The system brings a lot of improvements and more visibility, but there are some changes. Some users have asked “how do I find the bugs I have reported” or “how do I search for an issue number” and if you haven’t used this system, those may not be obvious.

Here are some tips for using Issues:

When do I use Issues?

Use Issues to let us know you have a bug or feature request for Xojo, the Xojo documentation, our website, or an example project. Discussing these things on the forum can be helpful but in order to officially let us know about a problem, please create a new issue.

For Customer Support, please contact us via email at hello@xojo.com. Contact Customer Support for general questions about licensing, questions about your account, technical support, etc. If you’re not sure, write us, we are here to help and usually respond very quickly.

How do I search for a specific issue?

If you are trying to find an issue by the issue number make sure you put “#” before it. For example, if you’re looking for issue 69360, make sure to type it in the search bar like this:

If you forget to type in the #, your search will not return any results.

To link to a specific issue, use https://www.xojo.com/issue/<issuenumber>.

How do I create an issue?

Click “New Issue” to create an issue. When you start typing in the title field, you’ll see a list of possible matches populate as you are typing which is helpful to see if your issue already exists.

How do I find the issues I have created?

There are many options for searching. If you click inside the search field, you’ll see a pop-up menu with criteria you can choose from like Author, Label, My-Reaction, etc.

To find the issues you created, perform this search using the popup menu: Author = [Your Username]. For example, the search below will find the issues I have created.

You can search for your issues or those created by other users. Keep in mind that Issues uses the same username as the Xojo Forum.

What do I do if my issue already exists?

If you are searching for a problem that you’re experiencing and find that an issue already exists, please add a thumbs up. If you have additional information, you can add a comment by scrolling to the bottom of the issue.

If your information should be kept private please check the checkbox at the bottom: This note should only be visible to Xojo.

How do I bring more attention to an issue?

If there’s an issue you feel needs more attention than others, you can click the thumbs up button to upvote it. Conversely, if you feel there’s an issue that should get less attention, you can downvote it.

Be aware that the more you upvote issues, the less your votes matter. The same is true of downvoting issues though upvoting and downvoting have independent impact. In other words, upvoting several issues doesn’t change the impact you have when you downvote issues and vice-versa.

How do I find the issues I have added a to?

To see what issues you have added a to, search for: My-Reaction = 👍

How do I see the top feature requests from users?

You can search by Popularity using the dropdown menu to the right of the search field to sort your results. It is important to remember that the Popularity list is not our Roadmap.

Note: If you do a search that you like, add a Bookmark to quickly go back to it in the future.

How do I view my recent searches?

Click the icon to the left of the search bar to see a list of your recent searches:

How do I reopen a closed issue?

If you are the original author of an issue you can close and re-open it yourself. You do not have to ask Xojo to do it. If you are not the author and want to re-open it, just leave a comment on the issue to let us know that it still affects you and you’d like it re-opened. Then either Xojo or the original author will re-open it for you.

Does Milestone mean a feature will be coming in that specific milestone?

Just because something has a Milestone listed, that is not a guarantee that it will be fixed or added in that milestone. It means that it is an issue we are considering for that release.

If you want to read more about issues, check out this page in the documentation. Do you have other tips for using Issues? Please share on the Xojo Forum.

#PRAGMA warning “TODO”

My own projects have this line in the App.Open event. Wherever you want a ToDo note in your code type #PRAGMA warning “Your message”.

When the project is analysed all the ‘PRAGMA warning’ messages will appear at the top of the ‘Errors & Warnings’ dialogue at the bottom of the IDE. Not the greatest ToDo list ever, but it’s free!

Extra bonus:

I also use ‘///TODO: message’ in my code.  Can then search for ‘///TODO:’

If you wish it is possible to mix both and have ‘#PRAGMA warning “///TODO: “Your message”’

Enjoy!

We offer a range of license types as well as ways for users to get additional help from us. But our help comes at an opportunity cost for us because if we are helping someone with their issue, we aren’t helping others at that time. Xojo Pro users get higher priority support than Xojo Desktop users, who get higher priority support than Xojo Lite users, who get higher priority support than those using Xojo for free. Xojo Pro Plus users get the highest priority support of all.

Here is what Xojo Pro Plus is, what it isn’t and what that means for you.

Xojo Pro Plus includes:

Top Priority Support
We understand that some Xojo users need support issues resolved ASAP. With Xojo Pro Plus, you’ll get support questions answered first and Feedback reports will be verified first.

Fast Fixes
We make it a priority to help you resolve your issues. That may mean helping you track down an issue in your code, getting a bug you’ve discovered fixed more quickly and/or helping you find a workaround when you need one.

2X Activations
We recognize that some users have several devices or virtual machines they use for testing and as a result, Xojo Pro Plus users can activate their licenses on up to 6 machines.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do we guarantee a fix in a certain amount of time?
Not all issues are equal, some take more time, some less, some depend on outside factors, etc. While we do give priority to Pro Plus customers, we simply cannot guarantee how quickly an issue will be resolved. This will be evaluated on a case by case basis. But we will work with you and will stay in communication with you to circumvent issues you encounter with workarounds if we cannot fix it quickly enough.

How will Xojo know when I have reported a case in Feedback?
Our system notifies the Xojo team when Xojo Pro Plus users report an issue in Feedback. If the issue is critical, take the extra step to report the issue you have filed in Feedback to Xojo support immediately.

Do I get more Feedback points with Xojo Pro Plus?
No. As mentioned above, our system notifies the Xojo team when Xojo Pro Plus users report an issue in Feedback. Xojo Pro Plus is a level of support beyond Feedback points.

Does this mean other users are going to experience changes to support response time?
Absolutely not. We have always offered different levels of support. Nothing has changed with the level of support offered for any Xojo license.

Who is Xojo Pro Plus right for?
We have users that depend on Xojo for their living. We created Xojo Pro Plus for them. We will spend more time with Pro Plus users to resolve their issues more quickly.

If Xojo Pro Plus sounds like it might be right for you, you can buy now, upgrade from your current license or contact us with questions!

Last year at XDC 2018, Jérémie Leroy talked about making sure your screenshots mimicked the Apple method so that the date was always Jun 9th, the time was always 9:41 AM, the battery always shows as full and the WiFi strength always shows full. It got me thinking that it might be handy to be able to make the simulator always show those values when you do a debug run so that you don’t need to think about it when you are ready to start taking screenshots and movies of your app. One way to do that is to build & run project like SimulatorStatusMagic on the simulator before running your project, but it would be more useful if it was automatic.

