Sip from the Firehose

Tech Republic: A developer’s hands-on review of Delphi 2010

David Intersimone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:15:24 +0000

Justin James, in his Tech Republic Programming and Development blog, has posted a review of the new Delphi 2010. The sub-text for the online review article says, "According to Justin James, .NET and Visual C++ developers should check out Embarcadero’s Delphi 2010…". Our Embarcadero Delphi is one of the most respected and widely used Rapid Application Development (RAD) environments. Over 1.7 million developers worldwide choose Delphi over other tools because Delphi radically speeds desktop, workstation, touch, kiosk, and Web application development without sacrificing an ounce of programming power or control. Applications built with Delphi are lightning fast, compact, provide rich UIs, and can connect with virtually any database or data source “out-of-the-box”.

A few other tidbits from the review:

"the good folks at Embarcadero came up with a brilliant idea called IDE Insight"
"Another item that I really like is DataSnap, which is similar to WCF in concept, but in execution, it feels much smoother."
"Delphi 2010 supports all sorts of new goodies, including multi-touch and gestures … beating Visual Studio 2010 to market by nearly six months"
"Delphi 2010 has good tools for debugging multithreaded applications, which is an increasingly important item"
"If you want to do Windows development, and you want to work with native code in a native style, I think that Delphi 2010 is a very productive tool."

Finally, in the summary, Justin gives the Delphi team the ultimate developer compliment, "Every time I work with the Embarcadero team, I feel like they are writing the tools that they would love to use; they really are developers’ developers, and they understand the development process very well and implement it as tools quite nicely."

Read the complete review at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/programming-and-development/?p=1924

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DBArtisan now supports Microsoft SQL Azure databases

David Intersimone — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:18:57 +0000

Today, at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC’09) in Los Angeles, Embarcadero Technologies announced DBArtisan for the SQL Azure database from Microsoft. The special edition of DBArtisan helps organizations expedite the deployment and simplify the management of cloud-based databases and applications.

DBArtisan for SQL Azure provides for basic database administration at the schema level, including object management and editors, SQL editing and schema extraction, as well as migration utilities to facilitate data migration from Microsoft SQL Server to SQL Azure. The tool enables enterprises to build symmetrical on-premise and cloud-based SQL Azure Database deployments, reducing in-house IT infrastructure costs and making certain data sets more readily available to offsite consumers.

Developers and database administrators can download a trial version of DBArtisan for SQL Azure. Information about the steps to download and register the trial are listed on the DBArtisan for SQL Azure product page. You’ll also need a Microsoft SQL Azure account.

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Your data, how you want it, where you want it, with DataSnap 2010

David Intersimone — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:50:43 +0000

You can use Embarcadero Technologies‘ RAD Studio 2010, Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, and Delphi Prism 2010 to build lightning-fast, rich native Windows, .NET, Web, and database applications. You can also decide to use the new DataSnap 2010 technology to build distributed applications with separate desktop or web clients, middle tier business logic application servers, and back end database servers. Bob Swart (aka Dr.Bob an IT consultant, developer, reseller, author, trainer and webmaster for his company Bob Swart Training & Consultancy - eBob42 - based in Helmond, The Netherlands) takes you from start to finish building DataSnap multi-tier applications.

Key new features in RAD Studio 2010 include:

NEW! Cutting-edge support for touch- and gesture-enabling your apps on any Windows OS, including Windows 7
NEW! IDE Insight for instant access to any feature, setting, or component
ENHANCED! Support for the latest databases with DataSnap™ and dbExpress™
NEW! Support for Firebird database!
NEW! Over 120 developer-focused IDE enhancements
and more

Your data, where you want, how you want it - watch the videos, read the paper!

Let Bob Swart ("Dr Bob") take you from the start with building DataSnap servers and clients on Windows, right through how to use filters, callbacks and build Web targets. Click http://www.embarcadero-info.com/in_action/radstudio/db.html to download his white paper and watch his new videos.

Please register to download the white paper at http://www.embarcadero-info.com/in_action/radstudio/db.html

White Paper: Delphi 2010 DataSnap: Your data – where you want, how you want it.

