Would XojoScript be a good way of giving users the ability to write plugins for your own apps? It might be cool and very useful if users could write plugins for the app that I am developing.
Thanks
Sure, why not ?
Unfortunately Xojo is not able to produce dll/dso/dynlib (as with PureBasic) so using Xojo Script is the only way your users have to create ‘plugins’ for your application.
Well, there is another way, but that would be for your users to have access to a development environment able to produce dll/dso/dynlib. (C/C++, Delphi, PureBasic, etc…). You application should then be able to handle those dll/dso/dynlib and provide a SDK of course.
So depending on which kind of application you may produce, the power you want to grant to your users through plugins, and the technical level of the targeted user base, you may choose one or the other way.
Cheers,
Guy.
I think there was some time ago an article about that in xojo developer magazine. Maybe you check the archives.
SimScript was my answer to this, and you can create cross-platform single file plugins and hot-code swapping; but Xojo was afraid developers might be able to “weasel” out of having to buy a license to produce software (which they already can by downloading a Xojo Professional License crack from a torrent site) or from obtaining LiveCode or any number of FREE cross-platform development suites that even offer desktop/console/web/ios/android/raspberry pi/arm compilations; so as it remains i cant share SimScript with the community. So developers suffer in this respect while the pirates go un-detoured regardless of what Xojo desires (make sense?). I myself use the SimScript classes I wrote in commercial software and have had great success. Its even built-in to the new application translator (localization software), that can auto-translate your applications into 80 current languages with a 99% accuracy without all the localization hastles from 2 function calls and about 20 minutes.
Thus, why I started to work on the S++ compiler again (www.xojodevspot.com) Not written in with or by Xojo, it can compile Xojo code and write libraries (dll/so/dylib). The web edition will eventually be able to produce compiled exe webapps or individual file html5 capable html/php/javascript bundles so any server can run the applications. The framework itself ive left open-source so any changes made are instant with no need to wait for a “new release.” The beta testers are quite amazed at the app compile size differences between S++ and Xojo (ie 300KB vs. 50MB) and the speed differences (S++ 1 Billion loops = 8 and less seconds. Xojo 1 Billion loops = 197+ seconds).
Plugins are essential to software development and hot-code swapping is becoming even more important as mobile development expands. “Xojo plugins” written in C/C++ are not true plugins as they only effect the IDE, and are actually “runtime requirements”. A true plugin can, "1) be added to or removed from a compiled application at runtime to add additional functionality or interfaces to the application. 2) application runtime dependency must not rely upon a file to be considered a plugin. 3) complete application interaction between controls and data must be able to be exchanged or controlled from and by the application and plugin. "
Number 3 being why XojoScript itself alone cannot produce “true” plugins (it cannot interact and is not aware of controls outside its context). This being why SimScript was ported to Xojo in the first place. It allows XojoScript to have multi-context awareness. Not that the average person would ever break the 1024-bit encryption scheme used by the plugins to prevent “people from maliciously hijacking an application”… heck you have a better chance hacking a Xojo application with a hex editor than ever hijacking my plugin system without the developer key, secret key, and username. (Prevents other users of SimScript from writing plugins for your software).
Hell, I’d be happy if Xojo implemented the means to do this… Like every other language offers.
I’d be VERY curious about this as we have taken steps to make this more difficult and as far as we know there are no cracks that work with current versions.
Mail me offlist - norman@xojo.com
Please send that information to Norman privately.
I did all but the above with the link to the forum post where it can be found…too much to retype at the moment just search evilzone as a member…
edit:
forwarded the link