Is Xojo still an IDE?

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A comment on another thread got me thinking. I have lamented for years that Xojo is dropping the ball on desktop, and their “crown jewel” is undoubtedly the IDE.

But it seems to me that little by little the IDE is loosing what makes it an IDE. Code signing and notarisation should be build in. Reports should be build in (and please don’t mention the abomination of the same name that IS in there). Database manager should be build in. Updater should be build in. Date and time controls should be build in. Grid control should be build in. Etc etc

THAT would have a MUCH bigger effect on attracting (and retaining!) developers than renaming events.

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Personally I wish they would pursue some things in a way more similar to how VB did.
Dont write your own report engine - get a third party to provide a “lite” version and have a means to watermark things in the IDE so people know they can get a “Pro” version or just use the lite version for free. Same for the DB editor. And many other things

Doing that would foster a much more vibrant third party market - which is in part what made VB so robust and useful.

Trying to do everything themselves with their limited resources just leads to where we are now - inadequate solutions and functionality that once inserted never gets updated.
Being able to grow the third party market would let Xojo focus on truly “core” things - a robust framework that has tcp sockets that work reliably, html viewers that we can get data into and out of with out drastic workarounds, etc.

By growing the third party market its as if they have added developers but those developers are paid by the sales Xojo can drive to them NOT salaries Xojo has to generate sales to cover.

Its a win win for Xojo & third parties

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but didn’t read a quote some where… something along the lines of

nobody tells ME how to run my damn company

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The third party market certainly needs some help. There’s a few things Xojo could do to help third party developers:

  1. Improve the autocomplete and description engine in the IDE to make using encrypted (or unencrypted for that matter) modules made by others easier.
  2. Better documentation for the plugin API. I’d be keen to write plugins but you currently need a CompSci degree and hidden incantations from Heaven above to even begin.
  3. Stop taking a 30% cut from the Xojo store sales of 3rd party controls. That is just way too steep for virtually no effort from Xojo. I hate that Apple do that and they are facing a class action lawsuit for the egregious amount they scalp.
  4. Consider better integration within the IDE. For example, perhaps have an in-IDE store to purchase modules.
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  1. Improve the autocomplete and description engine in the IDE to make using encrypted (or unencrypted for that matter) modules made by others easier.

Autocomplete issues are not peculiar to encrypted / unencrypted modules regardless of where they come from. It needs an overhaul regardless.

  1. Better documentation for the plugin API. I’d be keen to write plugins but you currently need a CompSci degree and hidden incantations from Heaven above to even begin.

I have some starter guides I wrote ages ago
See Xojo Project Samples & Free Code and grab the Plugin starter guide
I should move it to github and then others can contribute updates

  1. Stop taking a 30% cut from the Xojo store sales of 3rd party controls. That is just way too steep for virtually no effort from Xojo. I hate that Apple do that and they are facing a class action lawsuit for the egregious amount they scalp.
    I’d agree they need to curate things in the store better IF they are going to take 30%
  1. Consider better integration within the IDE. For example, perhaps have an in-IDE store to purchase modules.
    I think there is still a feedback request for this
    There may be something that can be done with IDE scripts and helper apps to make this easier
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