Build the Framework

First of all, go to the SimulatorStatusMagic Github page and clone or download the project. Just like Xojo iOS development, you’ll need Xcode for this step. After you’ve downloaded the project, double-click on the SimulatorStatusMagic.xcodeproj file to open it in Xcode. When the project opens, change the target to SimulatorStatusMagiciOS and build it by either pressing CMD-B or pressing the Play button. Once the build is complete, go to the project navigator, scroll down to the bottom and open the Products group to reveal the built parts of this project. The only item we’re concerned with here is the file named SimulatorStatusMagiciOS.framework. Right-click on it and select Show in Finder.

Build the Project

Let’s start off by making sure the framework will be available to your project at runtime.

1. Create a folder on your drive named SimulatorStatusMagic and copy the framework file that you just built into it.
2. Launch Xojo and create a new iOS project. Save the project into that folder as well.
3. To make sure the framework will be available to your project when debugging, go to the iOS target in the Xojo navigator, right-click and select Build Step > Copy Files. Make sure the step is between the Build step and the Sign step.
4. Drag the SimulatorStatusMagiciOS.framework file from the Finder into the Copy Files Step.
5. In the Xojo inspector, set Applies To to “Debug” and Destination to “App Parent Folder”.

Now let’s make it so you can access the framework! We’re going to add this code in the App.Open event so that the status bar gets set up before you do anything else.

Getting the framework to load is fairly straightforward:

#If DebugBuild
  Declare Function dlopen Lib "/usr/lib/libSystem.dylib" (name As CString, flags As Int32) As Ptr
  Call dlopen("@executable_path/SimulatorStatusMagiciOS.framework/SimulatorStatusMagiciOS", 1 Or 8)
#EndIf

That magic string “@executable_path” gets translated into “wherever the current application currently is” at runtime. Now this just loads the framework. We still need to hook up the methods and properties. Note: If you’re working with a framework that “activates itself” like the one that comes with Reveal (an excellent tool for tracking down iOS layout issues), this is as far as you would need to go.

To figure out what we need to do next, we need to look at the documentation and header files that come with SimulatorStatusMagic. Go back to Xcode and look at the navigator. What we’re looking for is a header file (with a .h extension) which has the definitions of each of the methods and properties which are available in this framework. The only file that meets this criteria (and the one that all the others seem to point to) is named SDStatusBarManager.h. There’s a bit of functionality available here, but the framework is set up to use the Apple recommended settings by default, so all we’re going to do here is call the enableOverrides method to activate it.

Go back to Xojo and update App.Open event:

#If DebugBuild
  Declare Function dlopen Lib "/usr/lib/libSystem.dylib" (name As CString, flags As Int32) As Ptr
  Call dlopen("@executable_path/SimulatorStatusMagiciOS.framework/SimulatorStatusMagiciOS", 1 Or 8)

  // Start by creating a pointer to the SDStatusBarManager class itself
  Declare Function NSClassFromString Lib "Foundation" (clsName As CFStringRef) As Ptr
  Dim smclass As Ptr = NSClassFromString("SDStatusBarManager")

  // Next, we need a pointer to the shared instance of the SDStatusBarManager class
  Declare Function sharedInstance Lib "Foundation" Selector "sharedInstance" (clsref As Ptr) As Ptr
  Dim smclassShared as Ptr = sharedInstance(smclass)

  // Last, turn on the overrides
  // NOTE: We're specifically NOT using the actual lib name here. 
  // This is just to satisfy the Xojo linker. The correct framework will be used at runtime.
  Declare Sub enableOverrides Lib "Foundation" Selector "enableOverrides" (obj As Ptr)
  enableOverrides(smclassShared)
#EndIf

Now if you run the project, when it opens the status bar automatically changes to the recommended defaults!

Please Note: These changes persist until the simulator device that you are running on is completely erased. If you need to disable it, you can do that with the disableOverrides method.

After posting this article, it was brought to my attention that I’d forgotten to show you how to sign the frameworks so you can build for the app store. To do that, you’ll need to add a script build step to your project, just after the Copy Files step you added above. The step can probably be set to Applies To: Release. The code should look like this:

// Replace the text in the signingIdentity property with your own
Dim signingIdentity As String = "iPhone Distribution: Your Company (XXXXXXXXXX)"
Dim code As Integer
Dim cmd As String
Dim result As String
Dim builtApp As String

builtApp = CurrentBuildLocation + "/" + ReplaceAll(CurrentBuildAppName, " ", "\ ")

// Get a list of all frameworks, one per line
cmd = "ls -d1 " + builtApp + "/*.framework"
result = Trim(DoShellCommand(cmd, 30, code))

// If there was no error (like none being there), sign each one
If code = 0 Then
  Dim frameworks() As String = split(result, chr(13))
  For i As Integer = 0 To UBound(frameworks)
    frameworks(i) = ReplaceAll(frameworks(i), " ", "\ ")
    cmd = "/usr/bin/codesign -fs """ + signingIdentity + """ " + frameworks(i)

    Result = DoShellCommand(cmd, 30, code)

    // If the sign fails, print the error and stop the build
    If code <> 0 Then
      print Result
      cancelBuild
    End If
  Next i
End If

An Example in Xojo

If you haven’t worked with gestures in Xojo, it’s really not that difficult. To demonstrate, I’ve created a simple iOS app that draws a circle wherever you tap.

The basic idea is that every time the user taps with a single finger, the tap information (tap as iOSEventInfo in the code below) is added to an array called TapHistory and the Canvas is forced to repaint. In the Canvas’ Paint event, it loops through the TapHistory array and draws a circle at each location:

For Each tap As iOSEventInfo In TapHistory
 Dim d, x, y As Integer
 d = 50 'the diameter of the circle to draw

 'get the X, Y position of the tap
 x = tap.PointerPosition(0).X
 y = tap.PointerPosition(0).Y

 'Draw the circle centered on the tap
 g.FillOval(x - d/2, y - d/2, d, d)
Next

To create the TapHistory array to keep track of all the taps, you use the Canvas control’s PointerDown event which fires anytime a tap occurs. The eventInfo as iOSEventInfo parameter tells you everything you need to know about a tap. In addition to the location, it tells you how many fingers were used. In this event, the example code determines if one or two fingers were used. If a single finger was used, the eventInfo is added to the TapHistory array to be used for drawing the circles. If two fingers are used, the user wants to undo so that last entry in the TapHistory array is removed.

