ArchiveXojo Released as Beta

Add-Ons
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ArchiveXojo is a database that is a repository for all your Xojo code. If you have pre-existing Xojo projects, it can import all the code from those projects. Once that it done, it is designed make it simple to grab code from ongoing Xojo projects that are under development. Make any kind of change your code and simply push that version off into a text file that can be imported into ArchiveXojo
With all your code from all your projects in one location, it offers all the benefits of a database in terms of searching for code that might be useful in other projects. It also acts as a version control system if it is necessary to “go back in time”. Say, for example, you went down some rabbit hole that ultimately proved to be a mistake. Now you can back out. You can search for your own use of certain Xojo commands that you use rarely to refresh your own memory of how you like to use that particular command.
There is a YouTube video (Introduction to ArchiveXojo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WbFGtSCZ1o that is available to show some of how it works. A web site, http://www.bearboat.net/ArchiveXojo/ArchiveXojo.html, provides a short overview and links to the Manual and Installation Guide.
The initial installation is a little fiddly. Part of its functionality relies on an AppleScript that is provided, but the user has to figure out where on their machine that they are going to decide to place that file. An IDE Script is provided which has to be placed in the Scripts folder. One line of this has to be edited to “inform” the script as to where the AppleScript has been placed by the user. This is all explained in the Installation Guide.
This is a free beta. I am interested in feedback. Basic things such as discovered bugs or unclear documentation or suggestions for improvements are solicited. Anything, really.
Anyone interested in participating need only send me an email - rlivingston@me.com.
Thank you for your consideration.

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  1. In your announcement the link for bearboat (great domain name) goes to example.com
  2. What is the main benefit of you app compared to SVN or Git?
  3. You say your installation is “fiddly”. Sorry, fix this and I might have a look, but not before. From the description I’m not really sure why something has to be installed.
  4. Your manual doesn’t have a single screenshot.
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Well, there is something that I do not understand about links in this forum. My bad. Both the Web site link and the YouTube link do not “work” as I would expect.

Until I figure this out, a Goggle search for Bearboat Software will take you to my home page and there is a link there to my ArchiveXojo page which has all the information required.

Also simply cut and pasting will take you to the intended destinations.

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WbFGtSCZ1o
  2. http://www.bearboat.net/ArchiveXojo/ArchiveXojo.html
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[quote=273413:@Beatrix Willius]1. In your announcement the link for bearboat (great domain name) goes to example.com
2. What is the main benefit of you app compared to SVN or Git?
3. You say your installation is “fiddly”. Sorry, fix this and I might have a look, but not before. From the description I’m not really sure why something has to be installed.
4. Your manual doesn’t have a single screenshot.[/quote]

The last four pages of the ArchiveXojo Manual on the website show some screenshots. They made a lot more sense when I saw them.

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Beatrix,

  1. Thanks for telling me about the bad link. Had to do with my misunderstanding of the workings of the forum. In preparing my post, I clicked on the “Link” button which just ended up creating a bad result. I see from the entry above, simply including the link in the text works fine.

  2. SVN/GIT: I preface what I am saying with this comment: I am not an expert in either. I have never used SVN. I have used GIT to a very limited extent. By the way, by my standards, GIT is fiddly.

There is an overlap in that ArchiveXojo has some features of a version control system. GIT, on the other hand, is the epitome of a version control system. ArchiveXojo offers some of this functionality. However, GIT has tools to fork and to handle multiple users etc. which ArchiveXojo certainly does not.

It really is a different sort of tool. I create a new “version” of every bit of code whenever I am leaving a code editing window either to run my project or move on to a different code editing window. It is a simple single keystroke to do this. I might be doing this once every few minutes. This offers much more granularity than you get with GIT (at least as I understand how to use it.) It is much “simpler” to do this than set up a new “version” with a GIT installation.

My code from all my projects ends up in one database and it is searchable by many different criteria. I do not think of GIT as being a database with this sort of functionality. ArchiveXojo ends up as a code repository. Search for any piece of code, perhaps dimly remembered, from any of your projects and you have a good chance of being able to find it.

I actually use ArchiveXojo to feed my GIT repository. There is a function to help with this.

  1. Fiddly is pretty off-putting. I do not like fiddly. I wish that ArchiveXojo was completely contained in itself. But to use it while actively coding requires two IDE scripts and an AppleScript. On the initial setup, these have to be linked together. There is an installation manual specifically directed to aiding the user with this setup.
    Once the system has been set up, then there is not much to worry about. But there are little things. As you know, when you get a new version of Xojo, you have to move your IDE Scripts (if you use any) to the Scripts folder of the new version. Well, ArchiveXojo depends on two IDE scripts so they have to be copied to the new version of Xojo when you install it. Anyway, I sympathize with your distaste for “fiddly” but I do not know how to fix this. If I did, I would.

  2. I have updated the manual to have now 4 screenshots. The YouTube video, of course, has “many” screenshots. :slight_smile: