Why is XOJO so slow?

Hello,

I’m a pretty novice programmer but I’m having an issue with Xojo. As soon as I add more than a few objects into my program it becomes PAINFULLY slow. I mean it’s slow to move objects, slow to switch between layout and coding, slow to select new objects. Everything. When I run my program everything runs smoothly and quickly but it’s while I’m trying to program that it’s incredibly slow. I can’t imagine how this is normal. I can’t imagine anyone actually using this program to make a living. I would go nuts. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this? My Macbook Pro is early 2015, 8Gb of RAM. I’m running MacOS 10.14.6.

It’s a known issue: <https://xojo.com/issue/56900>

Hello! Thanks for the reply!

I tried clicking on the feedback case you linked but it didn’t work. This issue has been plaguing me for a long time. Even back to the days of Real Studio. Is there no fix for this?

Not yet. This Issues State is VERIFIED, but this does not mean it will/can ever be fixed.

The issue is a new one. It’s also project specific because I don’t see this at all.

Troy, does this happen with a brand new project or an existing project?

As for the feedback issue, you’ll need to download and install the feedback app from http://feedback.xojo.com/newest/public/Feedback.dmg

It happens to every single project I work on. As soon as there’s more than a few objects everything slows to a crawl. Trying to place objects on my layout is painful. I move it, and then I have to wait several seconds for the change to appear. Even just simply scrolling around my screen is painful. Everything lags.

This has been an issue for me for a long time. Well before R2. This issue has been happening to me on more than one computer as well.

Do you use any special hardware, like USB screens?
Do you open multiple workspaces for the same project?
Are you able to screen capture this happening from loading the IDE to it happening, maybe it can shed some light onto the issue as I don’t believe this should be happening.

What are the specs of your other computers? What other software is running in the background? Which format has your project?

8 GB isn’t a lot. On my 2015 MacBook Air compiling is rather slow. But even there I don’t have problems with editing.

No I don’t use any special hardware and I don’t use multiple work spaces for the same project. I build tiny little programs for personal use that essentially amount to glorified spreadsheets. I went through some of the other reports that mention issues similar to mine and one user reported that there was a marked improvement when switching back to light mode on Mac and I just tried that myself and there was indeed a significant improvement. Even with that improvement though it is still much too slow.

No other software is running in the background. I’m not sure what you mean by which format my project is, unless you’re asking if it’s a desktop program which it is. I understand that 8GB isn’t a lot but I don’t understand why this program is so slow while everything else on my computer runs smoothly.

Thanks for all the replies by the way! I appreciate it very much.

I meant binary vs. xml vs. text format. Is your monitor a retina one? If yes, have you tried with a non-retina one?

Troy, do you have any plugin installed ? this could be caused by old plugins.
also which version of xojo are you running ?

I did Screen Recordings and did a full Trace and gave everything to Xojo.

Machine Specs:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Radeon RX Vega 64 8 GB

Happens with every (and new) Project on the internal and external Monitor and the built in intel HD and AMD Vega GfxCard.
No other Apps running. Rebootet. On High Sierra and Catalina. With and without Plugins.

I just gave up :confused:

[quote=467550:@Jean-Yves Pochez]Troy, do you have any plugin installed ? this could be caused by old plugins.
also which version of xojo are you running ?[/quote]

No plugins at all. I’m running 2019r2.1

Normally i don’t have such slowness, it seems to come over time. It’s the worst feature xojo has…,:wink:

How many objects? What kind?
If you share a video others can compare and tell you if that is the way Xojo works or you may have another issue.

Create a FR, add Videos, Traces and as much info as possible. Maybe add an example Project.

[quote=467551:@Sascha S]MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Radeon RX Vega 64 8 GB[/quote]
I’d like to point out that the two machines I have match these specs nearly identically, except both have 16GB and I don’t have the Vega video card though, mines just a 560. What makes this issue so frustrating for me is the fact that I routinely work on the IDE project without the slowness issues that are being described here. Heck, I usually have two or three copies of Xojo running at the same time.

What we do know:

  • Apple’s insistence on drawing controls in recent years with translucency contributes greatly to this problem. Dark mode only exacerbates the problem.
  • Having an SSD drive helps a lot. Make sure you have adequate free space available ( I like to have a minimum of 100GB free at any given time)
  • Having more than just the Intel integrated graphics card is also important.
  • If your machine has two video cards (integrated intel + Radeon xxx) see if turning off the automatic switching helps (in the energy settings).

Remember, the Xojo IDE gets its control drawings directly from the OS itself, so graphics performance is very important.

Even before I started working in Xojo, I never liked the translucent “look” in macOS or Windows. The first thing I do after a fresh OS install is turn these features off. I only turn this back on occasionally for testing my apps. Admittedly I also don’t use Dark Mode, except when testing apps.

In macOS, you can do this under System Preferences > Accessibility > Display

My second machine is a 2015 Macbook Air 11", i7, 8Gb RAM with SSD and Intel HD Graphics 6000 (which I’m using now) and I don’t experience any of these issues. I have 2019r1.1 & 2019r3 running on it and my projects are getting bigger all the time. I’m actually quite pleased with the performance on this little baby.

I hope you get things figured out @Troy Baxter. Good luck.

Edited to note that I also have about 25 Plugins loaded in each IDE on my MacBook Air and my main machine.

I’d be interested to know if the problem reoccurs on a fresh os install on a machine where it was easily reproducible to find out if its a conflict with some installed apps or a settings change.