Convert my app to Windows - questions

[quote=119267:@Sam Rowlands]If your Windows machine has only a small amount of RAM and no SSD, disable virtual memory. In my experience most Windows issues are down to their virtual memory processor, often taking up all the memory on startup and then having to page to disk while Windows is loading.

My Windows test machine (A Sony Vaio) has always been slow at everything (just assumed it was Windows and slow hardware). Even after a wipe and clean install, the machine was a dog… Until I had that idea, now the machine is usable fast! It operates and feels like it just got a new CPU![/quote]

Sam, you are right. on my 3.10 AMD, which is much faster than my Vaio, I always had to wait and wait, especially during Xojo load time which took forever. Since I have disabled the virtual memory, it runs like a bat in hell. Thank you for this tip.

Not necessarily. Unless you have a really badly behaved application, Windows does warn when memory get short, giving you the option to shut down unnecessary apps.

OK, bought a Sony Vaio Fit Multi-Flip i7 k3, 8GB, 1GB Hybrid 16GB SSD.
Pretty fast in general.

After using it for about 1 hour I know why I am using Mac OSX. :slight_smile: Its clear Windows isn’t my cup of tea. imo a terrible OS :wink:
But hey, I bought a PC to convert one of my popular apps to Windows and make some more money. :slight_smile:

One last question:
I found an option to check if a downloaded .exe is trusted yes or no. I guess this is comparable with OSX Gatekeeper. Or not?
How can I sign .exe files?

Christoph, I suppose that you have Windows 8.x. As a long time user of Windows, I hate the new start screen. (some love it, some hate it. I am the second kind) In case this is something that bothers you also, there are utilities to bring back a decent menu in Windows 8.x. I personnaly use Classic Shell. Rumor is that Microsoft will drop the “metro thing” for desktop and laptop users in Windows 9, retaining it only for tablet and phone users. Key word here: rumor. Time will tell.

this article may help you with code signing your application.

Be certificate price I’ve found: http://codesigning.ksoftware.net/ tip from Jeff Wilcox from Microsoft on CodeSign-101

Be = Best. Hate this lottery “can edit” thing.

[quote=119519:@Christoph De Vocht]OK, bought a Sony Vaio Fit Multi-Flip i7 k3, 8GB, 1GB Hybrid 16GB SSD.
Pretty fast in general.

After using it for about 1 hour I know why I am using Mac OSX. :slight_smile: Its clear Windows isn’t my cup of tea. imo a terrible OS :wink:
But hey, I bought a PC to convert one of my popular apps to Windows and make some more money. :slight_smile:

One last question:
I found an option to check if a downloaded .exe is trusted yes or no. I guess this is comparable with OSX Gatekeeper. Or not?
How can I sign .exe files?[/quote]

Congratulations ! I have used Vaios for some like ten years and felt they were the closest to Apple hardware I could find. Give Windows a chance. It is definitely not Mac OS X, but it can do a decent job once you get accustomed to it. Anyway, you do not have to like it to develop for it. Just respect the way it works, so your customers feel they must buy.

The Windows warning for unsigned applications is indeed the same as GateKeeper. The link Rick posted to ksoftware is IMHO the best deal available, I had posted it for you already above.

Good luck with your new toy. We’re all here if you need assistance :wink:

Sorry for the double post. Too much information makes you skip parts and get lost. :stuck_out_tongue:

There is never too much information. Just future reading left aside :wink:

And better double post than leave something out …

Ohboy … my wife has forced me to stop coding today. :slight_smile:
I was so frustrated using Windows 8 and Xojo for Windows whole day. I am totally stressed out fighting the terrible Windows 8 GUI and the general slow GUI response of the Windows version of Xojo. Aaaargh… really … never been so stressed.

I thought it would be a ‘breeze’ to convert a huge app to Windows but sadly this isn’t the case. After removing all OSX declares/specific stuff it still didn’t work because some things do work different: list count and ubount, cancelclose event , to name some.
Anyhow, it will work in the end but I still have a lot of things to change before it will work.

