New BIG DLL file

[Garth_Hjelte]

I’m not complaining, but I am kind of interested in the new DLL files generated for Xojo 2020 Windows; in particular the ICU ones; specifically then icudt65.dll which is 27mb. Awfully big, and included with even the smallest app (Hello World). I see they are part of the International Components For Unicode.

It’d be nice to get an explanation why this is now included and what it is and how it benefits us. A good 27mb explanation. =)

[Emile_Schwarz]

Hi Garth,

I understand your question, but know that this is not new. I have one that was generated with Xojo 2015r1 (it may be older).

Also, last time (years ago) I talked about Xojo generated application size, I was (narly) the only one to complain…

To avoid error, I searched with Google and:

ICU - International Components for Unicode

[Lucian_Dinu]

This file is really not new. It has been discussed multiple times. The short answer is that, this was included when Xojo added Unicode support.

New DLLs when compiling. What for?

With the new version 2014r3, there are three new dll in the exe Lib folder: icudt53.dll, icuin53.dll and icuuc53.dll. The first of these dlls is 20 Mb big. What are these dlls for? I see no new big feature for Windows in this new release. Every time the exe file is bigger and bigger and it’s difficult for us to understand why.

2014R3 vs 2014R2.1 Win32 File Size / ICU DLLs

Could you do something like use a compressed file system? Or a ram drive or similar?

[Jeff_Tullin]

@Garth_Hjelte

I’m not complaining, but I am kind of interested in the new DLL files generated for Xojo 2020 Windows; in particular the ICU ones; specifically then icudt65.dll which is 27mb. Awfully big, and included with even the smallest app (Hello World).

Yup
One of several reasons why I am still using an older Xojo.
The features added by this DLL didn’t really justify doubling the compiled app size IMO
I’d have liked to see it optional if I wasnt using Text vs String classes

[Garth_Hjelte]

I’m kind of a late Xojo user, though I’ve used REAL since 2001. Until last summer I was using RS2011r3 completely. The only reason I switched up to Xojo was 64-bit support.

BUT… don’t let that fool you. I started using Xojo 2019r1.1 since summer 2019 and the ICU files NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER appeared. (I would have know it, I never distributed them and my thousands of customers would have complained.)

Then I upped to 2019r3.2 (I resisted because of the API 2.0) and NEVER NEVER NEVER ICU files. It was only when I upped to the new 2020r1 and that was the first time I saw the ICU files - and first time I tried to run the EXE wihtout them and it failed.

Plot twist…

[Emile_Schwarz]

What have you done differently lately (with 2019r3.2)?

Usually, I compile for Windows in macOS (El Capitan). And you ?

BTW: nobody want to fool you. You will better understand once one person from Xojo will give an explanation.

[Rick_Araujo]

@New DLLs when compiling. What for? Windows

icu*.dll

Xojo uses utf-8 and localized functionality everywhere. It’s used by apps for string handling, string conversion, string formatting, date and time, numeric formatting, regular expressions… SQLite uses it too. It’s impossible to live in Unicode times without ICU. It’s everywhere. http://userguide.icu-project.org/icufaq

[Rick_Araujo]

@Garth_Hjelte

I started using Xojo 2019r1.1 since summer 2019 and the ICU files NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER appeared.

I see in a Xojo 2016 app here the icudt.dll in the libs, maybe other parts were integrated later.

[Emile_Schwarz]

No. They are in 2015r1:

icudt53.dll --> 21.5MB
icuin53.dll
icuuc53.dll

[Emile_Schwarz]

Garth: contact directly Xojo.