Update 2023-02-28: Embarcadero has updated their docwick to be more user friendly when it comes to Delphi code examples. Here is a link to all the Delphi 11 code examples;
Enjoy!
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Complete List of Delphi Code Examples From Docwiki
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Raize Components Seeking FireMonkey Feedback
I purchased Raize Components about a year ago after watching a CodeRage demo. I have just barely scratched the surface of how to use this set of components. I'm in the middle of porting an old 640 X 480 D5 application. My original goal was to do this using D2010 but I didn't make enough progress and needed to take advantage of the XE4 upgrade pricing. So, now I'm porting this over to XE4.
There are a lot of things to like about RC, too many to mention here. Like many of you I am now faced with the FireMonkey decision. Should I go the VCL route or use FireMonkey? I can tell you this... if Raize had a component set for FireMonkey that was as good as the RC VCL tools my answer would be FireMonkey without one bit of hesitation..
Which brings me to this point. I need to get a new version of my software out there before it becomes obsolete. So, I'm going to stick with the VCL side for now. Once that is done then I will look at a FireMonkey port. However, if you have been using FireMonkey and you find yourself frustrated with some of the "out of the box" features there's one person who wants to hear from you, his name is Ray Konopka.
I recently visited the RC support forum and here is a portion of Ray's response when asked if he plans to port RC to FireMonkey. (read full thread)
Send your FireMonkey ideas to radiant@raize.com
I'm not going to totally rely on you guys. Believe me when I come across a FireMonkey nit-pick I'll send it to Ray.
Now, let's get this party started!
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
There are a lot of things to like about RC, too many to mention here. Like many of you I am now faced with the FireMonkey decision. Should I go the VCL route or use FireMonkey? I can tell you this... if Raize had a component set for FireMonkey that was as good as the RC VCL tools my answer would be FireMonkey without one bit of hesitation..
Which brings me to this point. I need to get a new version of my software out there before it becomes obsolete. So, I'm going to stick with the VCL side for now. Once that is done then I will look at a FireMonkey port. However, if you have been using FireMonkey and you find yourself frustrated with some of the "out of the box" features there's one person who wants to hear from you, his name is Ray Konopka.
I recently visited the RC support forum and here is a portion of Ray's response when asked if he plans to port RC to FireMonkey. (read full thread)
...simply trying to port the Raize Components controls over to FireMonkey is probably not a good use of resources and would not have the same impact that the product has on the VCL side.I'm a such a FireMonkey noob I won't be much help in building a FireMonkey "wish list". Here's where you FireMonkey guys come in. If you have a nit-pick about a standard FireMonkey control or if you find yourself frustrated because the standard FireMonkey controls makes things difficult Ray wants to hear about it.
Instead, our plan is to determine those tasks that are difficult for developers to accomplish in FireMonkey and provide custom FireMonkey controls to address those needs. There may be some controls that are similar in design to a Raize Components controls, but will be specifically designed for FireMonkey. In fact, it will probably be a new product line.
Unfortunately, I do not have any specifics to share at this time. But I would encourage you to share with us your experiences with FireMonkey and what specific tasks are difficult for you to accomplish. We've been building a list of our own, but the more feedback we can get the better.
Ray
Send your FireMonkey ideas to radiant@raize.com
I'm not going to totally rely on you guys. Believe me when I come across a FireMonkey nit-pick I'll send it to Ray.
Now, let's get this party started!
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
end.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Add DBDemos to ElevatdDB Manager on Windows 7
It turns out that Windows 7 has issues with BDE Administrator. I found this out when I tried to migrated the DBDemos database to ElevateDB Manager. (ElevateDB Manager is to ElevateDB as SQL Management Studio is to SQL Server)
I got this very strange error...
What the hell is PDOXUSRS.NET?
It's a file BDE uses to store Paradox user information. It turns out that the default location BDE uses for storing information is the root of Drive C: . Unfortunately, Windows 7 does not allow this behavior. This was one of those "I love Delphi, I hate Delphi" days. I hate spending six hours trying to figure out this kind of crap. Now that it's figured out... I love Delphi... go figure.
Here how to fix this error:
First and foremost the BDE Administrator (bdeadmin.exe) must be set to run in Compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2). If you don't change the compatibility mode setting for this program it will sit and spin when you try to save the changes. At that point your only option is to kill it with Task Manager.
