Hi all, I only have a Mac, so I am counting on my beta testers to give me feedback on Windows. I’m wondering why my app looks so bad on Windows.
Here is a screenshot:
http://i.imgur.com/SFXpSPp.png
What can I do, besides make my app look really bland?
Although I kind of hate to say this, but you should probably get a Virtual Windows going on the MAc, simplest maybe VirtualBox (free) and see if you have any old Windows licenses or buy one.
I test mine on Win 7 and 8.1 and you do get oddities. The black background, I recall seeing once, so I set the background color manually etc.
The remote debugger does work well with VM sessions, so develop and code on the Mac side, run in the remote debugger. Relatively painless. Quicker development cycle than waiting for beta testers 
I have Parallels running on mac and I use it to test out and tweak windows versions of my programs
First, for the labels you should make sure that transparent = true.
Otherwise, as Richard and Ken have suggested, testing early and often on the target platform is a must. While Xojo is really good and ‘just works’ on all platforms there ARE differences (as you’ve discovered). You do yourself, and your customers, no favors by not running (even in a VM environment) the app on the target platform.
Thank you guys for the feedback. I truly appreciate it. I will look into my options into getting a Windows VM setup.
i goto http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools and get the different window version. it last for 90 days but if you do snapshot after installation, you can go back to snapshot and use for much longer.
Ooh, thanks. That’s why I love these forums (forii!). Stuff I should know of but do now! Great. 
Curious though: Are there simulators or VMs for Mac, if you have Windows 8? I want to engineer my latest app for Mac as well as Windows, but how I can test myself?
this is for people with Mac and need various Window OS. i have all the different version of windows and it work great. remember to keep the ova file and u can reinstall a new windows os multiple time.
You can also load ReactOS on a VM (comes as a preloaded VM as well for quick startup at reactos.org)… its the “free Windows”… so you don’t have to worry about expiration.
just try the ReactOS on virtual box. Cannot run my xojo apps. Can’t shared folder, cannot go back to previous on finder. can’t install opera of firefox… when use IE. cannot click on any link.
good idea… but can’t be use as replacement yet. will probably revisit next year.
Luis,
go here to download VirtualBox.
Of course, as said previously, you have to have a Windows OS available and at least 10GB of free in your hard disk for the installed Windows to work with.
It seems easy to install for me, and will help you squash nearly every bad / wrong things (bugs / user interface) until you run the application into the real hardware.
BTW: add a shared folder to VirtualBox, so you will be able to do just that; place things to test in that folder (it resides in the OS X part of your hard disk and is visible / usable from your running Windows). A simple drag and drop from the Finder
Download test VMs of IE is now very easy within the new Parallels 10.
(Don’t know if this was also possible in Parallels 9)
Using VirtualBox which is a free VM, you can get an Windows 7 or 8 install disc from ebay for a few dollars.
The licence key is the important thing and I can get my hands on any number of those (genuine keys) from ebay for Windows 8.1 for about $40
Make a VM and use it at that price.
Its almost as cheap as using Crossover, which is a neat vm-like tool for the mac that emulates the Windows OS calls without being windows itself.
Your app lives in a ‘bottle’ but works as if its running in Windows XP.
Very useful for older PC apps you need to keep alive.
I use VMWare myself, Windows 7 licenced.
But now and then I test using one of the VMs for IE mentioned above. A disposable test box…
(I don’t like Windows 8 myself. But I know my customers get it whether they want it or not)
[quote=122845:@Jeff Tullin]UIts almost as cheap as using Crossover, which is a neat vm-like tool for the mac that emulates the Windows OS calls without being windows itself.
Your app lives in a ‘bottle’ but works as if its running in Windows XP.
Very useful for older PC apps you need to keep alive.[/quote]
I also run Crossover on my Mac. You can set a ‘bottle’ the Windows of your like.
Some more variants than XP are offered here.
[quote=122845:@Jeff Tullin]Using VirtualBox which is a free VM, you can get an Windows 7 or 8 install disc from ebay for a few dollars.
The licence key is the important thing and I can get my hands on any number of those (genuine keys) from ebay for Windows 8.1 for about $40[/quote]
They aren’t genuine. I bought one from a well-know seller of “genuine licenses” which was busted by police a few months later and found to have tens of thousands of counterfeit CDs and CoAs. Shortly after my desktop turned black and displayed a “you are running an unlicensed copy of Windows”, so Microsoft is catching up to the fake serials
I have been following ReactOs for several years now. Development is very slow, was pleague with legal actions due to alledged IP misappropriation and misuse (I believe that these issues are now resolved).
Bottom line: ReactOS is still in alpha stage, still very unfinished. It is not a realistic alternative to current (or even legacy) versions of Windows. At least, not yet.
The better option is still here: http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools. Windows is available in different editions and different WM formats for easy download. Totally easy, legal and free. With just the inconvenient of an expiration date. I wish I could have the same from Apple on my Windows development machine.