Select Case eventInfo.PointerCount

 Case 1 'Tap with 1 finger
 'Add the tap to the list of taps
 TapHistory.Append(eventInfo)

 Case 2 'Tap with 2 fingers
 'Remove the last 1 Finger Tap as long as there
 'are any circles on the screen

 If TapHistory.Ubound > -1 Then
  TapHistory.Remove(TapHistory.Ubound)
 End If
End Select

'Repaint the canvas
Canvas1.Invalidate

Either way, the Canvas is invalidated which forces it to repaint thus looping through the TapHistory array and redrawing circles at all the remaining tap locations.

The Two Tap Undo Example is available if you’d like to play around with it.

When you call Cocoa methods you supply the method name using the Selector part of the Declare command. The selector name has to end in a “:” if there are any parameters that are passed, an oddity of how Objective-C works. Unlike with Xojo methods, the case of the name also has to match exactly. For the Xojo Declare, the first parameter is always required and must be a reference to the class containing the method you are calling.

To start with a simple example, consider that you may want to set focus to a text control such as an iOSTextField. Xojo does not provide a method for this. Looking at the Summary on the iOSTextField page you’ll see that the actual UIKit control is called “UITextField”. Click the link to open the Apple doc page. On the doc page you’ll find information about calling becomeFirstResponder to show the keyboard, which is what happens when a text field gets focus. When you click on becomeFirstResponder you’ll get to its doc page with this declaration:

(BOOL)becomeFirstResponder;

The above is Objective-C code that indicates that this is a function that returns a Boolean value. You should also note on the page that this is part of the UIKit library. With this information you can now create a Xojo Declare command to call it:

Declare Function becomeFirstResponder Lib "UIKit" Selector "becomeFirstResponder" (controlHandle As Ptr) As Boolean

The important thing to note here is that you have to always have a parameter (the first parameter) that is a reference to an instance of the class (or control in this case).

You can call this method just as you would any other Xojo method, but remember you have to pass it a reference to the control. Assuming you have a control called TextField1 on the view you can call the method like this:

Call becomeFirstResponder(TextField1.Handle)

The Call command is used to ignore the return value, which is not relevant in this situation.

If you want to use this function often you can wrap it in an Extension method so that it is available everywhere. To do this, create a module and add a global method to it with this declaration:

SetFocus(Extends c As iOSTextField) As Boolean

To the method, add the Declare code as follows:

Declare Function becomeFirstResponder Lib "UIKit" Selector "becomeFirstResponder" (controlHandle As Ptr) As Boolean
Return becomeFirstResponder(c.Handle)

Now you can call the method like this:

Call TextField1.SetFocus

For more information:

• Call Native iOS APIs

As more of us are working from home more often, it’s important to set some basic guidelines for your job and your sanity.

Here are 5 tips to help you set up your home office right, along with a peek into the Xojo team’s own offices.

1. Make a dedicated work space.
You don’t work in the cafeteria or the waiting room when you go into the office. In that same light, you need a dedicated workspace at home. Don’t work at the kitchen table or in a temporary area; there are too many potential distractions and interruptions. A dedicated space will make it easier for you to stay focused as well, as to “log off” and walk away from work. (This is so important!)

To keep your home and work lives from overlapping too much, work in your work space and live in your living space.

  

2. Create rules, it’s still an office.
It’s still an office and you have work to do. If there are other people (kids…I’m looking at you) at home while you are working it can be easy for them to forget you are working and inadvertently interrupt you. Have rules in place for your office hours such as “when the door is closed, do not interrupt” and “when it is open but I’m talking and you see my boss on the screen, quietly close the door and go away.” My 4 year-olds can abide by these rules so I’m sure you can get your “officemates” to do the same.

  

3. Stick to a routine.
Get up at a scheduled time each day and get yourself ready to go to work, mentally and physically. Shower, dress, work out, eat breakfast – whatever it is you do, do it daily. Let your routine further exemplify the lines between your work and home.

Remember to take breaks. It’s far too easy to work too many hours without moving when you are not distracted by the comings and goings of general office commotion, which is not healthy. Leave your desk everyday, more than once even! Go eat lunch, walk the dog, do some laundry, water your tomatoes. Paul never eats lunch at his desk, Geoff walks his dog every morning, and I like to prep dinner when I make my lunch. The perks of working from home are many and varied!

4. Interact with others.Working from home can be lonely and that can wear down even the most introverted of employees. Mitigate this by taking advantage of the many ways to remotely communicate. Video and audio conferencing software like Skype, Google Hangouts and Zoom are free and incredibly easy to use. IM via Messages, Slack and others are another great way to chat. Social networks can be nice to interact with others, but be careful to not let them distract you from getting your actual work done.

If at times you truly need to be in the same space with actual humans and the local coffee shop isn’t cutting it, look into coworking offices. A coworking office is a community office that people can share while working. Or consider making your own; I meet regularly at my home (office) with another working mom.

5. Enjoy the flexibility.
Working from home is incredibly convenient, which can make it far too easy to work far too many hours. Enjoy the flexibility you have: eat lunch outside on nice days, attend family activities, get something in the crock-pot, tidy a room. Don’t let work consume your entire life just because it shares space with it – ironically that’s the best way to end up being inefficient at both your job and your life.

Xojo moved to a virtual office model in 2009 and we’ve only looked back to revel in the metrics. This policy allows us to hire the right person for the right job, and then keep them on the Xojo team. Our employee turn-over rate is low, really low – and that reflects well on our employes’ happiness. Going virtual enabled me to keep my job at Xojo when my husband got a great offer in another state 8 years ago – next year is my 10th anniversary with Xojo.

If you set up your office right, working from home can have so many benefits, for you and your job.

You’ve opened your Twitter account using a Twitter handle that defines and promotes your brand and your app, check. You’ve added a close-up headshot of yourself or a clear, simple logo, check. Now, how do you get the followers and engagement you need to successfully promote your app?

For those of you, like me, who didn’t grow up with social media, it can seem like an arbitrary and daunting undertaking. But dip your toe in and you’ll find Twitter can be fun, informative and rewarding.

Here are 4 tested and simplified tips to get you started marketing your app on Twitter.