And now … some Aphex Twin retro stuff to chill a bit. :sunglasses:

Good luck to you on this project. You should probably shave your head now. I think hair grows back quicker when it’s cut, not pulled.

You know, unless you plan on having 12 apps open at the same time, with 8GB memory you have ample room for normal use. I was stunned by the speed gain obtained by turning off virtual memory, and that includes the Xojo IDE. You may want to give it a try. Coming from Mac, any speed gain is good to find. Hey, Xojo with Linux Mint on the same machine is faster … And I have read time and again on this forum how slow Linux Xojo was :wink:

Oh forgotten to mention:

endofline is a drag on Windows. :slight_smile:
And yes I know there is endofline.osx , endofline.windows, … but it keeps failing.

This does not work running Windows but does in OSX

dim text as string = “some text”+endofline.windows

for x as integer = 0 to test.len
if instr( text , x ,1) = endofline.windows then msgbox “Got the endofline”
next x

Compiling for OSX reveals the msgbox text.
Compiling for Windows doesn’t.

Bummer…

Will try this … heu … any hint where to find this option? :slight_smile:

  • Window key(“Cmd”)+C
  • In the charm bar, click on “Settings”
  • Click “Control Panel”
  • System and Security (if by categories)
  • System
  • On the left “Advanced system settings”
  • in the Advanced tab, in “Performance” click “Settings…”
  • In the Advanced Tab under Virtual Memory click “Change…”
  • In Virtual Memory select “No paging file”, click “Set”.
    Windows will warn you that it may not be able to record errors. Click continue, it will tell you changes will take effect after restart.

This will also save some life time for your SSD. Such technology dies after a number of read/write and constant paging can age it prematurely.

If you ever had an app (usually old) that could not run without paging, you can set the initial size to 32MB and maximum size to 128 MB.

[quote=119948:@Christoph De Vocht]for x as integer = 0 to test.len
if instr( text , x ,1) = endofline.windows then msgbox “Got the endofline”
next x[/quote]

I would be extremely surprised this worked on OSX. You must indeed be exhausted by a long coding day, because your code is wrong. Twice. Besides the mistype of test.len instead of text.len :wink:

  • You are using instr instead of mid
  • EndOfLine in Windows has two bytes : chr(13)+chr(10)

If you want to use instr, line 2 does that very nicely below.
If you want to use Mid, I have corrected your code, and instead of 1 for the length of the Mid, used len(EndOfLine) which works whatever platform (Mac is chr(13)). Finally, you do not need to use EndOfLine.Windows when you are on Windows. Just if on Mac you wanted to save a file in Windows format. Xojo uses the right EndOfLine for the platform it runs on. I left it there on line 1, but it is redundant.

[code] dim text as string = “some text”+endofline.windows
if instr( text ,endofline)>1 then msgbox “Got the endofline”

for x as integer = 0 to text.len
if mid( text , x ,len(EndOfLine)) = endofline then msgbox “Got the endofline through Mid”
next x[/code]

You survived your first Windows day. Congratulations :wink:

Indeed. But both your example code isn’t working either. :slight_smile:
It does work when compiling for OSX though.

I now use another chars instead of the endofline. So got it working in the end without using endofline.

About virtual memory:
Well, it is actaully performing worse when turned off. After re-enabling the virtual memory it was working ‘fast’ again.
But I am already looking if I can upgrade to 16GB. :slight_smile:

[quote=120113:@Christoph De Vocht]Indeed. But both your example code isn’t working either. :slight_smile:
It does work when compiling for OSX though.

I now use another chars instead of the endofline. So got it working in the end without using endofline.[/quote]

I did test under Windows before posting :frowning: What error are you getting ?

It doesn’t catch the endofline (read: doesn’t display the msgbox) :slight_smile:

I do not know what you did ; I just copied the code I posted into a button action without modifying it in any way, and I get two successive Msgbox with “Got the endofline” from the instr method, then “Got the endofline through Mid” from the mid method. On such a short code, I cannot imagine something can be different on your machine. Did you copy the example I posted or tried to modify yours ?