I’ve been reading your documentation for the Objo language. Very nice set of features. I’m impressed that you were able to do all of this on your own. I may buy a license just to help support your work.
Two questions:
The controls can’t be native with a C# program. The programs running on top of a virtual machine which is based on C#. That said it has a free UI framework whcih it uses. Really native you my gut when using the native programming platforms for the OS like Swift UI and Swift for macOS.
Hi DrScott,
It would be most appreciated if you bought a license 
!
Thank you for the compliment.
To answer your questions:
The controls are based off Avalonia which is a GPU-accelerated custom rendering engine in C# that looks the same and behaves the same on macOS, Windows and Linux. This is a deliberate stylistic choice. I would rather that the app you design in Objo Studio looks exactly the same as the app you deploy - this just isn’t practical if you use native controls. The advantage is ease of portability.
Yes I do plan to support this from the VM but it’s not there in version 1.
Impressive for an initial release! Thinking about buying a license just to support the effort.
Does Objo have anything similar to the Container Control?
As long time Javaa Developer and user of FlatLaf and AtlantaFX I know that it is often really good if Software behaves and looks on all platforms the same. This decision of your’s is totally okay. Native UI isn’t a must have. I don’t know if Avalonia supports the native file choosers and system dialogs like I can do it with Java Swing and JavaFX, this would be a thing to discuss. Good luck with your product. For XoJo users this can be a really good alternative.
I am using Swift and SwiftUI on iOS already, but I like to have a couple of languages in my arsenal, depending upon the type of app I’m developing.
Thanks for the kind words and support Bob, that means a lot. It’s been a lot of work!
I don’t have a container control class at present - I didn’t consider it honestly but that’s a great idea. Added to the feature list - it will get added:
Thank you.
Yeah Avalonia is pretty good at supporting native file browsers and pickers, etc.
Excellent. I know people disagree but I consider it to be one of the strengths of Xojo to be able to create a custom control made from other controls and to be able to create and use them on the fly.
Makes the only problem go away: the native file choosers are needed. We implemented them for JavaFX and for FlatLaf Java Swing as we could see: that was the only thing people had problems with. But, like I could read now: no problem also for Avalonia. I don’t know but is the C# ecosystem usable for ObJo or will you make it usable? Cause this is more worthy than the XoJo one as there is a really big ecosystem around from PDF, reporting, graphics, Databases and so on.
Another question: did you used AI for it? And will there be an AI model trained for ObJo cause in todays programmer world AI is a powerful tool which makes working less complex.
AI has been helpful in building Objo Studio, mostly as an advanced search tool when trying to figure things out in C#. I’ve used it to write some boilerplate code but the product is almost entirely hand written.
I’m toying with the idea of training a small model to deploy with Studio that could be used if the developer wants to but honestly Studio works better with a frontier model hooked into the AI assistant (if you want to). I’ve built about 20 tools for LLMs to use in the IDE to give them context.
Mostly though I’m hoping people will not solely use AI to code with Objo although I get that may be where the industry is heading so I do want to support it.
Just pushed version 1.0.1 which fixes every bug reported so far - thanks for the feedback!
Yes and it is extremely helpful for beginners what makes it more attractive. Even B4j, the project Erel has in the market as a basic which uses JavaFX for Desktop and supports Android and iOS can use AI and has an AI client. This could boost the interest of people.
I tested it only without a license so I can’t speak about the produced runtime quality of your product but it is - for a XoJo developer - intuitiv usable. I wonder if their team like you still. Cause this is the only product which can catch XoJo developers while it is so near to XoJo. Yes, timers and so on have to be changed but the documentation is even in this early stage better than the XoJo one. And the botnet world opens you all platforms for the future - iOS, Android and Web. So have fun and bring it to a good position in the market. >good luck!
Couldn’t agree more, but to put it into context Xojo had a pretty nice documentation and then made it atrocious … 
Markus, that’s true, for sure. But that is also something they wanted to do why ever. And something they don’t change. I am used to have good documentation. Okay, Vaadin has a leaky one for example. But this is not comparable with the crap XoJo delivers as a documentation. And it becomes more and more a drama to work with it.