1. Learn the Language
You’re a developer so you get it, you need to learn the ins and outs of the Twitter language.

#hashtags: Using hashtags makes your tweets more searchable, helping you connect to people with similar interests, i.e. potential customers. Research and identify the hashtags that apply to your app and use them, an average of 2 hashtags per tweet is a good start. For example, if you make a web app development tool you might want to use #programming and #webapps.

140: You only get 140 characters so make your words count. Think of each tweet as a headline, use your words to draw people in- asking a question is great way to do this!

2. Be Social
Remember this is *social* media. It’s OK, even preferable, to be less formal than you would be in a professional email or even a phone conversation. Light, friendly and even off-topic is a great way to start a conversation and gain followers. But keep in mind what you say is public and can be retweeted by anyone.

Engage #FF (Follow Friday) and #TBT (Throwback Thursday) to help you reach a broader audience. Also, keep an eye on trending hashtags; they are a great way to promote to people you may not otherwise reach.

3. Be Consistent
Tweet consistently throughout the day and the week. Tools like Hootsuite and TweetDeck are free and allow you to easily schedule future tweets.

Check out Twitter’s analytic tool to find out which of your tweets perform best and when. Tweet the same information multiple times but with different angles, hashtags and images. Remember after a few hours, that first tweet isn’t likely to be seen again.

On the flip side, you’ll want to respond to tweets quickly. Where it may be acceptable to take a day or two days to respond to an email, people on Twitter expect almost immediate responses. If you haven’t already, load up your Twitter client on your phone and respond to tweets whenever possible- it’s 140 characters and shouldn’t take you long!

4. Be Engaging
Start conversations with your followers and those accounts you follow. Find, tweet and comment on original content. And share more than just your app: images, blog posts and videos will receive more attention than a simple homepage link. Don’t feel limited to talking only about your app or even technology, remember you are being social! Your Tweet profile should be a colorful, visual mix of images, videos, your tweets and retweets.

Tip: Twitter offers the ability to create lists to help you keep your feed organized. Create categories that help you engage with your existing users, popular accounts and potential new customers. Tweeting with and retweeting tweets from popular people or companies is a great way to grow your audience and build your brand.

Don’t let Twitter overwhelm you, start tweeting and you’ll see it can be really fun and rewarding!

Using the Remote Debugger means that you can now run Xojo apps on the Pi for testing and development without having to first purchase a Xojo license.

We’ve put together a short video to quickly walk you through how to set up and use the Remote Debugger:

For more information about using Raspberry Pi with the Remote Debugger, refer to this topic in the Dev Center:

• Raspberry Pi Remote Debugging

I consider it an essential part of what Xojo has to offer that you can continue to compile your Xojo apps after your license expires. People new to Xojo are often surprised when I tell them you are never required to renew your Xojo license and you can continue to build apps with any Xojo release dated before your Xojo license expires, indefinitely. So, no, you are never required to renew your Xojo license but that doesn’t mean you never ever should!

In all the years I’ve been leading Xojo’s Customer Support team I’ve lost count of the number of people who are desperate to update a long-neglected but totally essential app that “suddenly” stopped working on a new OS or after some other update. Just this week, I was contacted by someone who needs to update an app they last compiled in 2006. The app is indispensable to their job and won’t run on their new OS. And though I can help you find your decade old license key in your Legacy License page, and I can get you access to previous releases at our Archived Release page, and I can point out what has changed in Xojo at our Deprecations page, I can’t guarantee a Xojo release from 2006 is going to run on this year’s OS

Keeping your projects current is always a good idea – for your projects and for Xojo. After all, your renewals help us keep Xojo moving forward and the underlying Xojo Framework improves in reliability with each release. As operating systems and the machines they run on update, your projects will also need to keep up – if not just in features, definitely in regard to security.

I hope you consider using Xojo’s auto-renew feature or renewing your license in the near future (auto-renew will give you an automatic 10% discount). And if annual renewals isn’t for you, that’s no problem. A small bit of maintenance once a year – or every other year – is much easier than a huge overhaul of a project that has not been updated in several years.

Do yourself a favor and keep Xojo and your code (at least somewhat) up to date. Have a question about Xojo licenses? Email me anytime at hello@xojo.com.

CREATE TABLE "Servers" ("id" INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL, "name" TEXT, "ip" TEXT)

If you wanted to use that in a string, you need to double up each of those quotes to make them work:

dim sql as string = "CREATE TABLE ""PendingControllers"" (""id"" INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL, ""name"" TEXT, ""ip"" TEXT)"

One line isn’t bad, but if you have a bunch to do, it can become quite tedious.

IDE Scripts to the rescue! With a simple script (less than 10 lines) you can have the IDE do this for you automatically.

1. In the Xojo IDE, select File > IDE Scripts > New IDE Script
2. In the script editor place the following code:

   // Get the text from the clipboard
   Dim c As String = Clipboard
   
   // Double up all of the quotes
   c = c.ReplaceAll("""","""""")
   
   // Insert the text into the code editor
   SelText = c

3. Select File > Save As and save the script to the “Scripts” folder next to the IDE.

Now whenever you have quoted text to paste into the IDE, just select your script from the File > IDE Scripts menu instead!

Sometimes you hear that PostgreSQL is case-insensitive, but it isn’t really. What it actually does is convert your SQL to lowercase by default. So take a look at this SQL:

SELECT FullName FROM Person

This gets converted to:

SELECT fullname FROM person

That is nice if you happen to like to write your queries with mixed casing.

But you’ll start to run into a problem if you’ve actually created the table with case-sensitive names, which happens when you use quotes around the names. For example, consider these SQL CREATE statements:

CREATE TABLE person (fullname VARCHAR(100), address VARCHAR(100))

CREATE TABLE Person (FullName VARCHAR(100), Address VARCHAR(100))

CREATE TABLE "Person" ("FullName" VARCHAR(100), "Address" VARCHAR(100))

In the first two examples, you get a table called “person” with two columns called “fullname” and “address”. That may not be obvious in the second example since the names are not lowercase, but remember that PostgreSQL converts your SQL to lowercase for you.

In the last example, the names are in quotes so their case is maintained. This means you’ll get a table called “Person” with two columns called “FullName” and “Address”. Now what happens if you try to run a query with a table called “Person”? Well, using SQL like this:

SELECT FullName FROM Person

you’ll get a syntax error:

ERROR: relation “person” does not exist
LINE 1: SELECT FullName FROM Person

This is because PostgreSQL is converting “Person” to “person”, but there is no table called “person”. It is actually called “Person”.