Step 1: Set bdeadmin.exe to run in compatibility mode with XP SP2
Step 2: Create a folder in the root of the C: Drive called BDEShare
Step 3: Run BDE Administrator and change the NET DIR setting to C:\BDEShare
Step 4: Right click on PARADOX and choose Apply
Step 5: Click OK
Step 6: Close the notification dialog
Step 7: Close BDE Adminstrator
Step 8: Follow the instructions in my original DBDemos post
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
I got this very strange error...
 |
| PDOXUSRS.NET error |
It's a file BDE uses to store Paradox user information. It turns out that the default location BDE uses for storing information is the root of Drive C: . Unfortunately, Windows 7 does not allow this behavior. This was one of those "I love Delphi, I hate Delphi" days. I hate spending six hours trying to figure out this kind of crap. Now that it's figured out... I love Delphi... go figure.
Here how to fix this error:
First and foremost the BDE Administrator (bdeadmin.exe) must be set to run in Compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2). If you don't change the compatibility mode setting for this program it will sit and spin when you try to save the changes. At that point your only option is to kill it with Task Manager.
Step 1: Set bdeadmin.exe to run in compatibility mode with XP SP2
Step 2: Create a folder in the root of the C: Drive called BDEShare
Step 3: Run BDE Administrator and change the NET DIR setting to C:\BDEShare
Step 4: Right click on PARADOX and choose Apply
Step 5: Click OK
Step 6: Close the notification dialog
Step 7: Close BDE Adminstrator
Step 8: Follow the instructions in my original DBDemos post
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
end.
Friday, July 12, 2013
ElevateDB Will Soon Support Mac OSX
I'm very excited about a recent tidbit of information I learned regarding ElevateDB. How I came about this piece of info is kind of interesting.
I recently upgraded to XE4 Enterprise from D2010 Professional. I have about 7 minutes total FireMonkey experience. My number one goal for 2013 is to get an old D5 application with no database functionality ported over to XE4 with ElevateDB functionality.
So, I watched a recent EMBT video about converting a VCL applications to FireMonkey with the use of a converter program that comes with XE4. The presentation was done by Marco Cantu and was very interesting. When Marco was done speaking David I appeared and conducted the Q&A.
At 14:32 of the video they show a screenshot of the conversion product website that displays the CD Collector application written by the folks at ElevateSoft. This application is a sample Delphi project that comes with ElevateDB.
So, being an absolute FireMonkey noob I wanted to know if this converted FireMonkey version of the CD Collector application would run on a Mac. I just assumed if you successfully convert a VCL application to FireMonkey then "poof" it would automatically run on a Mac.
I set out trying to get an answer... I got my answer... NO! The underlying database, in this case ElevateDB, would also have to support the Mac OSX operating system.
I asked my question on the ElevateDB support forum and got a surprising answer.
I have renewed enthusiasm because I now know that if I create a FireMonkey version of my old D5 application using ElevateDB I'll be able to target the Mac OSX. This a win win for me. I will finally be able to say YES to people who ask if my software is available for the Mac.
Thank you EMBT!
Thank you ElevateSoft!
Product Links: XE4, ELevateDB, Mida Converter
Enjoy,
Gunny Mike
I recently upgraded to XE4 Enterprise from D2010 Professional. I have about 7 minutes total FireMonkey experience. My number one goal for 2013 is to get an old D5 application with no database functionality ported over to XE4 with ElevateDB functionality.
So, I watched a recent EMBT video about converting a VCL applications to FireMonkey with the use of a converter program that comes with XE4. The presentation was done by Marco Cantu and was very interesting. When Marco was done speaking David I appeared and conducted the Q&A.
At 14:32 of the video they show a screenshot of the conversion product website that displays the CD Collector application written by the folks at ElevateSoft. This application is a sample Delphi project that comes with ElevateDB.
 |
| CD Collecter - Sample Delphi Application that comes with ElevateDB |
So, being an absolute FireMonkey noob I wanted to know if this converted FireMonkey version of the CD Collector application would run on a Mac. I just assumed if you successfully convert a VCL application to FireMonkey then "poof" it would automatically run on a Mac.
I set out trying to get an answer... I got my answer... NO! The underlying database, in this case ElevateDB, would also have to support the Mac OSX operating system.
I asked my question on the ElevateDB support forum and got a surprising answer.
"No, it won't, at least not until we have Mac support for EDB added. I'mThat is very exciting news for all of us that use ElevateDB.
hoping to have it done before the end of summer." (read entire thread)
I have renewed enthusiasm because I now know that if I create a FireMonkey version of my old D5 application using ElevateDB I'll be able to target the Mac OSX. This a win win for me. I will finally be able to say YES to people who ask if my software is available for the Mac.
Thank you EMBT!
Thank you ElevateSoft!
