I have an app I wrote in 2008 for my wife. It was a simple database of plants that my wife has grown and planted on our property. It used the sql database that was recommended at the time. Of course, it will not work on the newer MacOS versions.
Question: how to update it? I have Xojo versions 2017 R1.1, 2019 R3.1 and 2019 R3.3 and the computer that it was originally written on.
Can someone suggest a strategy for moving that app to a more modern implementation? I recognize that changes may be necessary for the database. And, the GUI will certainly take some work. My biggest concerns are about getting it into a Xojo version that will compile for Monterey.
Ultimately, I need to read an old version of the database in order to translate it into what ever the current recommendation is. I think the original is sqlite but not positive, right now.
Many thanks
Jim Wagner
Oregon Research Electronics
Thank you, Beatrix, for the information. That tells me how to approach the database. Any suggestions for the app? Right now, the only thing I can think of is to open the source on the old computer and mimic its look and feel in a new version.
The compiled app will struggle on newer MacOS because it may be 32bit, it wont be codesigned, and it wont be notarised.
The former can be sorted by recompiling as 64bit - you may not even need to change any code!
The database file and SQLite should be fine even now.
The RBP file should open in current Xojo:
As for codesigning and notarisation, these can be worked around for your own machine - they are more important for shipping to other people, which is probably not an issue for you.
I code in Xojo 2018 and it works fine on my 2022 M2 machine, although I do a final build in a 2021 build to get a universal app for distribution
just open the project in a newer xojo version and compile it.
most of the time this simply works.
problems arise mainly if you want to add some securities like notarize, or app store submission.
for in house use, compiling with a new version is enough.
you should use xojo 2019r11 max if it works, or you will have to face some API 2 conversions.
Are you saying that the database is not an sqlite database, but rather the old old rbdatabase (or whatever it was called)? If so, you will need to write a little utility program to convert it.
I don’t see why you would say this. API 2 is not mandatory in later versions. 2022r4.1 is the only version that works with the latest beta versions from Apple.
because xojo renamed so many methods in API2 that you can have your own methods that have the same name as new Xojo one. it happened to me.
and OP asked only for Monterey, so 2019r11 should still work ok.
I’m going to add a hint here, something that I learned from Norman Palardy many years ago.
When transitioning a project from a very old version of the Real/Xojo product, you’re going to have better luck if you transition the project incrementally rather than all at once.
My suggestion is that you open it in the earliest version of Xojo that you can run on your computer, do an Analyze Project and then do a Save As at that point. I can’t remember all of the conversion points any more, but if you open the project in the last version of each year after that, doing an Analyze and then a save, you’ll have a much better upgrade experience.
None but you were saying, or at least it seemed to me, that if he changed from Mac to Windows he could run old software without issue. It was only true up to Windows XP.
As suggested by @Greg_O , you need to transit between different versions of RB then Xojo to get better result.
I’ve done this to a client for an old project from Realbasic 2009 to actual Xojo 2022r4, and get good results.
I Made sofware in the year 2000, using VB6 and 22 years later it is still used under windows 11. Last mont I run a REALbasic App from the 2000s in windows 11. So, yes, using windows he can run old software. No extra steps, they simply run.
The last VB that compiled 16 bit only was from 1993. He asked from a 2008 app, 16 bits was almost 3 decades ago. But if you need those 16 bit apps made in the 90s, you can simply install a 16 bit emulator and still run them directly on windows 11 64 bits.
I made software in 1983 and it didn’t. Something of a problem for our legacy databases. After XP they simply don’t run. They removed 16bit and 8bit mode completely. It was too expensive, time wise, to keep switching the CPU into such modes all the time.
Windows 11 should run your 2008 app.
. Wow