Table of contents

DataSnap History
DataSnap Windows Targets
DataSnap and Databases
DataSnap Filters
DataSnap Web Targets
HTTP(S) and Authentication
REST and JSON
DataSnap and .NET
Summary

Ways to stay connected and up to date with Embarcadero

Follow Us! Embarcadero on Twitter - http://twitter.com/EmbarcaderoTech
Watch Us! Videos on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/embarcaderotechnet
Network with Us! Embarcadero on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/companies/embarcadero-technologies
Take Part! Embarcadero Events - http://www.embarcadero.com/news/events.php
The Blogosphere! Embarcadero employee blogs - http://blogs.embarcadero.com/
Talk Shop! Embarcadero Discussion Forums - https://forums.embarcadero.com/index.jspa

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RAD Studio 2010 tour around the US in November and December

David Intersimone — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:38:16 +0000

We are on the road in the United States in November and December with free seminars and workshops covering all the development you can do with RAD Studio 2010, Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010 and Delphi Prism 2010.

Technology is moving fast. Learn the secrets to getting the most out of RAD Studio 2010 and new Windows technologies by attending the RAD Studio 2010 Tour in a city near you. These free two-hour technical seminars, led by noted experts David Intersimone, Anders Ohlsson, Nick Hodges, or Mike Rozlog, will give you a firsthand look at new capabilities that will make you more productive and successful with Delphi®, C++Builder®, Delphi Prism™ and Embarcadero® RAD Studio 2010.

You’ll learn how to:

Speed your development using new IDE and debugging enhancements
Take advantage of new Delphi language features including RTTI
Build apps that leverage new Windows® 7 technologies
Touch, multi-touch, and gesture enable your applications with ease
Migrate your earlier Delphi projects to Delphi 2010
Rapidly create multi-tier, desktop, and Web applications
Improve data and code comprehension and quality

Special discounts on Delphi, C++Builder, Delphi Prism and RAD Studio
Entry in a drawing for a free copy of RAD Studio 2010 and other prizes
Discount on Delphi training from The DSW Group

To register, click the city of your choice:

More cities and dates are being added. Stay tuned to this page for updates.

The U.S. tour home page can be found at http://www.embarcadero.com/rad-tour-2010-free-seminar

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Back from quick trip to Europe - thank you EKON 13 team and S&S

David Intersimone — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:25:44 +0000

I spent last week in London, Paris, and Darmstadt. In London, I spent the morning with 30 of the top Delphi developers giving deep dive technical demonstrations of the DataSnap 2010 and Touch/MultiTouch/Gesture support in Delphi 2010. In Paris, I gave an opening Embarcadero Technologies overview for the CodeWay Road Show Tour at La Defense.

Most of last week was spent with Delphi developers at the EKON 13 developer conference in Darmstadt Germany. Thank you so much to the great team at S&S Media, especially Masoud Kamali, for putting on another stellar developer event for both attendees and speakers. The conference covered Delphi 2010, Delphi Prism 2010, Database Application Development, Windows 7, .NET and more. There were many great technical presentations at the conference and a great roster of speakers including: Marco Cantu, Bernd Ua, Hadi Hariri, Daniel Magin, Olaf Monien, Ray Konopka, Jim McKeeth, Joachim (Jojo) Durr, Holger Flick, Holger Klemt, Jeroen Pluimers, Cary Jensen, Rudiger Kugler, Daniel Wischnewski, Sebastian Gingter, Max Kleiner, Jason Vokes and Matthias Eissing.

I will be travelling everywhere in the world this quarter (October to December). If you want me to visit, just send an email to davidi@embarcadero.com and I will see if I can schedule a stop on my way.

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David I, Live in London, Monday - September 28

David Intersimone — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:04:54 +0000

Stop Press! David I on the Road and in London for ONE DAY ONLY

Following the announcement of RAD Studio 2010 and after the online CodeRage 2009 conference David Intersimone (David I), Embarcadero Technologies Chief Evangelist and VP of Developer Relations, is coming to Europe and has a one day stop in London.

We would like to invite you to this half-day technical workshop to be updated by one of the world’s leading figures in software development.

There are only 35 places available for this live event. Dr. Glenn Wylie (Director of Sales UK, Ireland and South Africa), will personally approve registrations on a space available basis.

What’s new in Embarcadero Developer Tools?

Monday 28^th September

Premier Inn – London County Hall

10.00 – 01.15

In this interactive workshop session David I will take a look at the new developer tool offerings from Embarcadero. The session will include coverage of the New RAD Studio 2010, Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, and Delphi Prism 2010.

David I will also cover the product roadmap for Embarcadero products and how these very powerful software tools have been brought together with All-Access to provide even more power to the professional application developer.

Agenda

0930-1000 Registration
1000-1015 Introduction and overview
1015-1130 RAD Studio 2010
1130-1200 Tea/Coffee Break
1200-1230 The ultimate developer toolkit – All-Access
1230-1245 Summary and close

To register please visit: http://www.embarcadero-events.eu/uk/uk_david_i_on_the_road_reg.html

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Buy One/Get One offer ends this Thursday! David I live online Wednesday/Thursday…

David Intersimone — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:31:28 +0000

You can save several thousand dollars on an additional tool of your choosing. But you must act by September 24th!

