I downloaded Xojo and have been reviewing tutorials on using it, but before I decide whether or not to purchase it, I had a question on Windows vs Mac. My background is mostly VBA programming and spreadsheet development, so Xojo feels pretty comfortable to me, but I’m planted firmly in the Windows world. All the documentation and tutorials seem so geared toward using Xojo in the Mac world that I’m a little concerned about using it in Windows. Are there a lot of Windows developers out there using Xojo and happy with it? I know it’s supposed to be cross-platform, but I’m just a little concerned about whether Xojo prioritizes Xojo for Mac over Xojo for Windows when it comes to support and features. I don’t see an option for dark theme in Xojo for Windows, for example, when that’s apparently available in Mac. (Minor feature, but an example of prioritizing Mac). If stability and features for the most part are just as good though, then I’m comfortable with that. This is initially for desktop development only.
Well Dark mode on Windows - I mean the one integrated in the OS - is not great, it’s a pain. Looks like in Windows 11 there will be a large overhaul for Dark mode.
Thing is some functionalities are available on MacOS but not on Windows. There differences between the two OS. The way the display is driven, the way fonts are drawn are also much different.
And then Linux is in the equation. Yes Xojo is a multi-platform development tool, but one has to to account for differences in OSs. The majority of the of the code will work on all OSs, but you may have to put part of the code specifically for an OS. For example (pseudo code):
#IF OS is MacOS
// Do this
#ELSE OS is Windows
// Do that
#end if
Thanks for the reply. No worries on the differences in OS, I’m developing only for the Windows world, although it’s nice to know that a program can be ported to either MacOS or Linux without much trouble. My main concern is capability and especially stability. As for dark mode, I probably didn’t explain that very well. You can run Visual Studio, for example, and select Light mode or Dark mode, and VS itself is then displayed in Dark mode regardless of the Windows mode you’re in. That bright white Xojo IDE is a little jarring compared to an easier-on-the-eyes dark mode. Not a game changer, though.
Here is a Xojo roadmap that might help you
https://documentation.xojo.com/resources/roadmap.html
Just note the warning on the page that the list is subject to change
Many are like me — we develop on macOS and deploy on Windows. We usually test on Parallels VM before testing on hardware. That said, there are many on this forum who develop on Windows.
The support for macOS, iOS, Pi, Linux and Web may suggest less support on Windows than other tools, but I think it is more that they are a small company. The main plugins support Windows as well as the other environments.
Hi Jack, Welcome to the Xojo forums.
Xojo is a great cross-platform development tool. Of course, with that said, because of the idealogical (and technical) differences between macOS, Windows & Linux, you may find some Desktop features that do not translate as well on some platforms as others.
No doubt Xojo has taken on a huge challenge by offering such a tool, covering so much ground. Xojo is not 100% perfect, but given the challenge I think they do very very well.
There are many members here who take full advantage of the cross-platform capabilities in all their projects. And there are many members that are only interested in Windows development (or just macOS, etc).
Do post your Windows questions in the Targets >> Windows forum to potentially get the attention of the Windows experts (of which there are many).
With regards to Windows Darkmode support, there are some solutions usually involving Declares or maybe look at a 3rd party vendor like https://graffitisuite.com. Or check out the Xojo Roadmap. There are some pending Windows specific items on the list.
I hope this helps. Have fun!
Me too.
Ive been looking at ‘Dark Mode’ on Windows, and to my untrained eye, there isnt ‘one single’ dark mode, in the way that there is on a Mac.
Dark coloring seems to be possible in a number of different ways on Windows
If you have an idea for a useful new application, deploying version 1 without a Windows Dark mode support won’t hurt you much.
Hopefully Xojo will find a way to auto-handle dark mode in Windows soon. (ON mac they switch the colors of labels and windows when the system wide flag for dark mode is on.
