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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – The Countdown to Halloween Has Begun

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The development of WebExpress 2.0.0-alpha continues to progress according to plan. Based on the current status, all major milestones remain on track, and the release is scheduled for Halloween. This would mark a return to a release date that was already chosen for a significant version last year. Over time, this consistency could evolve into a tradition, with major WebExpress releases arriving each Halloween. Current efforts are focused on completing new features, advancing core framework components, and delivering numerous improvements across the architecture, user interfaces, and development tools. Many of the planned enhancements have already been implemented and are currently undergoing integration and testing. As a result, the new version is steadily moving toward completion. Several bug fixes and smaller refinements are still in progress and are expected to be completed before release. As is typical for an alpha version, the current priority is to further improve stability, res...
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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – The End of Server Sessions

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WebExpress currently uses a stateful session model in which a server side session is created for each client. The session ID is stored in a cookie and transmitted with every request. Initially, the session is used solely to recognize the client and is only associated with an identity after successful authentication. User, role, and permission information then becomes available within the session context. As a result, the identity is bound to the session rather than the other way around. This architectural model clearly separates the technical client context from the user identity and has proven itself in numerous applications. However, as requirements for scalability, containerization, and distributed cloud infrastructures continue to grow, this approach increasingly reaches its limits. Because authentication information is tied to the server side session context, session state must be maintained persistently and synchronized across multiple instances. This increases infrastructure co...
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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – Native Certificate Management

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One of the strengths of WebExpress has always been its ability to operate efficiently across a wide range of environments, from small Raspberry Pi installations to larger server deployments. HTTPS support based on Kestrel has been part of the framework for years, and certificates can already be configured directly on endpoints using PFX files. This simple and reliable approach has served WebExpress well, particularly in lightweight and self hosted environments. As the platform continues to evolve, certificate management is becoming increasingly important. Today, HTTPS endpoints are directly coupled to certificate files defined in configuration. While this works perfectly for smaller deployments, it limits future scenarios such as automated certificate management, centralized certificate stores, cloud integrations, and dynamic multi domain hosting. To address these challenges, WebExpress is introducing a native certificate management infrastructure. The objective is to treat X.509 ce...
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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – Removal of Bootstrap and Popper.js

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The release of WebExpress 2.0.0-alpha initiates a radical architectural shift that finally casts off the legacy burdens of past years. The declared goal of this transformation is a drastic reduction in external dependencies, a noticeable performance optimization, and a consistent alignment with modern, native web standards. To achieve this milestone, both Bootstrap and Popper.js are being completely removed from the framework. What seems like a major cut at first glance actually frees WebExpress from unused CSS and external JavaScript dependencies that have simply become redundant in today's browser landscape thanks to modern standards. However, this deep restructuring brings significant technical challenges, particularly affecting the migration of familiar interactive components. One of the biggest undertakings is the complete transition of modals to the native HTML5 dialog element. Previously, dialog windows had to be painstakingly controlled via nested div structures, Aria attri...
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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – 8,000 Unit Tests and a Little More

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In the current development cycle of WebExpress 2.0.0-alpha, the framework has reached an important milestone in terms of quality assurance and stability. The current stage of development now includes more than 8,000 automated unit tests that continuously safeguard and validate a large portion of the framework's architecture. This testing foundation is complemented by extensive JavaScript and Node.js tests that cover client side components, integrations, and build processes. The large number of tests is not the primary goal itself, but rather the result of a consistently pursued commitment to quality. Every new feature, enhancement, and bug fix is accompanied by automated tests from the very beginning. This allows defects to be detected early, long before they can reach production environments. At the same time, it creates a reliable safety net for the ongoing evolution of the framework. The importance of automated testing has increased significantly throughout the development of We...
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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – The End of config.xml

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In modern software development with .NET the way we configure applications has changed fundamentally. While XML-based configuration files like a config.xml were the undisputed standard in the classic framework era the stage today belongs to cross-platform and cloud-native approaches. For a lightweight web server framework like WebExpress the switch to the modern appsettings.json offers an excellent opportunity to further increase performance while drastically simplifying handling for developers. The theoretical basis for this change is founded on the modern .NET Configuration Provider model which no longer views settings as rigid documents but as a flexible key-value store that can be dynamically fed from a wide variety of sources. The greatest advantage of this JSON-based configuration lies in its native and seamless integration into modern container environments like Docker. When WebExpress runs in a Docker container developers often need to control individual parameters such as port...
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WebExpress 2.0.0‑alpha – From Sketch to Framework

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The way the framework is developed has changed fundamentally and now follows the philosophy of "from sketch to framework". While the focus was previously on manual programming, implementation is now handled entirely by Claude Code. The emphasis has shifted toward the conceptual design of ideas, where a simple mental or visual sketch serves as the direct starting point for new, production-ready components. The subsequent implementation, design, documentation, and creation of tutorial pages are fully automated from this initial concept. Compared to the traditional approach, this process is faster, more precise, more uniform, and more consistent. The human role has evolved into that of a system architect who defines requirements, provides the initial sketch, and steers the architectural direction. As a current use case, a static control ( ControlFormItemInputDnf ) for WebUI and a dynamic REST control ( ControlDataFormItemInputDnf ) for the WebApp are being implemented. This mirr...
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