To avoid this error you instead have to write the SQL with quotes like this:

SELECT "FullName" FROM "Person"

Obviously that can start to become a bit of a pain, so the moral of the story is don’t use quotes when creating tables or writing SQL queries so that everything is created as lowercase and things will work like you probably expect. You’ll especially want to pay attention to any tools you use to create SQL for you. If you use a tool’s UI to create a table and have a habit of typing in mixed case, the tool might generate SQL (or even the table itself) for you using quotes, which as you can see could mess you up later.

Learn more about PostgreSQL in the Xojo Dev Center.

The items in the IDE Scripts menu under File > IDE Scripts now have shortcuts assigned for the first nine items (these are the scripts that you add to the Scripts folder). On OS X the shortcuts are Cmd + Option + digit and on Windows and Linux they are Ctrl + Alt + digit.

And for those scripts that do not get shortcuts assigned, selecting them from the menu will run them.

On OS X, if you hold down the Ctrl key + the above shortcut, then the script will be opened in the editor instead of run. On Windows and Linux holding the Shift key in addition to the above shortcut will accomplish this. These modifiers also works if you select the item from the menu. Hold the Ctrl key on OS X or Shift key on Windows and Linux the item will be opened in the editor instead of run.

Read more about IDE Scripting in the User Guide.

Happy IDE Scripting!

1. Manage Scope – Keep a Wish List

You want the client to dream, right? Having a place where you can keep things that they would like to do “some day” or brilliant ideas that weren’t in the initial scope will help you keep your project within scope. If you don’t actually complete a project, the client gets no value from it. You spend time upfront scoping the project based on the client’s needs and then the sparks of brilliance can get in the way. So, when that great new idea comes up, the answer can be, “Absolutely! Let’s get that on the list for after we finish developing what we said we’d develop.” Having a Wish List gives you a place to put things that are known to be out of initial scope. Plus, it gives the client a sense of, “Okay, good! This is going to get addressed one day and you heard what I needed.”

Here’s the secret: most of what goes on that list will never get done. The client will either forget what it is when you go back through the list after your project is complete. Or once they starts using the software, they will realize the solution doesn’t need it. But, you’re guaranteeing that what you’re creating ends up having real, lasting value for your client. A happier client will keep coming back to you for more work.

At the end of the project, you can go through the Wish List with your client and include the new requests in the scope for Phase 2 or write a Change Order to address them.

2. Projects Must End! (But What About the Bugs?!)

Let’s face it. When you deliver something to a client, you’re not guaranteeing it for five years, right? If the client finds a bug in five years, you’re not coming in and fixing it for free. It’s custom software; there will be bugs; there will always be bugs.

Part of your sales process needs to address that there will be bugs, how you are going to handle them, and how they get paid for. You can always fix newly found bugs as part of Phase 2 or a Change Order, so you aren’t telling your client they have to live with it forever. But, make sure the client understands that it is part of the process!

Plan to deliver a project based on when testing begins to ensure an end date. Tell your client that they have a certain time to do alpha testing. (Two weeks is a good time period depending on the scope.) Then, you can make some of your magic developer tweaks and fixes, before returning it to the client for two weeks of beta testing. Finally, take it live, possibly with known bugs that you will continue to work on as part of the original scope. Bugs and tweaks found after the timeframe can go to the Wish List.

It is your obligation as a professional to provide a completed project that brings value to your client. If you don’t make them test it by providing a consequence, they won’t do it. And then, they won’t have the value of the completed project. In essence, by forcing this, you are better serving him.

3. Project Manage Your Own Business

Where is your list kept? As a developer, you always have to-do lists for your clients. But, what about the things you need to do to run your business? How do you remember to invoice when you your head is buried in the development that you love?

First step: Stop managing projects via email. Stop the madness now! There are simple-to-use and inexpensive project management solutions out there, like Basecamp, that can be set up to manage your clients’ projects and track communications. You don’t have to insert a bureaucratic process to manage your work better; simply be more deliberate in how you communicate. (If you need assistance on how to set up Basecamp to work best for you and your clients, don’t hesitate to contact me.)

Second step: Don’t manage your business with sticky notes. Add a project into your solution (I call mine Operations.), and add your to-do’s into that project. Most of these types of software will allow you to set dates and reminders. You can even assign a to-do to your subcontractors to submit their timesheets.

4. Avoid Interruptions

Plan your tomorrow before you end today. Check your schedule vs. your to-do list and confirm you have a plan. Then, focus on what you’ve planned to do. You’ll be a lot more efficient, both in not burning your clients’ hours and in getting to completed work.

The only reason you should stop what you’ve planned to do is if the client has an actual emergency. The fact that the client found a typo on one of the layouts is not a reason to stop what you’re doing. You want to train your clients to work in a more efficient way. The benefit to them is that when you have six typos to fix at once, it’s going to cost them the same amount as if you had just fixed one. The benefit to you is you’re not thrown off your plan, and you don’t have to change directions in your mind.

You want to encourage your clients to use your selected project management software properly to report issues and to use email or the phone in an emergency only.

If you proactively change your schedule because you need to think about something else or you’re struggling to solve a problem, actively choose to change directions. However, if you’re reacting to an email or responding to a client call – that’s throwing you off, you have to limit those interruptions. You can close your email; emails don’t disappear if you don’t read them immediately. You can turn off your phone; we’ve had voicemail since at least the 1980s. (And, guess what? I had to do both those things just to write this blog post!)

5. You’re Always Selling

To help you gain better clients and also to keep your schedule more consistent, keep selling, even when you’re booked. Clients who really want to work with you are probably willing to wait a month or more to get started. Work on filling the pipeline so you are better able to pick and choose your clients, resulting in getting to work on projects and with people you like. Create a real sales process. For more details on a sales process development, check out this blog post: Lack of Sales Process Limiting Your Income?

Susan Fennema is the Chaos Eradicating Officer (CEO) of Beyond the Chaos, a consultancy helping small business owners gain control of their lives through better processes, organization, and structure of their business operations and projects. She has over 25 years experience in the software development, creative, marketing, and advertising industries, after receiving her BA in journalism from Texas A&M University. She lives and works in McKinney, Texas, with her husband, her dog, and two cats.

