Finally the wait is over for developers like me who are always waiting for new version of WX to get released.
There are many new features added like Kanban, PDF viewer/editor, Diagram Editor, Spreadsheet Editor, Word processor, etc. controls.
One of the feature that I had wished to be added was support for Markdown markup language in various controls and this has been added!! Now I can format text in Labels as per my needs without having to resort to placing multiple labels next to each other to show captions in various formatting.
Oh, I AM old, but it’s kind of a matter of taste … it is kind of the wrong metaphor for marketing to developers of any age IMO. Compare heavily made up Madison Avenue models in sunglasses and the “baffle 'em with BS” approach to the actual (relatively speaking) substance you can read about with other products, without having to wade past a lot of bling.
If the owner thinks that’s attractive messaging, yet has good judgment in steering the ship technically, I’m not going to judge it. Too much, lol.
Actually PCSoft is older then Xojo/RealBasic and all their documentations are always filled with lost of funky images.
Being such an old company itself shows that its product does hold water. Lots of it! And it must have a large user/developer base to survive all these years!
Java and Dotnet are also holding water. There is no need for Windel and for the most Xojo Devs it would not be the right Software: it is Windows based. Then many Xoo Devs would use B4x instead anything else. But they can’t at all since: Windows IDE. Windel has the same problem. And by the way I have a big problem with the pricing.
I haven’t actually tried to build anything more complex than a console app on macOS using .NET and last I looked, Visual Studio 2022 for Mac was having trouble keeping up with the Windows version in terms of features, although it’s no slouch, either. While workflows like WinForms or WPF aren’t supported on VS Mac, and I don’t know that it’s on the roadmap, it was possible to port a non-trivial WinForms app to macOS without massive amounts of work, even a few years ago (Porting Winforms Applications | Mono)
And then there is .NET Maui, which is the modern evolution of this, and which I haven’t looked at yet. It is looking like I am unlikely to require cross platform in my present (and likely, last) gig, it is more a personal curiosity thing. At some point I will look into it. I think the main point is that MSFT seems quite committed now to a reasonably robust cross platform offering. It is not like the old days where everything was totally Windows-centric; they have embraced Linux to the point that Sql Server runs on it, and they have accepted that many devs prefer macOS as their working environment.
You got the point: they need time to get the toolchain in perfection. That was why I was choosing Java instead of MS. But there is a good way to produce Software for MacOS also with Dotnet technologies and maui will allow XPLAT like nothing before.
The Mono Port for MacOS is a way to transfer the Winform Apps to MacOS but I dislike Mono from some reasons. But at the end: getting the Job done is the important part of it. Since I have always to release for Windows, MacOS and Linux I have no chance to do something else than I am doing right now. Possibly with MAUI even I would see an alternative for my work. I don’t know at this moment.
Since Xojo is not an alternative for Software Development cause of the massive changes in their frameworks within the last years I can recognize that even old Xojo Customers are starting to develop with other alternatives. That will bring the alternatives also to a good point while they - and that is always important - look on their customers / followers / Users. And with that kind of environment I can see also: professional Development is with Maui later also for former citizen Developers opened. Hence There is no other Alternative I would in your place take a look on MAI. Looks bright and nice.
I think there are two interesting possibilities in the .NET space: MAUI and AvaloniaUI. A significant difference is that MAUI, like Xojo (and WXWidgets, etc) attempts to provide an abstraction over platform-native controls, while Avalonia (like Flutter and GTK) render their own controls, pixel-perfect across all platforms.
Looking at the sheer number of controls provided by WX out of the box. If you want most of them in Xojo then you will have to shell out more then what you will pay for WX.
For example take the Table/Grid control. There are no build in or third party component in Xojo world that can provide a control with even 50% of features provided by WX out of the box.
So one has to ultimately shell out more cash to buy a powerful enough Table/Grid control. If you add the cost of Xojo + Table/Grid control you will end up near to what is charged by WX.
Of course you may argue that you will build one as per your requirement using what is already available in Xojo. But this is not a valid argument as most projects have a definite time span withing which one has to complete them.
BTW there are many WX developers who are working on Mac hardware and using Windows and WX in VM.
With Java I have all I need and I can get all kinds of controls even written by third parties via Github if it is included in the control set. So for me there is no need for looking at Xojo for Controls. That said you are right comparing to Xojo. But comparing to other platforms there are controls enough. The need for Plugins is not given with Java at all, you can use frameworks like you want to and at the end publish Apps for really all platforms also. And that - without upfront costs. So to compare WX I was looking on Java and Maui for example and also on QT.
Yeah I am hearing that Avalonia has some performance issues and also some image problems with people not understanding the reason for Avalonia to exist now that .NET Maui is coming online. The reason you gave (opinionated bias to pixel-perfect self-rendered controls) actually is a big differentiator. If I pursued Avalonia I’d want to fully understand the roadmap and sponsors to get some sense that it’s not some kind of dead end technology. But it’s definitely worth investigating.
As far as I can see Avalonia is somehow a one man show what is dangerous if this one man has problems. But it is freeware at all and active even in the last month changes to the code. So I guess: AvaloniaUI could be the right choice. At least until MAUI is ready for production it could be an alternative.