Product Links: XE4, ELevateDB, Mida Converter
Enjoy,
Gunny Mike
end.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
XE4 dbGrid Still Buggy - Please Vote Up QC 98255
This weekend I installed XE4 Enterprise on my new (well new to me) Windows 7 machine. I ran the Getting Started sample project that comes with FireDAC and the first thing I did was click the column heading in the dbGrid and guess what . . . it still has that annoying "black left edge" bug I reported a couple years ago.
My request has gotten no votes. Please go to EMBT's Quality Central and vote up QC 98255.
http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=98255
I don't think I'm being nit-picky about this annoying behavior. When I use programs that display data in a grid, my expectation is to be able to sort the data by clicking on the column heading. I want to build the same functionality into my grids.
I hate this black line that shows up when you click a dbGrid column heading. In my mind it's very unattractive and looks extremely unprofessional.
For the amount of money we pay EMBT for Delphi you would think they would fix this bug. You would think EMBT would want to put their best foot forward and give us die-hard Delphi users, an out of the box dbGrid worthy of the Delphi name.
Go vote for QC 98255 so this damn thing gets fixed.
Semper Fi
Gunny Mike
Update 06/04/2013 6:50 PM:
It turns out that the black line is intended functionality. It is used to indicate the new location where a column is being moved to. I wish that the black line would only show up when the column heading is being dragged and not just being click.
Update 09/22/2013 11:03AM:
The following was posted on the EMBT QC site:
----------
Clinton Johnson at 6/2/2013 8:11:38 AM -
Also, as a work around, he can disable column moving by creating a proxy class to access TCustomGrid's protected items and removing goColMoving from it's Options property with code like:
Type
TMyCustomGrid=Class(TCustomGrid)
And placing
TMyCustomGrid(DBGrid1).Options := TMyCustomGrid(DBGrid1).Options-[goColMoving];
in the onFormCreate and after anywhere he modifies the grid's options. Changing DBGrid1 for each unique instance, obviously.
----------
This work-a-round works perfectly fine for me since I do not need the ability to move columns around. Just wanted to pass this on.
My request has gotten no votes. Please go to EMBT's Quality Central and vote up QC 98255.
http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=98255
 |
| Black Left Edge Appears When Clicking Column Heading |
I don't think I'm being nit-picky about this annoying behavior. When I use programs that display data in a grid, my expectation is to be able to sort the data by clicking on the column heading. I want to build the same functionality into my grids.
I hate this black line that shows up when you click a dbGrid column heading. In my mind it's very unattractive and looks extremely unprofessional.
For the amount of money we pay EMBT for Delphi you would think they would fix this bug. You would think EMBT would want to put their best foot forward and give us die-hard Delphi users, an out of the box dbGrid worthy of the Delphi name.
Go vote for QC 98255 so this damn thing gets fixed.
Semper Fi
Gunny Mike
Update 06/04/2013 6:50 PM:
It turns out that the black line is intended functionality. It is used to indicate the new location where a column is being moved to. I wish that the black line would only show up when the column heading is being dragged and not just being click.
Update 09/22/2013 11:03AM:
The following was posted on the EMBT QC site:
----------
Clinton Johnson at 6/2/2013 8:11:38 AM -
Also, as a work around, he can disable column moving by creating a proxy class to access TCustomGrid's protected items and removing goColMoving from it's Options property with code like:
Type
TMyCustomGrid=Class(TCustomGrid)
And placing
TMyCustomGrid(DBGrid1).Options := TMyCustomGrid(DBGrid1).Options-[goColMoving];
in the onFormCreate and after anywhere he modifies the grid's options. Changing DBGrid1 for each unique instance, obviously.
----------
This work-a-round works perfectly fine for me since I do not need the ability to move columns around. Just wanted to pass this on.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Konopka Answers The FireMonkey Question At Code Rage 7
I did not attend Code Rage 7 but I just learned that Ray Konopka is working on a set of FireMonkey tools. He has not published a date as to when this tool set will be available but I'm glad to hear he's working on one. Here is the Code Rage 7 video that loads at 36 minutes and 2 seconds right where the FireMonkey question gets asked:
Ray Answers The FireMonkey Question At Code Rage 7
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
Ray Answers The FireMonkey Question At Code Rage 7
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
Sunday, May 19, 2013
XE4 Upgrade Decision
I'm currently using Delphi 2010 Professional and it's time to make that upgrade decision . . . again. The first decision I had to make was should I upgrade to Rad Studio XE4 or Delphi XE4. I've decided to upgrade to Delphi XE4.