Website: www.beyondthechaos.biz
Twitter: @susanfennema
Facebook: Beyond the Chaos
LinkedIn: Susan Fennema

dim path1 as string = """C:\users\ieuser\desktop\new folder"""
path1 = path1.mid(2)
path1 = path1.left(path1.len()-1)
 
dim path2 as string = """C:\users\ieuser\desktop\new folder"""
path2 = path2.mid(2).left(path2.len()-1)

The issue here is the second bit of code, not the first. In the second each function in the chain returns a result and these results are held in temporary variables with the next function in the chain applied to that. The problem comes with:

left(path2.len()-1)

Why? Because path2 has not been altered yet. It is as if this is evaluated as:

dim path2 as string = """C:\users\ieuser\desktop\new folder"""

dim t1, t2 as string
t1 = path2.mid(2)
t2 = t1.left(path2.len()-1)

path2 = t2

Now you can see the issue. Where we compute t2 we want the altered length to be able to calculate the right number of characters to retain. But we don’t have access to that temporary, so your solution is to do something like this:

dim path2 as string = """C:\users\ieuser\desktop\new folder"""
path2 = path2.mid(2).left(path2.mid(2).len()-1)

And now they both give us the same value!

Suppose you are in the habit of using “function chaining” like this to reduce your lines of code:

path2 = path2.mid(2).left(path2.len()-1)

If so, be careful as they can sometimes surprise you with the results you get. Consider  the following code:

dim path1 as string = """C:\users\ieuser\desktop\new folder"""
path1 = path1.mid(2)
path1 = path1.left(path1.len()-1)
 
dim path2 as string = """C:\users\ieuser\desktop\new folder"""
path2 = path2.mid(2).left(path2.len()-1)

break

These two look a lot alike but do not give you the same result. Share your thoughts as to why this happens in the comments or go right to the solution.

The Xojo programming language is fully object-oriented and uses an object model that is quite similar to VB, Java and C#. If you are used those languages at all, you’ll be right at home with Xojo.

Available since 1998, Xojo was one of the first languages to use Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), something that other languages such as Swift and Objective-C now use. Xojo is type-safe and fully object-oriented making it easy to learn and use, but it also has advanced features such as namespaces, extension methods, exception handling, introspection, delegates and more.

You can code on any platform

Xojo itself runs on Windows, OS X and Linux. So you can choose to do your programming on the platform you prefer. And unlike some other languages, you do this using a powerful and friendly IDE, not a text editor.

Xojo is a great learning language

Xojo strives to keep things simple, making it a great first programming language. In fact, there is a free book, Introduction to Programming with Xojo, to help you get started.

In addition to the book, Xojo ships with over 300 example projects, plus there are tutorials, videos and thousands of pages of documentation at the Xojo Dev Center.

Xojo is updated regularly

Xojo is generally updated quarterly with a variety of new features and bug fixes. Since 2014, major new features include iOS apps, Raspberry Pi apps, 64-bit apps and HiDPI (retina) support.

Lots of open-source projects

Xojo is free to use and in addition to the over 300 example projects included with it, Xojo developers have created many open-source projects that you can use with your own Xojo projects to add features or to learn from. Check out this list of open-source projects and others on GitHub.

Xojo makes All The Things

The bottom line is that as a cross-platform and multi-plaform programming tool, Xojo makes All the Things.

Xojo can make desktop and console apps for Windows, OS X and Linux. Xojo can make desktop and console apps for Raspberry Pi that interface with the GPIO port. Xojo makes web apps. Xojo makes iOS apps. All Xojo apps are native, compiled apps that use standard OS controls.

Try Xojo today for free to see how easy it is to make your own apps!

As you roll into the new year, it can be a good time to review your workflows to see if you can make some improvements. Perhaps IDE Scripts can help with that.

I was reminded of this by the wonderful “Share useful IDE scripts” forum conversation (started by Jeremy Cowgar) that has some great script examples. Be sure to check it out. Some of the script examples include:

• Sort lines of code
• Toggle Find Panel Display
• Reload a Project
• Find/Find Next
• Project Diff
• Markdown Preview
• Obfuscate Code

And don’t forget Jeremy’s wonderful Code Formatting IDE Script which is available on GitHub:

• Xojo Format Code

When you’re ready to create your own scripts, read the IDE Scripting docs in the Xojo Dev Center:

• IDE Scripting
• IDE Scripting Commands

I’ve written about IDE Scripts before (Build All The Things and IDE Scripts Included with Xojo), so also be sure to review those scripts for examples and ideas.

Code Completion

When typing code block commands in the code editor, you can press Shift-Return at the end of the line to have it fill in the “End” part of the block. For example, if you start typing an If statement like so:

If value = 123

then you can press Shift-Return after typing “123”, then the code editor will automatically add the “Then”,  “End If” and put the cursor between them so you can type your code. This is a great time-saver! This also works with other block commands, such as Select…Case, Try…Catch and While…Wend.

Easy Subclassing

You can drag controls from the Library directly to the Navigator. This creates a new class that is a subclass of the control. You can then drag the subclassed control from the Navigator onto a layout to use it.

You can also right-click on any class in the Navigator and select “New Subclass” which creates a new class with the Super already filled in for you.

Navigator

Collapse all in Navigator by clicking “Hide” then “Show” next to Contents (hover to see this).

You can multi-select items in the Navigator and drag them to other parts of the Navigator, which is useful for organization.

You can even do this with with members of a class, such as properties and methods. For example, you can drag a method (or multiple ones) from a class and drop it onto a new class to move the method.

Auto-Save

You can use an IDE Script to automatically save your project each time you run it. Use the Insert button or menu to add a new Build Step->Script and enter this one line of code:

DoCommand("SaveFile")

Now drag the script onto one of the OS items in the Build Settings and place it before the Build step that appears. This runs the script before each run or build.

Refactoring

When writing code in the code editor, you may end up with a method that is longer than you might like. Generally, 100 lines or so is probably the most you want in a single method. You can easily move a chunk of code to its own method by selecting it in the code editor, right-clicking on it and selecting “Convert to Method” from the menu.

This creates a new method with the selected code added to it (and the selected code removed from the original method). You can then give the method a new name (and possible parameters) and call it from the original method.

Convert to Constant works similarly, creating a new constant with the selected text as its value.

There are also “Wrap” commands to wrap code blocks into If…Then, Do…Loop, While…Wend.

Library

In addition to using the search field at the top, you can click on Library and start typing to quickly highlight a control.

Click the Gear icon to drop down a menu that lets you change how the controls in the Library are displayed. I prefer “Small Icons and Labels” with “Show Group Banners” selected.

