Yes, Christian, this is true. Your tip helps a lot. But finally this does not solve my problem, because the complete design of our UI is based on container controls.
In our App also the MouseEnter and MouseExit events are used. And of course the “self-made focus” has to change. Mac works fine in a fraction of a second, Windows takes two seconds for that - MOVING the mouse only and react on MouseEnter.
To be clear:
Everything works fine on OLD Windows PCs. Or older Windows 10 Systems.
Everything works fine on Mac.
I am using the 2021R3.1 version of Xojo on Mac Monterey and Windows 10 latest.
I am completely frustrated after 2 weeks bugbusting now and I feel like trying to kill a swarm of flees here. No chance.
Let me say it this way: Xojo is not Cross-Platform, it is TRANS-Platform. Disappointing. Sorry for being emotional - for me this is very difficult at the moment.
I have an app that worked absolutely perfectly on Mac, and has a nice life in the MAS.
Once I tried to generate a Windows executable, it was a catastrophe. Flicker, slow refresh, and so on.
I had to completely refactor the app with a unique canvas instead of several, and handle everything as graphics, instead of several controls.
From what you describe, you are using several container controls, which each takes forever to display. It may be time to use another solution. Something like a pagepanel, for instance.
Even then it doesn’t work very well. I’ve just replaced a Container that was filled with a canvas, with 12 TextAreas on the canvas so I could place text where I wanted it, and scroll the whole lot. This fails badly under Windows (mac/Lin fine), and was only a little better using Composited.
Solution has been to have two canvasses instead of one in the Container, write all the text directly onto each, and scroll them both together. The downside of that is that such text is no longer selectable.
What is the technical reason for this issue and why was it necessary to change the Windows side of things so that (a) this issue occurs, and (b) that any Windows build is now some hundreds of megabytes?
Sorry to see you had similar problems. I can not see how pagepanels could help to resolve those problems.
This is a catastrophe for me - because we invested nearly two years now. We can and we will not invest so much time only for getting a Windows version.
We tested it before. Also on Windows. And it worked! We will NOT go back to Xojo 2019 - which does the job. We will deliver always for the latest Mac OS and Windows Version.
And now: Full STOP 
Time to create a meme: TOJO - Trans Platform Object Oriented Language 
It’s coming but do not hold your breath… 
I don’t use the most recent version of Xojo for Windows. I keep to 2016R3 because it is the last which supported true transparency in a decent manner.
Anyway, executables generated from 2016R3 work perfectly under Windows 11.
Jumping to the latest Xojo release will cause you su much pain… You are going to find silent changes that break something, features that also break things or fixes that kind of fix something but break other.
You DO NOT need the latest version of xojo to deliver. Find an stable, stay there until you dind the next one. Last time xojo broke something on windows, a large proyect is still in 2018 and can compile perfectly for Windows with no need for any upgrade. for everything else, Still on 2019, still not worth the money any upgrade.
Is it true, that a lot of developers here are still working with the 2015 version because of those problems? What can we do? Open a ticket like “Solve ALL refresh, flickering and transparency issues with Windows”? Then all of us/those vote for that in their TOP príorities?
Any idea how to bring this forward? Thanks! 
I don’t. I use the latest version unless I have to go back to look at something specific. It takes some planning, but it’s possible to build a good looking and functional UI with transparent-like effects in current versions of Xojo.
No need to open a Feedback Case. There have already been more than a few, and a refresh to the Windows UI framework is already listed in the Roadmap at number 5.
I don’t want that either. I like to stay always with the latest versions because I do not want to get into technical debt. Do you really think, that my transparency and flicker problems will be gone after release of roadmap issue 5? For me that sounds more than an design issue.
The fact that there are dozens of tickets open for that issue(s) does not help me to get my product out.
I will stay with the Mac version for now, Windows is cancelled so far. Hope dies last.
Abandoning Windows because you insist on using the latest version of Xojo which does not support transparency will cut you with the huge Windows market. Is that a good move ?
The big issue here is legacy software. If your app relies heavily on transparency, simply revert to the previous version and be done.
If you really insist on using the latest version of Windows, don’t hold your breath for Xojo to support transparency again. No matter the number of feedback, it simply won’t happen. Then your choice is clear: put the work needed to refactor your app for pseudo transparency.
Transparency is an issue, but no showstopper. The app is OK with reduced transparency. The bigger problem is the jerking and delaying redraw - which I can not influence or make better. And THIS is a showstopper.
We will start with the Mac app soon - and let the Windows app behind - first. And I do not insist - I just let it go. If I invest the time and then get what we want OR if time passes by and we get what we want without effort makes a big difference.
Finally this is a limited decision for two years. If this will not be fixed we will change the development environment. And I think and hope they will fix it.
Again: Any suggestion what to do for bringing this issue forward? Thank you agian for your thoughts, Michel. I appreciate that very much. 
I assume you sent a sample project for this to @William_Yu to review?
Also you can email hello@xojo.com for help.
Hi Michael.
Unfortunately, switching to Direct2D seems to have left Xojo with more problems than they were trying to solve.
Our main app is currently stuck on a GDI+ version due to the Direct2D version being slower, more memory hungry, less stable and a glitchy UI. This is something that we do need to find a solution for as we need to go 64 bit on MS-Windows.
I suggest you try contacting Xojo directly as you probably need help from a Xojo framework engineer.
Yes - and THIS was his answer:
Nothing what helps. Tried wich “composited” NO or OFF - both is bad. OFF is even worse. And of course I sent the project into the feedback system: [<https://xojo.com/issue/67866>](<https://xojo.com/issue/67866>) (and this was the second time). Got an answer from Robin - but he did not respond to my answer since Feb. 28 … 
Not looking at the transparency at the moment, how does the speed of this compare?
[LINK REMOVED PER OP REQUEST]
Are you able to make a better video showing the problem with “jerking and delaying redraw” as I have a crazy system here so I can’t see what you see.
I don’t see it any more in the roadmap. With version 2022R1.1 it is as bad as before.
Any news on this topic ( ) ?
- Modern UI for Windows 11 - Use the latest modern UI controls in your apps that run on Windows 11. (Roadmap — Xojo documentation)
Hi Julian,
thanks a lot for this idea. This kind of “overrides” the Windows paint, does it? I changed a bit in this line - added +1 to width and height - and the result and speed looks very good.
g.DrawPicture(BackgroundJPG, areas(i).Left, areas(i).Top, areas(i).Width+1, areas(i).Height+1, areas(i).Left + Me.left, areas(i).Top + Me.top, areas(i).Width+1, areas(i).Height+1)
Anyhow my App is ready for Mac now - and changing it the way you suggested makes it even a lot slower. I do not know what causes that - but I will investigate further on. Problem with my App seems to be that I do not only have one “bubble” like in the sample, but bubble in bubble in bubble in bubble (at least) - using containers. Works like a charm on the Mac.
I tried to use this Paint Event in each of them - slower again. May be I missed something essential? Is it good to switch on transparency or not? As far as I understood the “me.composited” should not be used at all? If I switch it on it is faster. What does the Property “Composite” on the main window mean? I do not see where this could be changed? Questions over questions.
Your suggestion makes me hope that I can find a way out of this trap. But at the moment the hole is to deep to see the light.
@Martin_T : I am not sure if this roadmap issue will address that issue. It looks like my problem is not related to UI elements - it is “deeper inside”? Anyhow it should work also on older Windows configs.
Thanks a lot again to all for your time and knowledge invested!