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to upgrade your existing tools or increase the number of tools in your toolchest – for less than you might expect. But, you only have until September 24, 2009 to take advantage of this exceptional offer.

It’s simple – purchase any qualifying Embarcadero product and select another qualifying product FREE. Choose from over 16 of Embarcadero’s industry-leading application development and database tools, including DBArtisan®, Delphi®, Embarcadero® RAD Studio, ER/Studio®, JBuilder®, Rapid SQL® and more.

Whatever your choice may be, there has never been a better time than now to round out your set of application development and database tools. If you’re already working with an Embarcadero rep on a near-term purchase, please excuse this reminder notice. If not, you can contact our sales offices around the world (Corporate/Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific, Japan) or email us.

Visit the promo information page and click on the “What Can I Get For Free” link to access our easy, online tool to help you decide.

Ready to buy now? You can shop online, locate an authorized reseller, or contact our sales department for additional help or to receive a quote.

David I - Live Online Wednesday (9/23) and Thursday (9/24)

If you still need more convincing or help to purchase - I will be in my Embarcadero Live Meeting Room on Wednesday September 23 from 9am to 12 noon PDT (UTC -7), 3pm to 5pm PDT (UTC -7), and on Thursday September 24 from 7am to 5pm PDT (UTC -7).

To join me in my meeting room - use https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/embarcadero/join?id=DavidI&role=attend. I will answer questions, chat, demonstrate products, and replay some of the recent CodeRage IV sessions - whatever will help you take advantage of the special offer and get to to date with Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, Delphi Prism 2010 and RAD Studio 2010. I am also available for questions about Embarcadero All-Access and our database tools.

You can also contact me on Skype during these times - my Skype ID is davidi99. And you can email me to set up a specific time - send email to davidi@embarcadero.com.

Act quickly! Offer ends September 24, 2009.

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Delphi and C++Builder 2010 Touch/Gesture blog posts and videos …

David Intersimone — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:02:48 +0000

The new Delphi 2010 and C++Builder 2010 allow you to rapidly build touch based GUI, tablet, touchpad, and kiosk applications or easily upgrade existing applications UIs with little or no additional coding. You can touch enable all existing Delphi and C++Builder VCL applications by dropping a GestureManager component on your form. If you use Actions, you can connect gestures to your actions with no lines of code.

Delphi 2010 and C++Builder 2010 touch capabilities include:

Integrated gesturing framework with multi-OS support for Windows 7, Vista, XP, and 2000
Gesture Designer enables full control of all gesture design and interaction
Gesture components (TGestureListView, TGesturePreview, TGestureRecorder) to build gesture creation and management into VCL applications
Interactive multi-touch gestures for panning, zooming and rotating (requires multi-touch enabled OS)
TTouchKeyboard a virtual keyboard for enhanced non-keyboard interface interactions that supports multiple locales and languages
Fine grained control over touch and gesturing behavior in your apps – Form, Container, and Control level control
Compatible with both touch-enabled hardware or traditional input (ie Mouse)
Integrated support for both touch and multi-touch interfaces in the base VCL
30+ standard gestures for panning, zooming, rotating and more
Pluggable gesture engine architecture – use VCL, Windows, or your own custom recognizers

The following is a list of some of the recent R&D articles and blog posts relating to Touch, Multi-Touch, and Gesture support in Delphi 2010 and C++Builder 2010.

Touch, Multi-Touch, and Gesture support in Delphi 2010 and C++Builder 2010 was demonstrated at the recent CodeRage 4 online virtual conference. You should watch and/or download the following technical sessions.

Building Awesome Touch Enabled Applications - Chris Bensen, Embarcadero. Dude! Chris shows us how to leverage the hot multi-touch support in Windows 7 in your own bodacious applications.

Hands-On: Gestures in the VCL - Seppy Bloom, Embarcadero. Seppy takes us down from 30,000 feet to deep underneath the surface of the gesturing engine and shows us how to leverage actions, event handlers and more in order to support our own custom gestures.

Watch the Touch and Gesturing preview video where David I and Chris Bensen did some semi-serious acting. Click here to download a MP4 version of the preview video.