Debugging

Use the Break command for conditional breakpoints when debugging. By using the Break command, you can force the debugger to appear when specific conditions are met. For example, this displays the debugger when the value reaches 100:

If counter = 100 Then Break

Break has no effect in a built app, but if you want to ensure the code is not in the built app at all, you can use the DebugBuild constant:

#If DebugBuild Then
  If counter = 100 Then Break
#Endif

One final secret: All of the above items are in the documentation! Read more in the updated User Guide, now available online at the Dev Center.

What are your favorite Xojo secrets? Share them in the comments!

For the short-term you may be finding that you need (or want) to build for all the target platforms to test your apps. But in can be tedious to repeatedly change the Architecture setting for each app target and then press Build.

But never fear, I’m here to help! Instead of doing this manually, use an IDE Script. This IDE Script will build for all the targets in one easy step:

 // Build all target platforms
 Const kOSX32 = 7
 Const kOSX64 = 16
 Const kWin32 = 3
 Const kWin64 = 19
 Const kLin32 = 4
 Const kLin64 = 17
 Const kLinARM = 18

 Dim path As String
 path = BuildApp(kOSX32)
 path = BuildApp(kOSX64)
 path = BuildApp(kWin32)
 path = BuildApp(kWin64)
 path = BuildApp(kLin32)
 path = BuildApp(kLin64)
 path = BuildApp(kLinARM)

 Dim result As String
 result = ShowDialog("Build All", _
 "Finished building.", _
 "OK", "", "", -1)

You can save this script to a file (with the name BuildAll.xojo_script) extension into the Scripts folder that is in your Xojo installation folder. Then you can go to File -> IDE Scripts ->Build All to run the script. This will build all seven targets for you in one step.

Note: Windows and Linux are not yet able to build 64-bit OS X apps, so you will want to comment out that line from the script if you are using Windows or Linux.

This script is included with Xojo 2015 Release 3 in the Examples folder:

Examples/Advanced/IDE Scripting/BuildAllDesktop

Xojo has three default project types on Windows (four on OS X with iOS).

These project types can be overwritten by placing suitably named binary projects in the Template Folder. See page the Templates section fo the User Guide.

So having already created a project with our transparent label, we don’t want to have to do that every time we create a new desktop project. We can save time by creating a template and copying it to the program files Xojocurrent version Templates which will allow us to select that template when creating a new project.

But if we saved our project with the name “Default Desktop Project”€ in binary format then that will override the Desktop project on the choose a project dialog.  Due to Windows permissions, it is necessary to save your project elsewhere and copy it to the program files folder.

Now when I create a new desktop project my transparent label is already included.  Of course I also have routines to get and set the main window location in the registry.

You can download my template here. If you do download this project, make sure to replace “Axis Direct Ltd” with your own organisation.

Wayne Golding has been a Xojo developer since 2005. He operates an IT Company Axis Direct Ltd www.axisdirect.nz which primarily develops applications using Xojo that integrate with Xero www.xero.com.  Wayne’s hobby is robotics where he uses Xojo to build applications for his Pi2 often implementing IoT for remote control.

Though too much security is never enough, as developers, there are things we can do to keep our users’ passwords secure.

The best way to not allow passwords to be compromised is to not store the password at all. Unfortunately, I’ve seen far too many apps that have databases with a “password” column that contains the actual password! And I’m sure you’ve seen web sites that, when you click the “forgot password” link, send you an email with your actual password! This is not good. The only one who should know the password is the person who created the password.

So the first thing to do is to not store the password. Instead store a one-way hash of a password. A hash is a function that given a value, returns a new value of a fixed length that is always the same for the original value. A one-way hash is a hash that can convert text to a hash value but cannot convert the hash value back to the original text.

It just so happens that Xojo has several built-in one-way hash functions in the Crypto namespace: MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512 and PBKDF2.

For example, given a password “frenchfries”, MD5 generates this hash value (converted to hex):

8D32A4B407DE20D2465467EE38DEF24C

The idea is that instead of storing the actual password, you use the hash of the password. To validate that the password is correct, when the user logs in you calculate the hash of the password they entered and then check to see if it matches the hash of the password you have stored. If they are the same then you know the password is correct even though you do not know the actual password.

This strategy is a great start, but it has a flaw: it is susceptible to a “brute-force” attack. This is where a nefarious hacker pre-calculates hash values for large amounts of common words. This is referred to as a rainbow table. Since most people choose relatively simple passwords, they will more than likely be found in a rainbow table. If a hacker gets access to your hash value and they know how it was calculated, they can then look it up in the rainbow table to see what the plain text password is.

One way to help mitigate this is to use a “salt” along with the password to create the hash. The salt is an extra value that you add to the password to generate hashes that make rainbow tables largely useless. You can use the same salt value for all the passwords or you can use something more specific for each password.

Creating an MD5 hash on the combination of the hash for “frenchfries” and the text “salted” generates this hash using MD5:

AE4D2A78B0681171F8E030C30A20F8F8

Such a value is not likely to show up in a rainbow table anywhere because it’s specific to you, thus limiting its general usefulness. A hacker would actually need to figure out how you are creating your salt value before they can generate a rainbow table.

Using a hash with a salt works well, but you also have to use a secure hashing function. It has been known for some time that MD5 and SHA1 are no longer secure hashing functions and are not recommended for use. The primary problem is that it is possible for two completely different values to generate the same hash. This flaw has been used to fake security certificates among other things. You may think it does not matter much for your purposes, but don’t be the one that is easier to hack. Use one of the other available hashing functions such as SHA256.

