updates to Toolkits and Sample apps.
- Coming soon: Local Server compatibility update to support ArcGIS Pro 2.9.x.
To learn more about each of these, see the release notes for .NET, iOS, Android, Java, and Qt.
Why long-term support?
As discussed in ArcGIS Runtime in 2022 and beyond, the 200 series of ArcGIS Runtime SDKs introduces support for updated development tooling and developer environments. In meeting with attendees at both the Developer Summit and the Users Conference, we’ve seen an enthusiastic response to these plans. However, we recognize that many teams will need time to re-tool to make use of the new language-level patterns that are introduced, and so by designating 100.15 as a long-term support release developers will have time to update their applications.
It’s important to note that as far as ArcGIS patterns and capabilities go, the 200.0 release of the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs is a continuation from the 100.x releases; there is no great change in the underlying Runtime core between 100.15 and 200.0. The changes target specific development environments to support modern developer technologies like Qt 6, .NET MAUI, .NET 6 for Android and iOS, as well as introducing native Swift and Kotlin integration.
Deprecations
We’ve focused so far on the new developer tooling that we’ll support in 200.0. But as a result, 100.15 will be the last version of ArcGIS Runtime SDKs to support certain developer technologies:
- Qt: 100.15 will be the last release to support Qt 5.
- .NET: 100.15 will be the last release to support Xamarin.Forms, Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Android.
- Java: 100.15 will be the last release to support JavaFX 11. 200.0 will continue to support both Java 11 and Java 17, but will only support JavaFX 17.
- iOS: 100.15 will be the last release of the Objective-C based ArcGIS Runtime SDK for iOS. The 200 series of Runtime SDKs will see the first release of ArcGIS Runtime SDK for Swift.
- Android: 100.15 will be the last release of the Java based ArcGIS Runtime SDK for Android. The 200 series of Runtime SDKs will see the first release of ArcGIS Runtime SDK for Kotlin.
Again, specific details on deprecations can be found in the release notes for .NET, iOS, Android, Java, and Qt.
100.15 plans
A long-term support release comes with a commitment to maintain that release’s viability. Although we’ve put a good deal of work into shoring up 100.15 with updates to 3rd party libraries and bug fixes, we recognize that security vulnerabilities may be discovered. While we don’t have any planned updates to 100.15, we do anticipate that we may need to respond with patch updates should vulnerabilities be identified.
Beyond 100.15
As described in ArcGIS Runtime in 2022 and beyond, you should continue to stay up-to-date with Runtime SDK releases to make use of the latest Runtime capabilities. While 100.15 didn’t add new capabilities, the 200.x releases will return to the pattern of introducing great new functionality.
Watch this blog for an upcoming announcement of a beta program for the 200.0 SDKs. You’ll be able to get your hands on the new SDKs to assess the level of effort it will take to update, and be able to provide feedback.
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