I need a printed programming manual for Xojo, yet can’t find a printed book on Xojo anywhere.
Welcome @James_Schrage,
Currently, I don’t think there are any recently published printed books available.
There are, however, lots of free and paid e-books and example files you can download and either read on your computer or print yourself.
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xDev, Downloadable magazine for Xojo Users I think they also have a “Welcome to Xojo” bundle that can be ordered in printed format.
(note: website appears broken, but was working recently @Marc_Zeedar ??) -
xDev Library. Ebooks on a wide variety of topics, by many different authors
I hope this helps. Otherwise please don’t hesitate to ask questions here on the forum. Have fun!
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You can also make a search in this forum to know if someone already tried to print the way you intend, and get the answers.
Thanks for the heads up! The xDev website should work if you use http instead of https (with https it breaks links to many of the images and css resources and looks terrible).
I will try and fix this ASAP after the next issue is completed as I realize that more and more browsers are forcing https by default, so this is a priority.
xDev has 22 years of content in print and digital format, all exclusively about Xojo (and its predecessors Real Studio and REALbasic). It’s not exactly a manual, but there are tons of tutorials and how-tos.
If you have any questions, shoot me a message and I’m glad to help you find what you’re seeking.
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Here’s some good old-fashioned documentation from the RealStudio days. Much is obsolete, but much is still very relevant and useful:
https://pragmaticdesigns.com/Real%20Studio%202012r2%20documentation.zip
Hi James,
One thing you could do (with a bit of patience) is print out the sections you need from the XOJO documentation, which I find truly remarkable. For instance, when I wanted to learn new concepts or deepen my programming knowledge, I would export the pages from the documentation to PDF and then print them out to have them always with me.
I understand this might be a lengthy task, but in addition to all the advice you’ve received, you might want to consider this option, assuming you haven’t already.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year!
I created a PDF copy of the Documentation a year ago (so up to date at that time). It is 173MB. I you wanted a copy so you could print it out or print sections of it out, write me.
It is not a manual. It is simply the Documentation. I would not sell it as being particularly useful as a paper document. The online documentation is certainly preferable.
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Hi James,
15 hours ago, you asked a question, then silence.
Have you read the Chapter Printer Settings in the Documentation ?
Have-you searched in the Forum ?
If you have to print to any unusual Printer (tickets for example), what is the name and reference of that printer ?
Emile,
I am looking for PRINTED programming manuals that I can read physically. So far, NONE of the replies have indicated anything related to a PRINTED book. Lots of PDF files but can’t read those without a PC present etc. etc.
Seems to me that publishing the documentation for Xojo on amazon would be quick, easy, and low cost.
Hint Hint
Jim Schrage
There are no (current) printed books available.
Xojo offers a PDF to download with the basics (you can print if you want):
Maybe Xojo can (should?) offer that PDF as a print-on-demand option.
Best book on RealXo ever written:
Again, some parts (the IDE) are obsolete, but a great deal is still relevant and helpful.
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There are printed books, but as Julia said in a previous post, “Much is obsolete, …”
That’s the problem with “print”. It is frozen at a point in time. One reason many vendors have gone to .pdf files is they can edit/update those files as details and features change. In yesteryear, the shelves of “Used Books” stores would be full of out-of-date (inaccurate) reference books.
If you heart is set on a printed book, and you have a Kinko’s, OfficeMax, or Staples type business supply store, they can print and bind your .pdf file. I’ve had that done for some ham radio manuals. It’s not cheap, but it is about the same I’d expect to pay for an off-the-shelf printed book.
Whatever information, programming technique, etc. you see in printed medium, if it is important to you, be sure to search the for the topic on the web (and pay attention to the date of posts), to be sure the information is still current.
The smallest document for learning Xojo is 290 pages and Staples costs $0.24 per page B&W. Amazon sells many books of that size for less than $50.00. Not a cost effective way to get a printed book and learn Xojo.
Jim Schrage
Thank you Julia, I have ordered the 2nd Edition.
Jim Schrage
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As mentioned above, the xDev bundle provides a printed option. Currently they are offering free shipping on their limited supply.
The second edition was published in 2001. So very much has changed in the language and the IDE since then; you’ll be missing out on a huge swath of functionality, and the recommendations in the book may not match current best practice.
Just for starters, we’ve changed from the terminology used in the book, now called API1, to API2, and while much of API1 can still be used, there’s no point in starting new projects using the outdated terminology. Add in all the changes to the controls, language features, IDE, and everything else and Matt’s book, while good for the time, is simply not the right tool to teach you the language.
Frankly – I would cancel the order. There are online services that will print and bind a 290 page PDF for about $25. This would be much preferable to a badly outdated text.
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Though Staples may charge $0.24 per page for single sheets, maybe they would discount it for a higher volume.
Looks like prices have gone up since they were 3 cents a page - then 10 cents a page.
It’s an interesting economic decision. Raise prices - more profit, but fewer customers.
Here’s a clear statement about a comprehensive “printed book” covering the current Xojo, functions, procedures, coding Techniques - there is none. In StarTrek parlance, “He’s dead, Jim.”
The Definitive Guide Julia mentioned was published in Oct.1999 - so only 25 years old.
By the time a tech book is written and published, the information has changed. Not all of it, of course; maybe only a little bit. Maybe not even the programming areas where you have an interest. But if those changes are in your area of interest, you’ve spent a lot of money on misleading information.
Even the .pdf sources mentioned in the posts above should be checked for their creation or “last updated” date.
Perhaps we are past the days when a publisher would invest in a book with a “current” window of 1 year (or less). I haven’t seen a lot of, “OS de jour: The Missing Manual” style books. " “iMovie:The Missing Manual”, was published in 2014. “iPad: The Missing Manual”, was published in 2015.
“Programming Manual” is a pretty wide net to cast. How comfortable are you with OOP style and vocabulary? If you are light in that area, it’s a place to start. And there are printed books (and ebooks) about that.
The vast majority of the subject material hasn’t changed. Yes, there are some syntactical and name changes that will have to be learned, but all of the fundamental principles of Xojo programming and the basic grammar remain the same. The book will give a good ground-up foundation for subsequently learning the new features.
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Matt’s own webpage describes REALbasic as “a cool program that lets you create small, fast Macintosh applications as easily as you’d write a HyperCard stack”. So that’s the vintage and mindset in which his books are anchored. Things that are not covered in edition 2 of his book, which encompasses 3.2.1 and only some of RB 3.5, include this list JUST from RB 5:
- Text encodings
- Custom operators (Operator_Convert, etc)
- Modern sockets
- The App object
Again, that’s just a sprinkling of the stuff that’s new in RB 5. I don’t have time to review all the versions released in the 20 years since RB 5… but rest assured the list is even longer and more impactful. As far as Matt’s book is concerned, you can only open one project at a time; Linux and Web support aren’t things and iOS literally doesn’t even exist; and every UI element is stuck in the pre-API2 days.
Sure, one could pick up a general idea of the syntax and grammar, perhaps even enough to kick start some learning. But that’s only if you carefully pick through all the out-of-date stuff cluttering up this book without knowing what is useful and what is obsolete; and surely this new user of the language is in the worse position to know the difference.
The best analogy I can think of would be a encyclopedia from 1980, showing East and West Germany, and the intact Soviet Union; making no mention of HIV/AIDS; lacking the knowledge that there are planets outside the solar system. The world has moved on, even if the continents are still the same shape.
Eric,
If there are online services that will print and bind 290 page PDF for about $25.00, I do not know who they are. I checked Staples and believe UPS charges about the same. Please let me know who does 290 pages for $25.00 as I would like to get that done.
Jim Schrage