I’d like to verify that my existing 32 bit app works OK in 64 bit mode before renewing my license. It’s somewhat large and uses many of the MBS plugns, and it runs fine in 32 bit mode on both OSX and Windows. Analyzing it with the latest released Xojo version finds no errors. Since my 32 bit app is released and stable, the only immediate need to renew my license is to build a 64 bit app.
How can I verify that it works in 64 bit mode before renewing?
Keep in mind that you may still have work to do. Specifically if you’ve been using Integer in places where you really need an Int32, declares are the usual suspect.
You’ll also need the 64-bit MBS plugins.
Having said that, the only way to get a 64-bit build is with a license.
First question I’d ask my self then is. “What is the benefit to my users of deploying a 64bit version of my application? Or do I want to do this now, just because its ‘the next best thing’?”
If your end user won’t perceive any improvement, or that improvement (speed?) is small, perhaps you could wait.
Of course if there are “bug fixes” that you need…
We do have a 90 day money back guarantee, so you could try it.
Hi Greg
Thanks for the info. I was thinking about using the MBG if needed but wanted to see if there was a way for me to validate things ahead of time and not bother your customer service folks with a return.
Dave
Yes of course it’s important to have a reason for doing things. In this case I’d like a 64 bit version of my app because with very large data sets the 32 bit version runs out of memory and crashes with a malloc error.
This goes for any numeric type and declares; I’ve fixed a plenty of projects where people (myself included) have used the wrong data type.
If you’re using declares, double check the documentation all the way through to the C datatype. I’m working on a xDev article to help clear up the data types and make it easier to understand just what data type you should be using in Xojo.
If you’re targeting OS X, you need to be moving to Intel 64-Bit. Unofficially I have been told by an Apple engineer that anything other than 64-Bit Intel should be considered legacy and avoided. This is after months of discussion to get a serious Core Image bug in 32-Bit fixed; which they can’t confirm or deny will ever get fixed.
I’ll be the first to admit that not everyone is using Xojo in the way that we are; I suspect that for most Xojo OS X developers El Capitan was painless; however given the knowledge that Apple don’t care about anything other than 64-Bit Intel, and with 10.12 to be released this year, I would suggest moving to 64-Bit as soon as you can to maintain compatibility.
Yosemite was the first OS X release to break 32-bit frameworks, El Capitan continued that trend (this is broke with no fixes).
Declares are the big issue.
Compiling pure Xojo code to 64 bits is a pretty simple experience. RubberViews has a somewhat complex SizAll method that choked the beta, but after Joe did some magic, it now compiles flawlessly without any change to the source.
From what I tested, MBS plugins as well as most Einhugur plugins also are pretty transparent.