I cant find such a system wide flag in Windows, so my current attempts to do a dark skin will rely on my customers selecting a preference)
I call my implementation GraffitiImmersive. It uses a set of App, Window and control subclasses to apply the declares from the Windows Theme API to implement dark mode in your Xojo apps. Many of the controls in GraffitiSuite already either take advantage of this functionality or have their own coloring properties that can be modified to give a nice dark mode experience. Combined with my GraffitiColors module, I’ve seen some really amazing implementations from customers.
Previews dont show up using Chrome or Safari for
graffitiimmersive web page…?
Something must’ve gone wrong with my optimization pass the other day. I’m fixing that now. Thanks!
Fixed.
My background is Microsoft Access VBA. I switched to Xojo probably 15 years ago now. We develop Windows desktop apps, Windows console apps, Linux web apps, and even a raspberry pi app and we are happy with it. All development is done with Windows 10 using the latest Xojo IDE. We develop apps for our own use, not for sale. I think there is a slight affinity towards the Mac platform. But, as a Windows developer, I do not feel neglected. Hopefully, within a few years we will see more ui improvements for Windows.
My work is usually split about 50% macOS, 49% Windows, 1% Linux. I like Xojo better in macOS (dark mode being the main reason), but it does work well for me on Windows. I can’t say that I’ve been really disappointed by Xojo on Windows compared to macOS since the 64-bit IDE was fixed to not crash every time I tried to run my app years and years ago, and that was just for one release cycle.
In my opinion it 100% does, I have reported bugs that I’m sure would have been corrected by now if they were on the mac. When some features have made it to windows, their mac counterpart is far more polished.
It’s coming apparently, when is anyones guess, it could be next week, next year, or three years.
If it’s for personal/internal apps where you don’t care about a small amount of uncanny valley then Xojo is hard to beat for its speed of prototyping and rad. But you never know when you might hit a bug 6, 12, 18 months down the line that stops your project dead with absolutely zero support or eta to fix from Xojo.
Only buy a license when you are happy with the features you need right there and then and then only if you need to build the project, never buy it on a future release or a promise.
Back in 2000, I was happily developing apps with VB. I got RealBasic (the name of Xojo then), and was able to produce a Mac app in no time.
Because I was also able to generate a Windows app, I did so, and found out the quality of the produced program was good enough to sell.
Since then, I have been producing apps for both Mac and Windows with Xojo. Today I happily sell my apps on both my web sites, and in the Windows Store and Mac App Store.
Like any development tool, it may have its quirks, but the support found here, as well as the addition of the excellent MBS plugins, enable me to get a steady and nice income from my creations.
You may find that objective users, like Anthony Cypers, can use Xojo indifferently for either platform with equal success.
I use Xojo on Windows and produce for both mac and windows, so there is people in both camps here
I have been developing using Xojo & it’s previous incarnations for going on 20 years on Windows. There are differences in the API’s provided by the operating systems that you have to account for, but in general my projects haven’t bumped into those.
As others have said, you can develop your app without buying the product and when you’re ready to build your application you do get a 90 day money back guarantee.
btw. I have set up my code editor to mimic the visual studio dark mode, I could share the theme if you want it.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been a system admin (aka babysitter) for too many years now, and I just retired and want to start getting serious about my freelancing work. Mostly custom spreadsheets, but I’d like to build standalone applications to sell also. It does sound like Xojo favors support for the Mac world over Windows (Xojo, there’s a LOT of companies out there that use Windows exclusively!), so it’s probably in my best interest to get a little more familiar with the free download version and make sure it’s solid enough in Windows before buying a license to build applications to sell.
Well Xojo did start out as a Mac tool so it is inherently it’s roots
I use xojo mainly for in house tools on Windows for my day job and I have not met a road block I could not overcome in my 17 years of using this tool.
Every ones need’s and wants are different so as you stated, build what you need and ask questions here along the way.
The ultimate decision will be yours of course but I can tell you that for support you will not find a better community.