Best solutions for converting known/often used VO libs to X#?

[Chris]

Hi Dick,

Fabrice is also busy with other things, can you please send me the library so I can also have a look into it?

[Kees Bouw]

of course bBrowser need to be adapted to these classes to work.
If this adaption is made, does not depends on me, but on Joachim Bieler and the X# development team.
Of course as bBrowser user I'm highly interested in this project (but I have to confess that I'm using more and more ListViews instead of the bBrowser, specially with SQL data sources).
Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang,

I know this is an old message (2021) but I read it and I was wondering, WHY you are using more and more ListViews especially with SQL data sources? Is it out of necessity because bBrowser does not work in Winforms, or do ListViews have special advantages over bBrowser when used with SQL data sources?

Kees.

[wriedmann]

Hi Kees,
my users work differently now than 10 or 20 years ago, and they prefer static views where they can rearrange data simply by clicking on the column header.
And since data behind ist static (or better: already on the client) I do not need the overhead of bBrowser anymore if not in special cases (I can do coloring also in ListViews).
Wolfgang

[ic2]

I can imagine bBrowser is a bit of a bottleneck in truly leaving VO behind. If I remember correctly, there has been some discussion in the past about a bBrowser version working on WinForms. But the amount of time Joachim should have invested to make that work would almost certainly not be paid back. Nevertheless, multiple users have bBrowser working for them 'to the max' and not needing to reinvent their applied solutions in Winforms ListViews or Databrowsers should be worth much more than the modest fees charged for bBrowser.

I think Joachim is not actively doing much with bBrowser nowadays; see also https://xsharp.eu/forum/topic/4499 where Gary has tried to simply purchase bBrowser without a reaction for about a month now.

If there weren't so many things to do already, taking over bBrowser by X# (like done with ReportPro) and then making a Winforms version of it would probably be something which would bring continuity and/or save a lot of time for an increasing number of VO users planning to convert. But I am also sure that if Joachim or the development team (or some collaboration) would allow that and they would investigate what users are willing to pay, the outcome would be disappointing.

Dick

[wriedmann]

Hi Dick,
unfortunately the intellectual properties of bBrowser are really complicated.
The company for which Joachim works has done its own version of GUI classes because they were not happy with the VO ones, and a part of these was a databrowser.
Joachim then did a session about this browser and the interest was really big, and so he agreed to port this control to the VO GUI classes in his free time, but it was his company that selled the control. So the rights to the bBrowser are divided between Joachim and his company, and therefore Joachim alone cannot decide that.
I have also tried to reach Joachim, but got also no answer from him (like others). Unfortunately I cannot say what this means, and my last contact with him was end of October 2023 (so less than a year ago) when I was in contact with him about a migration of the bBrowser to the XGUI classes.
Of course, I think also that the best solution would be that the XSharp BV would take over the sales and the support and of course the further development.
Wolfgang