Now I have to decide which version of Delphi XE4 should I go with, Professional Upgrade ($494.10) or the Enterprise Upgrade ($1,349.10). That's a difference of $855. So I decided to study the Delphi XE4 Feature Matrix.
The Professional version has three different Optional features:
1. Mobile Add-On Pack for Professional ($494.10)
2. FireDAC Client/Server Pack for Professional ($399.00)
3. Both of the above ($848.10)
For me, Chances are I'd have to purchase the above tems if I went with XE4 Professional. However, the above items are included in the Enterprise version of XE4. So that makes the difference a whopping $6.90.
With XE4 Enterprise you also get
Note: The prices quoted came from embarcadero's website store on 05/19/2013.
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
Now I have to decide which version of Delphi XE4 should I go with, Professional Upgrade ($494.10) or the Enterprise Upgrade ($1,349.10). That's a difference of $855. So I decided to study the Delphi XE4 Feature Matrix.
The Professional version has three different Optional features:
- 1 Requires purchase of Mobile Add-On Pack for Professional
- 2 Requires purchase of FireDAC Client/Server Pack for Professional
- 3 Requires purchase of Mobile Add-On Pack for Professional for use with mobile apps. Requires purchase of FireDAC Client/Server Pack for Professional for use in Windows and Mac apps.
1. Mobile Add-On Pack for Professional ($494.10)
2. FireDAC Client/Server Pack for Professional ($399.00)
3. Both of the above ($848.10)
For me, Chances are I'd have to purchase the above tems if I went with XE4 Professional. However, the above items are included in the Enterprise version of XE4. So that makes the difference a whopping $6.90.
With XE4 Enterprise you also get
- Additional UML MODELING
- dbExpress drivers available for 64-bit Windows InterBase, Firebird, Oracle, MySQL, SQL Anywhere, Informix, and SQLite
- dbExpress drivers available for OS X InterBase, Firebird, Oracle, MySQL, SQL Anywhere, Informix, and SQLite
- TSQLMonitor support for SQLite
- DataSnap Mobile Connector support for latest versions of iOS, Android and BlackBerry
- Several dbExpress server connectivity versions
- DataSnap capability
- A couple additional BizSnap pieces
- Some IntraWeb pieces
Note: The prices quoted came from embarcadero's website store on 05/19/2013.
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Create Your Own Magical Delphi Tour
There is no time like the present to create your own "Magical Delphi Tour". I'm currently working on upgrading a software program that turns twenty years old in 2014. Wow, who would have thunk it.
You are probably thinking, "Delphi wasn't around in 1994", and you would be correct. However, Delphi's predecessor Turbo Pascal was. So my Magical Delphi Tour includes TP which was a DOS product.
So how do you run Turbo Pascal programs today... through the magic of DOSBox. DOSBox lets you run your old Turbo Pascal programs. Once your old DOS programming is running you can take the screen shots you need for your own trip down memory lane.
Thank you Borland, Code Gear, Embarcadero and DOSBox. May the next twenty years be as much fun:
Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
You are probably thinking, "Delphi wasn't around in 1994", and you would be correct. However, Delphi's predecessor Turbo Pascal was. So my Magical Delphi Tour includes TP which was a DOS product.
So how do you run Turbo Pascal programs today... through the magic of DOSBox. DOSBox lets you run your old Turbo Pascal programs. Once your old DOS programming is running you can take the screen shots you need for your own trip down memory lane.
Thank you Borland, Code Gear, Embarcadero and DOSBox. May the next twenty years be as much fun:
 |
| Credit Card Math 1994: Turbo Pascal 5.5 |
 |
| Credit Card Math 1994: Turbo Pascal 5.5 |
 |
| Credit Card Math 1998: Delphi 3 |
 |
| Credit Card Math 2004: Delphi 5 |
 |
| Credit Card Math 2013: Delphi 2010 (1st Attempt) |
 |
| Credit Card Math 2013: Delphi 2010 (2nd Attempt) |
Gunny Mike
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Raize Components 6.1.2 Now Available
Raize Software is very pleased to announce the immediate availability of Raize Components 6.1.2. The primary focus of version 6.1.2 is support for Embarcadero RAD Studio XE3 Update 1 with C++ 64-bit support. Also included are enhancements and bug-fixes.
The new build is free for all registered Raize Components 6 users.
Click here for details.
For more information about Raize Components 6, click here.
In case you are like me and not very observant when it comes to some things, I want to point out that Ray includes the entire source code for the RCDemo program. I just found out about that yesterday even though I purchased the componets back in July.
You can learn a lot from Ray and how he structures his code.
Enjoy - Semper Fi
Gunny Mike
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