Category: Stability • Integrated Mode • WPF Improvements • Interop Hardening

Release Date: March 2026

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Overview

The March 2026 release is the most significant stability and architecture refinement the yoAnimeServer platform has ever shipped. This update strengthens every layer of the Integrated Mode runtime: DPI correctness, WPF sizing, interop reliability, parenting authority, crash capture, WebSocket security, and startup/shutdown predictability.

This release focuses on a single goal:

Make Integrated Mode feel absolutely solid and perfectly predictable — across DPI switches, slideshow transitions, window state changes, and PowerPoint UI updates.

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1. DPI‑Perfect MainWindow Sizing

MainWindow sizing now uses physical monitor resolution + true window DPI (GetDpiForWindow) to compute pixel‑accurate DIP dimensions.

Improvements

• Accurately identifies monitor using MonitorFromWindow().
• Converts px → DIP using real DPI.
• Eliminates fractional scaling visual drift (100%, 125%, 150%, 175%).
• Fixes Live Visual Tree mismatches (e.g., 1570×883 at 125%).

Result:
The overlay perfectly covers the monitor in every scaling configuration.

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2. Status Bar Visibility (Standalone → Integrated Transition)

Previously, the HUD could appear under the Welcome window.
This release introduces controlled topmost toggling:

• SetHudTopmost(true) during Welcome mode
• SetHudTopmost(false) when Integrated Mode begins

Result:
Status messages are always visible when users need them.

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3. Crash Reporting Banner Logic Fixed

Crash Reporting previously displayed a misleading “READY” banner.

Now:

• Incorrect unconditional banner removed.
• Banner displays only when CrashReportingEnabled == true.
• Optional message: “Crash Reporting disabled”.

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4. Full Parent Integrity Monitor (V2)

The Parent Integrity Monitor is now feature‑complete and aligned with the authoritative parenting pipeline.

Highlights

• Gate‑aware (never attempts repairs before PanesReady).
• Ignores invalid/transient parents (Progman, WorkerW, 0x00000000, #32769).
• Visibility/minimized guards.
• No direct SetParent calls — all repairs route through the unified parenting pipeline.
• Debounced & throttled corrections.
• Healthy probes at TRACE level.

A full engineering document is published at:
/docs/integrated/parent-integrity/.

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5. Resize Coalescing + WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED Cleanup

We now coalesce resize operations to avoid flicker or heavy layout churn.

Enhancements

• DPICHANGED resize storms suppressed.
• Only one resize per update cycle.
• Cleaner behavior during PowerPoint UI animations or view switches.

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6. Visibility & Minimized Guards Everywhere

All parenting, sizing, and window‑integration operations now skip automatically when PowerPoint is:

• Hidden
• Minimized
• Temporarily parented to desktop/WorkerW (taskbar/animation transitions)

Result:
No more invalid sizing or “pre‑attach” SetParent calls.

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7. Strengthened Unified Parenting Pipeline

All attaches and repairs now go through the centralized pipeline, which is now far more authoritative and observable.

Improvements

• Style prerequisites auto‑enforced.
• PID parity verification (anchor must belong to the correct PPID).
• DPI‑aware final sizing.
• Exponential backoff + jitter.
• Canonical beacons:
  • [Parenting:Attempt]
  • [Parenting:Success]

New:
Parenting attempts now include anchor HWMD, child HWMD, attempt number, UTC timestamps, and stable verification markers.

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8. Early MainWindow Visibility (Standalone Mode)

The HUD (MainWindow) is now shown much earlier in Standalone mode — transparent, non‑activating, and safe.

This enables:

• Instant StatusService messaging.
• Better Welcome screen UX.
• No focus stealing.

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9. Integrated Documentation System

A structured documentation system is now in place:

Tier A

Lifecycle • Deferred Startup • Discovery • Instance Tracking

Tier B

VSTO Registration & Activation

Tier C

Parenting • Integrity • Elevation/UIPI • PanesReady • DPI transitions

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10. Additional Engineering Improvements

WebSocket Runtime Policy (New)

• New WebSocketRuntimePolicy merges OptionsMonitor + runtime toggles.
• Thread‑safe, authoritative source for WS behavior.
• Live updates on reload or settings toggle events.

Hardened WebSocket Authentication

• Constant‑time token comparison for security.
• Origin‑policy diagnostics: logs effectively when RequireOrigin==true but allowlist empty.
• WS offline surfaced via StatusService.

Interop / Windowing Improvements

• Added native IsIconic() guard.
• DPI transition hardening.
• Reduced layout oscillations and jitter.
• Crisp‑rendering flags applied app‑wide.
• Unified resize semantics.

Logging & Noise Suppression

• Parenting noise greatly reduced.
• Richer context in diagnostics.
• Clearer intent in beacon messages.

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Conclusion

The March 2026 update represents a major reliability milestone for Integrated Mode.
The combination of precise DPI scaling, a hardened parenting pipeline, improved visibility logic, enhanced crash handling, and stronger WS security makes the yoAnimeServer runtime significantly more predictable and visually stable.

This is our most robust and transparent release ever — and it lays the foundation for the upcoming April “Flow Realtime” update.

Thank you for using yoAnime.
More refinements and features are on the way!