I hope that the XoJo users will find an alternative in the ObJo project cause it is a way out of the cage. It is sad that the code isn’t reusable but hey, one bad thing is always.
Is there any other kind of Xojo customer? Pretty much everyone I know is disgruntled. I will do my bit to help spread the word.
There may be a few cool aid drinkers which believe still that XoJo is the midpoint of the world. I have a few Ideas for people which are possibly exactly like that. But the majority is in most cases more than only disgruntled…
Left a review on macupdate.com for Xojo:
Xojo’s decisions are puzzling at best. For a long time you had one big release with new features followed by 4 or 5 bug fix releases, thus resulting in a stable product that you could use like forever. Then they introduce a Rapid Release Model which basically necessitates that they have new features every 3 months because “Features sell products” according to the CEO, but in reality it just meant that there was never time to fix the bugs and Xojo descended into a beta quality product. The amount of emergency bug fixes (sometimes 3 for one release, sometimes they even skip a release and I leave it to your imagination as to why) since the introduction of the Rapid Release Model speaks for itself. That the pricing and version given here are way out of date (they did away with all the cheap entry versions and not only increased prices but moved the ability to create console apps from the now $499 Desktop to the $999 Pro version) is just one more sign of how Xojo is run.
Warnings and critical voices were not just ignored but Pro developers were told in no uncertain terms that they are no longer the target audience for Xojo - it is Citizen Developers that the company is after. Enter API2, the new version of Xojo’s language. Because Citizen Developers can’t possibly understand “append” to add an item to an array it was renamed to “add” - and the same was true for hundreds of names and methods (eg DIM to VAR). With one stroke 20 years of books, tutorials, websites, video courses etc became useless. Brilliant.
On a side note: forget using AI with Xojo - it will mix API1 and API2 code because a large amount of info on the web and code on GitHub is in API1.
Even worse people who did not toe the line were banned “for a 1,000 years”, some even longer. The Xojo forums are heavily moderated so don’t expect to get true opinions on there. As a consequence the peeved of Pro’s started their own free forum (ifnotnil.com) to keep in contact with each other and share their experiences on life after Xojo. Because if you have to essentially learn a new language with API2 then why not use a better and free one? Many went to Java or C#, some to Power Basic, some to Swift (like me), some to Python. And pretty much all said “I should have jumped years ago!” - there is a sense that Stockholm Syndrome is at work on the Xojo forums.
I get it. Beginners love BASIC. Heck, I LOVE BASIC. But Xojo hasn’t had what’s best for the users in mind for a LONG time. Just look at the documentation - it used to be pretty good and clear, and now it is simply atrocious.
It’s pretty obvious that Xojo users have left in droves, and activity on the forums is very low. The company limps on, increasing prices to make up for a diminishing user base (some are a captive audience as they build their businesses on software they wrote in REALbasic / Xojo so have no choice).
Let me be fair, cross-platform software has to make some compromises, and the Desktop version is good on the Mac, so-so on Windows, and hit and miss on Linux. But the web and mobile versions are WAY behind anything else. The desktop is beta quality, web alpha, and mobile should simply not be for sale (with iOS better than Android support).
There also seems to be a new kid on the block that could give Xojo Desktop a run for the money. Called Objo and written by a fed up former Xojo developer in C# the intention is to make something that Xojo was supposed to be: a modern, fast BASIC IDE with an emphasis on BUG FIXING. Or as I used to say: BASIC FEATURES (pun intended) MUST BE ROCK SOLID. The reception on the ifnotnil.com forum was very positive and the Pros are impressed, and if the exemplary documentation is anything to go by then it might be worth a shot if I need a cross-platform app for my students.
Not true
I bridge to native NSControls & WinUI Controls on macOS & Windows quite readily
Power BASIC? Well this is pretty dead. You mean Pure Basic, dont you?