Delphi Makes Updating Old Code Very Easy (Hidden Gem)

When my computer hard drive crashed in October 2018 I was really upset. The hard drive was completely shot and unrecoverable. I lost all of the code I had been working on... ARRRGH! The last backup I had was taken in March 2015. Yup, 3 1/2 years of Delphi, Evelated DB, and SQL code GONE!

Intellectually, I accepted this had happened and purchased Carbonite within a few days of getting my computer back this time with a solid state drive. However, I had not emotionally accepted I lost all that work. Well, last weekend I completely came to grips with the situation. Had a good cry. Decided to pickup what I could and start anew updating my old software.

The last time I compiled this project was 2008. So, I opened my Delphi 2005 project with Delphi 10.3 and clicked "Run" and held my breath.

It looked like crap. The default font is the old "System" font. The background colors didn't register properly. I couldn't see some of the stuff because the font color and background color was the same. This was broken. That didn't look right. Then the big "Ah Ha!" moment came...

Hey wait a minute... I just got a clean compile on code written with Delphi 2005 that is hasn't been touched since 2008 . That's amazing!

I'm slowly working my way through enhancing the look and feel. I'll be adding new functionality as well. It's amazing how a few minor changes takes thing to a whole new level.

Before: 2008 (Delphi 5)

After: 2019 (Delphi Rio)

So now I'm updating this code so I looks modern. In the process I will be replacing old functions with better, faster, more readable functions. Not all of them, just those using dumb code. I started swapping out function names in small little pieces. Repeating the Save, Run, Test, Close, Next Change. Save, Run, Test, Close, Next Change for every function I replaced.

Work Smarter Not Harder!

I wanted to see if I had replaced all the old occurrences of one function with the new function.

By pure dumb luck I right-clicked on a function name and found "Search For Usages...". Whoa. This is a great tool. And I'm going to show you how to use it.

Step 1: Click on a function in any unit.

Step 2: Right-Click on the function name and choose Search For Usages

Step 3: Click Search

Step 4: Expand the results

Step 5: Double-Clicking takes you to the source code

Step 6: Repeat the search making sure there are no more changes needed

Step 7: Clean up when done

I am so grateful I found this nice little utility. I just had to stop making code changes and share it with you guys.

Enjoy,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com