I am happy to announce release candidate for version 3.1 (code-named Eilinora) for Flamingo component suite.The goal of the project is to provide a small and cohesive set of powerful UI components with functionality similar to or superseding that of Vista Explorer and Office 2007, and this release closes many gaps towards realizing this goal.

The release notes have the detailed description of the new functionality. Noteable features include:

• Improvements to SVG transcoder, allowing creating resizable icons. This is used in the new ribbon demoes to make significant performance improvements to the startup phase.
• Contextual task groups on the ribbon component.
• Dynamic content of in-ribbon galleries.
• Decorating the ribbon under Substance plugin, putting the taskbar and contextual task group headers on the title pane.
• Resizable icons based on .ICO format.
• Command buttons supporting disabled mode, changing text and changing font.
• Auto-repeat mode on command buttons.
• Column-fill mode on command button panels.

See Flamingo test applications in action under the core look-and-feels and under Substance look-and-feel.

You’re more than welcome to take 3.1RC for a ride (along with the matching Substance plugin if your application is using Substance look-and-feel) and report any bugs at the project mailing lists, forums or issue tracker. The final release is scheduled on September 15 and only bugs will be fixed until that date.