XYplorer Beta Club

WOW! XYplorer tardily moving into the 21st Century. Maybe this is the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel we have been eagerly waiting for.

Knew the software was very complex but 250 KLOC's. Once-upon-a-time MS-DOS came on two diskettes.

Big thumbs up, this indeed looks promising!

The best news I even hear last days. That is absolutely amazing. Because I also do a programs in .net I believe it will be really correct way of movement. I hope also network access will be much better than it is now. Really I am happy to hear that xyplorer is moving forward! I appreciate your decision and your work Don. Amazing news!

I just had a thought.

Will it be possible after the move to .net to access the UI-controls via AutoHotkey?
Right now it is pretty ok. AutoHotkey can "see" the individual windows *and* actually most of the *controls* with their info (title, class, position, size, ...).
Whenever controls work with some standards, e.g. Edit-Controls, I can read and adapt their content (e.g. text) as well.

However, e.g. in "Paint.NET" (programmed with C#) AutoHotkey can only "see" the main window with its info (title, class, ...) (besides, ofc, standard dialogs like save...). Most other stuff is not possible / accessable with AutoHotkey.

I am wondering how this will be in the future .net version of XY, so that I can know and prepare my mind regarding what to expect.

Regards, S.

Yes, XY is created on the dead language, but this is what I like about it.

See Vim, Emacs, Unix utils, Windows command prompt. All this software is very old, sometimes isn't very easy to use, and have some limitations. However, this software have great advantage: it just works. It worked 20 years ago and it will work the next 20 years.

Compare it with typical .NET app. (I will call it <Foo>.) It's like:

Hey, you have .NET 4.1. To use the Foo app, you need to download .NET 5.3. Hey, you said you have Windows 7... In such a case you will not be able to install 5.3, sorry...

Hey, you have .NET 5.2 and want to install an older version of the Foo app? In such a case you need to downgrade your .NET to 3.2. Hey, you said you have another apps on your PC that requiring 5.2? It's not my problem dude. And by the way, version 3.2 was removed from Microsoft website and no, you willn't be able to download it from archive.org.

Also, what about testing new versions when reporting bugs? Currently, to report a bug, I download a portable version, check the bug, and then return to my current version. I'm not sure .NET apps can be used in such a way, i.e. without installation.

The new incarnation of the software is estimated to be six months away. Don has stated that the name will need to remain the same. Still it should be modified in some fashion to make it crystal clear that it has cut the cord from Visual Basic. Recommend something like this: XYplorer NG 1.0. In the annals of program development everyone knows that NG refers to "next generation". What could be more definitive than that?

As this will be an expensive operation in terms of both time and money I for one would not be adverse to having to purchase a new Lifetime License. While it may wind up looking about the same, under the hood the metamorphosis will effectively delivery a new program.

Has the code migration already started?

Drooling ....

It's on its way...

This is FANTASTIC NEWS!!
Stay safe, Don!

admin wrote: ↑16 Apr 2020 18:01 It's on its way...

aurumdigitus wrote: ↑10 Apr 2020 15:57 The new incarnation of the software is estimated to be six months away. Don has stated that the name will need to remain the same. Still it should be modified in some fashion to make it crystal clear that it has cut the cord from Visual Basic. Recommend something like this: XYplorer NG 1.0. In the annals of program development everyone knows that NG refers to "next generation". What could be more definitive than that?

I would not call it NG. This stands for "not good" in english...

I think it's pretty simple to differentiate a new version. Just name it XYPlorer 21 ;-) Would somehow be logical after version 20 and also roughly becoming available in / to 2021 :-)

rpnfan wrote: ↑18 Apr 2020 16:03

aurumdigitus wrote: ↑10 Apr 2020 15:57 The new incarnation of the software is estimated to be six months away. Don has stated that the name will need to remain the same. Still it should be modified in some fashion to make it crystal clear that it has cut the cord from Visual Basic. Recommend something like this: XYplorer NG 1.0. In the annals of program development everyone knows that NG refers to "next generation". What could be more definitive than that?

I would not call it NG. This stands for "not good" in english...

I think it's pretty simple to differentiate a new version. Just name it XYPlorer 21 ;-) Would somehow be logical after version 20 and also roughly becoming available in / to 2021 :-)

... and it also could stand for the 21st century ...

Hi Don,

would you like to elaborate a bit how this migration is supposed to work in detail? I consider this goal a tremendous endeavour, therefore I really do appreciate to be able to witness it, sort of.

- what kind of analysis' of code structures have been done in the beginning? What was the outcome? Did you get a kind of heat map 'forecasting' heavy manual work/re-work or zones-of-troubles, respectively?

- is the automated part a 'big bang' or rather broken down into chunks which offer better handling by whatever means?

- are there (any) automated tests involved? How do you know how much manual rework is required after a "component" has been migrated to .NET? Or is it more like 1st, getting rid of any compiler errors, followed by manually triggering every code path from the GUI to uncover the runtime issues?

- how do you 'map' VB-specific implementation patterns into the new world (delegates, for instance)?

.... more questions to come.

Very, very interesting!

Filehero

Sure, I'll keep you posted.

At the moment I'm cleaning the code. Many things can just be dropped, e.g. everything related to XYcopy.

More later.

admin wrote: ↑05 Apr 2020 23:10Black menu in dark mode

Hell yeah!