in Delphi and PDF :: Are you developing a Delphi application with a task to do PDF document manipulations? Portable Document Format, PDF, ...

Read Full Post

in Delphi TIPS :: If you need to allow the user of your Delphi application to use different languages / keyboard layouts to input data, you would need to mimic ...

Read Full Post

in Resources :: If your application needs external pre-made files like sounds and other raw data, beside distributing separate files for your application's use, you can add the raw ...

Read Full Post

in TStringList :: The SaveToFile method of the TStringList class adds an empty line to the file. Here's how to remove that extra line (actually CRLF - #13#10) in your Delphi ...

Read Full Post

in Shell Controls :: Delphi's TShellTreeView component displays a hierarchical tree view of the system's shell folders and files.
I have an application using TShellTreeView with otFolders and otNonFolders set for ObjectTypes. ...

Read Full Post

in Real World Issues :: I've received an interesting email recently from a long time Pascal/Delphi user Jacques Brits.

Jacques has an interesting problem to solve, I guess many could have, and was asking to help him pick the correct direction. Here's a section of the email:

I suspect you might be the man to point me in the right direction.

I am the architect-developer of engineering software called GWIS, a hydraulic pipe network simulator.

Development started back in the days of Turbo Pascal and later Borland Pascal with Objects. When XP was released the DOS software could only display graphics in 640x480 VGA mode. Like everyone else, I was forced to port the software to the Windows platform.

Being a fan of Anders Hejlsberg and hearing all the hype about .NET, I chose to use Delphi 8 for .NET for the port. The port was completed with Turbo Delphi for .NET as a Windows Forms application. No VCL.NET, all Winforms.

Of course this turned out to be a dumb move, as I found out with CodeGear RAD studio 2009's Delphi for .NET.

Although it could compile my code, I could no longer visually edit my Winforms in the design Tab. To edit forms, I had to use Turbo Delphi on a WinXP machine and then copy the .resx files. I was forced to move on to RAD studio 2009, as Turbo Delphi could not install on Windows 7.

I recently got Delphi XE2, only to find that the DelphiDotNet personality is no longer supported !?

My questions:

1. Is there an easy way out, apart from changing all the forms to VCL or Firemonkey ?
2. If not, sould I opt for VCL or Firemonkey ?
3. Do you know of a way to install Turbo Delphi on Windows 7 ?

Seems like a complicated situation, as always is the case in real world problems a developer has to solve.

My answer was "If you want to stick to Net I guess your only move would be to try Delphi Prism. Here's what should help in order to install Turbo on Windows 7. As for VCL or Firemonkey - hard one to answer, that is, pick the right direction."

What say you? Are you in the same situation, or you were, or you might be? What would you suggest?

in Pointers & Delphi :: Take a look at your Delphi application, the one you are developing for many days (weeks, years) ... when you hit Compile - how many ...

Read Full Post

in TListView :: Here's an interesting problem a user of the Delphi Programming Forum has regarding the use of the TListView control:

"I want to create a list view at run-time. When creating the columns, I cannot successfully auto-size one column by assigning the AutoSize value (to true) ... The Help states to assign TListColumn.Width := -2 and that should somehow automatically resize the column, but there is a drawback, the resizing process is too obvious, it causes the list view to blink (especially when there is a significant amount of data record inside)...."

...

Read Full Post

in Delphi Strings :: Whatever type of applications you are creating using Delphi, you must be writing some code to handle strings. Delphi provides a healthy assortment of string operators, functions and procedures in RTL...

Read Full Post

in Delphi Almanacs :: According to Wikipedia, an almanac is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar.

A Delphi Programming Almanac would then be an annual reference e-book (?) composed of articles, tutorials, tips and tricks relating to programming in Delphi.

A wannabe Delphi programmer, a Delphi beginner or a Delphi guru / expert? More than 13 years of Delphi programming content availabe for you (for free)!

1998. - 2011. Delphi Programming by Zarko Gajic

• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2011
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2010
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2009
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2008
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2007
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2006
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2005
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2004
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2003
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2002
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2001
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 2000
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 1999
• Delphi Programming Almanac for the Year 1998

...

Read Full Post

in Delphi Threading :: What a nice New Year present! Just a few days after I wrote my Threaded Delphi Tasks In A Thread Pool - OTL (OmniThreadLibrary) ...

Read Full Post

in x86 vs x64 :: While I do have Delphi XE 2 (supporting native x64 development) I am still compiling some of my applications as 32-bit applications (waiting for some ...

Read Full Post

in Shell Controls :: The TShellListView control (a part of the Shell Controls package) ...

Read Full Post

in Mouse Programming :: Unfortunately for your Delphi application users, the "move pointer to the default button in dialog boxes" feature is not handled by your Delphi application. The mouse ...

Read Full Post

in Delphi Threading :: Just a few days after I wrote the AsyncCalls Unit By Andreas Hausladen - Let's Use (and Extend) It! article Andreas did release a new ...

Read Full Post

in Threading in Delphi :: This is my next test project to see what threading library for Delphi would suite me best for my "file scanning" task I would like ...

Read Full Post

in TListView Tips and Tricks :: When the Checkboxes property is True, ListView includes a check box next to the items in the list. To get the "checked" state for ...

Read Full Post

in Coding Delphi Applications ::

If you are preparing to move / migrate your "old" Delphi applications to any Delphi version later than Delphi 2009, you must have heard that a default Delphi string type is now (where "now" means in Delphi versions >= 2009) Unicode.

...

Read Full Post

in Threading in Delphi :: The problem I had to solve is how to make file processing as fast as possible. Having a bunch of files (from 500 to 2000+) ...

Read Full Post

in MDI Tips and Tricks ::
MDI, as a preferred user interface for applications that allow multiple documents to be contained within a single window, is being abandoned by Microsoft during the last few years.
Microsoft started to promote a different user interface for such applications - TDI: Tabbed User Interface.

...

Read Full Post