Xojo 2021 Release 1 Adds 275+ Improvements; Xojo IDE Native On Apple Silicon Macs

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Mar 31, 2021, 09:00 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Xojo, Inc., the company that has enabled over 425,000 developers to build native cross-platform applications, today announced the availability of Xojo 2021 Release 1. Using the Xojo programming language and integrated rapid application development environment developers can make apps for the desktop (macOS, Windows and Linux), web, iOS, and Raspberry Pi.

Application development with Xojo is easy and straight-forward since the user interface can be built with drag and drop from the library of native controls. The Xojo programming language is intuitive and powerful, making it an ideal programming environment for citizen developers and professional developers alike. It's the result of more than 20 years of development and Xojo itself is made with the current release of Xojo.

With this release Xojo itself is native on Apple Silicon, as well as XojoScript and Worker, which builds native Apple Silicon helper apps. In the previous release from November 2020, native compilation for the Apple Silicon (M1) Macs was added.

Xojo 2021 Release 1 includes over 275 improvements, with 24 new features added across all areas of the Xojo IDE. For those developing iOS applications with Xojo, we are now using the iOS 14 SDK, which is required for the App Store, and a new authentication class has been added to easily allow doing TouchID and FaceID. For web projects, the new WebLocation class has been added and WebFileUploader has had optimizations for speed, memory and CPU usage. For those developing for macOS, the macOS 11 SDK is now used, along with slick new SF toolbar icons on Big Sur.

"While there are so many great new features in this release that continue to keep Xojo moving forward, we put a heavy emphasis on fixing bugs that lead to better product reliability and stability," commented Geoff Perlman, Xojo Founder and CEO. "Additionally, numerous improvements have been added to the code editor itself, including some auto-complete enhancements, to make coding a better and more enjoyable experience. Overall there's something in this release for everyone regardless of what kinds of apps you are building - from more M1 Mac support to improvements for web, desktop and console development, as well as the code editor itself."

"Listening to user feedback and feature requests is a huge part of determining what goes into each release of Xojo," commented Dana Brown, Xojo's Director of Marketing. "Users often tell us that Xojo is their secret weapon in terms of being more productive and developing faster than their competitors, so keeping technologies up to date, like supporting the new M1 Macs for compilation and development, will help them continue to thrive and be successful."

2021 Release 1 feature highlights include:

Xojo IDE now native on Apple Silicon Macs
XojoScript now supported on Apple Silicon Macs
macOS 11 SDK now used for both Intel and Apple Silicon builds
iOS apps now use iOS SDK 14
SF Symbol toolbar icons on Big Sur
Graphics.Translate, Rotate, SaveState and RestoreState available in Desktop projects
New WebLocation class
New iOS UserAuthentication class
Much faster JSON processing
Many IDE improvements
Worker improvements, including native Apple Silicon helper apps
WebFileUploader optimized to improve speed, memory and CPU usage
PDFGraphics improvements
Numerous Code Editor and Autocomplete improvements
SQLite updated to 3.34.1

Xojo 2021 Release 1 is available at https://www.xojo.com/download. Xojo is free to use for learning and development. For information on pricing and licensing options, please visit https://xojo.com/store.

SOURCE Xojo, Inc.