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A few of my favorite IDE features in Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, RAD Studio 2010

David Intersimone — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:14:13 +0000

I have been travelling the world and on the web over the past three weeks showing developers our new 2010 developer tools for Delphi and C++Builder - Two weeks in Asia and last week on the Internet for CodeRage 4. Based on the face-to-face and Internet feedback, attendees have had great things to say about the work that the R&D team accomplished over the past year. Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, and RAD Studio 2010 have added important application development and database development features while continuing to make the IDE more productive than ever before. Here is a list of some of my favorite new IDE features (many of which you can see in action on the CodeRage 4 session replays).

IDE Insight - hit F6 or Control-Period anywhere in the IDE, start typing a command, component name, code template, function, menu item, etc and up pops a list of likely choices. Anywhere, anytime!

The Code Editor Gutter while debugging- you can drag and drop gutter icons used by the debugger. Want to move a breakpoint? Just drag it to a new line. Want to clone a breakpoint? Hold down the Control key and drag (copy) the breakpoint to another line. Want to change the instruction point, just drag the current execution pointer to another line.

C++ class explorer - fastest way to traverse through your classes, see the code, see references to a class, function, property, etc. Best way to view the graph hierarchy (you can save it to a SVG file). You can organize the tree view of classes and members by group (you can create your own), by namespace, and by file. You can make changes in the source code or in the C++ class explorer.

Delphi Refactorings are now supported for generics, attributes (new in the Delphi 2010 compiler), and parameters.

File | Reopen - you can now set and maintain the lists of the most recently opened projects and files. If any of the recent project and files were moved or don’t exist anymore, you can click a button to remove them from the lists.

Component Palette - you can have it your way! If you like the right hand side category panel of components you can leave the default palette settings. If you like the older Delphi/C++Builder palette that appears as a toolbar, you can right mouse click on the toolbar area and select the component toolbar. And you get the incremental search for components in the "old" component toolbar.

Code Formatting - use the Tools | Options new item to set code formatting options for Delphi and C++ editing. Once you’ve chosen the way you want your code to look, the code editor will follow your choices for statement and block completion.

Debug Visualizers - tired of having to look at references to data types, having to inspect the contents? The 2010 IDE now supports debug visualizers that show you selected data types in their "natural" format. Visualizers are included for TDateTime, TDate, and TTime classes (for Delphi and C++), C++ standard string class, and Delphi TStrings class. When variables of known types are included in the local variables, watch, and evaluate/modify windows you see the data in its natural format. There is an IDE API so that you can build your own debug visualizers. Stay tuned to EDN for an announcement of "The Great Debug Visualizers Contest.

Search (Control-F12) in the editor now creates a search box in the status bar area of the editor instead of popping up a modal dialog for search and search again. As you type text into the search box, matching text is highlighted in editor. All matching strings are highlighted and you can easily move from item to item.

Background compilation for Delphi and C++. In Tools | Options Compiler you can turn on background compilation and set the thread priority for the compiler. When you start a compile, a snapshot is taken of any open files in the editor and the comilation starts. You can continue doing other work in the IDE while you watch the message window for any errors, warnings, hints, and completions.

If you haven’t seen some of the new productivity and flexibility enhancements in our new IDE, you can

Read the RAD Studio 2010 Delphi and C++Builder Reviewers Guide
Check out the Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, and RAD Studio 2010 feature matricies - choose the edition that’s right for you
Download one of the 2010 free trial editions
Watch/Download the following CodeRage 4 session replays
- New Features in the RAD Studio IDE
  - DOWNLOAD REPLAY
  - WATCH REPLAY
- What’s New in the Delphi and C++Builder Debugger
  - DOWNLOAD REPLAY
  - WATCH REPLAY NOW

These are just a few of the new 2010 IDE features. Do you have your favorites? If you haven’t purchased Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010 or RAD Studio 2010, now is the best time. Our buy one, get one free special offer ends September 24th.

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Delphi and C++Builder 2010 code samples are online

David Intersimone — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:42:23 +0000

Embarcadero Technologies‘ documentation team has placed the Code Samples (included in the help files for Delphi 2010, C++Builder 2010, and RAD Studio 2010) on a wiki site. There are (currently as of this blog post) 417 C++ examples and 534 Delphi examples. Examples can definifely help speed application development.

You can find the examples online at http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/CodeSamples/en/Main_Page

The home page has the following information and links:

This section contains code samples for commonly-used VCL and RTL components.

Use the Discussion tab for comments, improvements, and suggestions! Read the wiki Terms of Use.

Code Sample Index Full list of code samples by language, including which components they use.
Code Samples by Function List of all classes and functions used in code samples, along with which examples reference them.
Delphi Code Samples
C++ Code Samples
Code Samples by Unit and Class

If you have code samples you would like to post on this wiki, contact documentation@embarcadero.com

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