But even better, you can use the PBKDF2 function which is essentially a “slow” function which makes brute-force attacks more difficult to achieve. PBKDF2 with a salt and SHA256 can work really well. Here is an example:

Dim salt As Text = "salted"
Dim saltData As Xojo.Core.MemoryBlock
saltData = Xojo.Core.TextEncoding.UTF8.ConvertTextToData(salt)
Dim password As Text = "frenchfries"
Dim passwordData As Xojo.Core.MemoryBlock
passwordData = Xojo.Core.TextEncoding.UTF8.ConvertTextToData(password)
Dim hashData As Xojo.Core.MemoryBlock
hashData = Xojo.Crypto.PBKDF2(saltData, passwordData, 500, _
  32, Xojo.Crypto.HashAlgorithms.SHA256)

The resulting hash is a MemoryBlock so to display it, you’ll want to convert it to a hexadecimal value. This code can easily do that:

Private Function ConvertToHex(mb As Xojo.Core.MemoryBlock) As Text
  Dim hex As Text

  For b As Int8 = 0 To mb.Size - 1
    hex = hex + mb.UInt8Value(b).ToHex(2)
  Next

  Return hex
End Function

The hash for “frenchfries” with the salt “salted” yields this hash value using the above PBKDF2 function:

6A9C1E745EEBD7A9687DF04FC61E5C4C685537EEB4A3384531DE5687270C9DF4

Download the sample project to play around with the various hashing functions.
Updated (Sep 11, 2018) to ensure correct hex values are always displayed.
Updated (Oct 15, 2015) to ensure 2-digit hex values are used.

Xojo Pro

A single license for Desktop, Web, Mobile, Raspberry Pi and Console and includes priority support, beta program access, consulting leads, and a license you can activate on 3 machines simultaneously for $699.

All Xojo licenses let you develop and build your apps with the current release as well as give you access to all updates and releases for the next year. After a year, you can extend your license if you want to build with newer releases or you can continue building indefinitely with the release you have.  Your apps continue to be yours to sell or share as you please. Xojo does not limit the amount of apps you can build, distribute or sell in any way. No royalties are due to Xojo for the apps you create.

*Xojo license pricing is subject to change, please check the Xojo Store for current pricing. Last updated 04.09.2019

Since the introduction of iCloud, I have wanted to have a single Apple ID. When Apple recently added the two-step authentication for Apple IDs to make them more secure, I decided to sign in and update my Apple ID account. Part of the process is to verify a device you own which will be used, along with your password, to authenticate that you are who you say you are should you want to make changes (such as your password) to your Apple ID in the future. The webpage said it would list my devices, but none were listed. It didn’t take long to figure out why. The Apple ID I was updating was for iTunes, while the Apple ID Apple was using to find my devices was the one associated with my iCloud (MobileMe/mac.com) account.

I finally decided that I really had to find a way to merge the data from my iCloud Apple ID with my iTunes Apple ID so that I would have a single Apple ID. It took some research and experimentation, but I figured it out.

If you have two Apple IDs and you want to merge the data into one, here are the steps. For the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to the two accounts as OldAppleID (the one you are currently using for iCloud) and NewAppleID (the one you want to use for iCloud).

1. If you have any documents you have stored in iCloud (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc.), Save copies of these to your Mac desktop before proceeding because the copies in iCloud will be lost.
2. Next, open Photos (or iPhoto if you are still using that) and make sure your Photostream imports any photos from each of your devices as those will also be lost in this process. In Photos, click the Albums button at the top of the window then double-click on the album titled “My Photo Stream” and give it a moment to import any new photos.
3. 
4. If you are still using iPhoto, click on Photo Stream in the navigation pane on the left.

1. On all the devices you sync to iCloud, open each application on each device to allow it to sync. This is just to make sure your data is completely synced up. You will see a progress wheel spin in the status bar (next to your carrier name on an iPhone or next to the wifi indicator on the iPad or iPod Touch) while the sync is going on. Wait for this to end before continuing to the next app.

1. Choose one of your iOS devices to use as a source for the iCloud data.
2. On that device, go to Settings -> Mail Contacts, Calendars and tap on your OldAppleID iCloud account.
3. Scroll to the bottom and click the Sign Out button.
4. First, you’ll get a warning that all of your photos in Photostream and documents in iCloud on the device will be deleted. Tap the Sign Out button to continue.
5. Next, you’ll be asked if you want to turn off Notes. Tap Delete.
6. Lastly, you’ll be given the option to delete the data associated with the iCloud account from this device or keep it on the device. This is the most critical step in this process. Make sure you tap the Keep on my iPhone/iPad button.
7. When your device is done deleting, go back to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar and under Accounts, tap on Add Account.
8. Select iCloud from the list and add your NewAppleID account. It will take some time for the new account to appear.
9. Once the new account appears, launch each of the apps on that device that sync to iCloud (Contacts, Notes, Calendar, Reminders, etc.). Again you will see a progress wheel appear in the status bar at the top of your device. Depending on how much data you have, this could take from a few seconds to a few minutes. Wait for this to finish before proceeding to the next app.
10. At this point, the iCloud account associated with your NewAppleID now has all your data synced. Next, you will need to update your other iOS devices (if you have any) and your Mac.
11. For each of your other iOS devices, go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar and sign out of your iCloud account. This time, when it asks you if you want to delete the data on the device, tap Delete Data from my iPhone/iPad.
12. Next on Mail, Contacts, Calendar tap Add Account and add the iCloud account associated with your NewAppleID. Note that it may take several minutes for your device to resync with the NewAppleID account. Watch the progress wheel icon next to the WIFI icon in the top-left corner of the screen. Once that stops, your data should be resynced.
13. When it’s finished setting up, open each application that syncs with iTunes and verify that your data is there. It should be, or it will be momentarily, so wait for it to appear. Update the rest of the iOS devices you wish to have associated with your NewAppleID iCloud account.
14. Last but not least, update your Mac. This is the easiest step. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
15. In the System Preferences window, click on iCloud.
16. Click the Sign Out button.
17. It will take a moment to sign out. If it says it can’t sign out, make sure all the options for syncing Mail, Contacts, etc., are unchecked and then click Sign Out again.
18. The Sign Out button will now be labeled Sign In so click it and sign in with your NewAppleID. This will sync your data to your Mac.
19. Verify that your Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Photostream and Reminders are all intact on your Mac.
20. If you had documents in iCloud, open each of these on your Mac, click on the document name in the titlebar of the window and choose AppName – iCloud from the Where drop down menu. Once you do this, your document will be moved immeidately to iCloud. I recommend going to iCloud.com and making sure that the document is there before moving on to the next one.
21. In older versions of apps like Pages and Numbers, you’ll see an item called Move to iCloud which when selected will present a confirmation dialog. In that dialog, click Move.

You now have a single iCloud account and can ignore your old one. This also means that you effectively have a single Apple ID and can ignore the old one.

The fact that iOS can do this is really a hidden gem of a feature. Some times software features get used in unexpected ways. Being able to use iOS to merge iCloud accounts is a great example of that.

I hope that you found these tips helpful. One good turn deserves another, right? Take 2 minutes to learn what you can do with Xojo.