XML and VCP Project Files

What’s the summary of this conversation? For me it seems:

  1. Use only RBP, it’s the only one really tested and fully supported format. The rest is unstable and probably will break your project. :slight_smile:

  2. Don’t use GIT or a version control. The system is not intended for that and we have no intentions to support this. You have been warned.

  3. You can TRY using RBP with GIT, a GIT client and a third party software like Arbed at your risk to try to do a almost near version control, but remember, we do not support version control and you are by yourself.

That is incorrect. VCP and XML are tested and fully supported.

Not sure I would agree with #1. I’v been using the VCP format on a medium sized project for about 18 months and have not found a situation where I thought it broke anything. The only thing I would like to see is better ordering in the saved files after UI components are added or changed so that merges are easier.

We have multiple engineers accessing the IDE project all day long and it’s a VCP project. And the IDE project is huge.

Well, reading on the web people say it breaks projects. http://www.bkeeneybriefs.com/2011/03/web-edition-and-version-control-format/

That was almost 2 years ago when Web Edition was brand new. Those issues were fixed a LONG time ago.

Look, I’m not going to say that all is a bed of roses with VCP format but we use it every day in a couple of DOZEN internal and commercial projects with no issues. To say that VCP is broken is flat out wrong.

Good to know. I was afraid about it.

As a single developer I generally use a three computer workflow: home office, laptop, and client site. With Dropbox and my current enterprise license I move effortlessly between the three locations. Will there be a methodology allowing me to validate a floating Xojo license against your servers as long as I never use more than one at a time? If not, will there be some kind of functional work-around?

Bart

That my be partly my fault - I still link to Bob’s article on my Arbed page. I’ve removed that now.

VCP did have some errors, and occasionally I find new ones, but they’re usually only minor and always got fixed in the next release after I’ve reported them.

Overall, I would say:

  • There’s nothing keeping us from using Version Control. VC is not depending on support from a dev system.
  • RBP (and XML) have a few technical advantages over the VCP format, such as the ability to use external code items (that’s classes that are stored individually in other places outside the main project file).
  • If you do not want to use Arbed, then VCP is easier to handle with Version Control than RBP + XML.
  • Using Arbed with Version Control is still gaining you huge advantages because it can display changes so much better than what you’d get with VCP and a textual diff viewer. So give Arbed a try, the comparison feature is free, after all.

This is a real, real, real bummer! I was very excited about the new licensing in that the IDE is free to use and only a license is required to build. Why? Because I have a VM for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 but do primary development on OS X. I know the answer is Remote Debug/Run but that is so much slower. I was really anticipating being able to install the Free IDE on Windows 8, open my VCP project, run, fix a window here, fix a window there, run, commit then go back to work in OS X for another day or so and repeat the process.

I do not own Pro, thus I can only install on two computers which is my iMac 27" and MacBook Pro. This leaves me in the cold for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 :frowning:

That’s interesting. I was under the impression there were a couple of known bugs with VCP (<https://xojo.com/issue/26939> and <https://xojo.com/issue/26936>). These have kept me from using Xojo with serious projects, as I just don’t want to deal with issues when saving and committing. Have you not run into any of these issues, Bob?

Not exactly. You can deauthorize a license key on one of your Macs and then authorize a Windows VM when you need it. It’s a little bit of trouble of course but it will work. And of course there’s always remote debugging.

[quote=930:@Geoff Perlman]Without such a restriction, a team of five developers could purchase a single set of build licenses and have one person do all the building. That was never the intention of the new model. By requiring a build license to use XML and VCP (especially the later), any developers needing to use version control will also need a build license. That means each member of that five member team will purchase a build license…[/quote]I’m not sure how this helps anyone including yourself.

Just to put it out there, I’m arranging a call with a very large game company that currently uses adobe air as a client (even though the actual game is in C++ ) and will be mentioning Xojo (among other solutions) to them. Say they like the sound of Xojo, wanted to try it for a few months internally and make a mock client between their team with version control… do you see a dilemma here?

If they want to test it out with version control, they can buy a single license to do that. Or even a couple of licenses. The cost of those licenses is minuscule compared to the cost of their development team’s time. OTOH, a team with a single developer that does the building is a very common arrangement and our licensing has to be designed to consider that. If you have a better idea that doesn’t involve the honor system, I’d certainly like to hear it.

What about creating a slightly lower cost license that does enable the “team” benefits of the version control format? Now that I check, does the Xojo Console License allow for using all the formats? If so, then just have the other team members (non-build) buy this license.

A Xojo Console license will allow you to use version control with console projects. Honestly, it’s easy enough to see that it works or not. Running an app from the IDE seems to be enough for people to be confident it will build an app. I think it’s roughly the same with version control. Anyone who has a build license can show anyone else how version control works.