Free White Paper for Integrating FireMonkey into VCL, Visual Studio C# and C++ Applications
Free White Paper and Source Code!
Are you either a
- Windows software developer using Visual Studio..
or - A programmer who has been using VCL in Delphi and C++Builder?
if so, you may be interested in incorporating Win/Mac functionality from the new FireMonkey application platform into your applications? If so, my latest white paper is now available.
Download the white paper Integrating FireMonkey Into Your Existing VCL, C# and C++ Applications
FireMonkey is the first native CPU and GPU powered platform for rich win/mac business applications.
Posted by Stephen Ball on May 10th, 2012 under Delphi, FireMonkey | Comment now »In this paper, we will look at what is required to create a shared library with FireMonkey in RAD Studio that can be used across multiple platforms, specifically with Windows and Mac OS X. We will look at using the new library in Delphi FireMonkey and VCL applications and also with C#.
We will cover using the shared library for containing business logic that is shared across applications using examples. The first will be a simple library with no visual elements. The second will use FireMonkey forms within the library and illustrate the differences this causes due to GDI+. Finally, we also look at what is required to call the second example from a C# application.
The techniques used in this paper are relevant and applicable for developers using C++Builder to write visual (using FireMonkey) and non-visual code.
Debugging a (FireMonkey) library with Delphi and C++ Builder
If you have ever wondered how to debug when developing a library… than this 2 minute video is for you! This video uses code from my free white paper for developing multi-platform libraries
Posted by Stephen Ball on May 10th, 2012 under Delphi, FireMonkey | Comment now »Search Context Demo. Video and Code.
Great feed back from Developer Direct today. Twitter was a buzz with David I and Marco Cantu joining in the conversation.
A popular request at the end of the session was for the source code for the windows and mac search context demo that I wrote.
You can find that here : http://cc.embarcadero.com/Item/28773
This demo was covered in the FireMonkey in Action Live demo as well as in this video.
Also the white paper about FireMonkey Interoperability with other languages including C++, C# is here.
Posted by Stephen Ball on May 4th, 2012 under Uncategorized | Comment now »InterBase Technical Videos
With the move to multi-platform now a possibility with FireMonkey, one question I often get asked is what database should I use? Personally for WinMac development I could think of nothing I’d rather use than InterBase. I’ve been using InterBase for well over a decade, and it has matured into a very fast, robust, feature rich, light weight database that really lives up to its tag line of Embed, Deploy, Relax. - As featured in this recent InterBase webinar.
Bite sized InterBase Technical Sessions
Following on from the long webinars I’m currently working on some technical detailed sessions. These video’s will introduce the features and functions of InterBase to developers. The Video’s will cover a range of topics from Installation, using IBConsole, iSQL, Stored Procedures, Triggers, Journaling etc..
The first 3 video’s are now available online.
Installing InterBase on the MAC
Introduction to InterBase IBConsole
Introduction to InterBase iSQL command interface
To learn more about InterBase check out the InterBase website http://www.embarcadero.com/products/interbase and check back here for additional video releases.
Posted by Stephen Ball on May 3rd, 2012 under InterBase | Comment now »Multi-line, Win/Mac ready Input Dialogs in Delphi and C++ Builder
Currently I’m working on some new demos and I needed a way to quickly grab from the user updated database connection details that worked in VCL and FireMonkey. This is a common task in an application and your left with two options.
- Write your own dialog for the data entry (which means one for each platform in my case)
- Use in-built (multi-platform ready) options
Well, FireMonkey and VCL applications have access to methods called InputBox and InputQuery. (in VCL.Dialogs / FMX.Dialogs) These typically take in a prompt, a value and return a value. Now Delphi and C++ Developers have been using these functions for years, and the great news is that they work multi-platform today when used with FireMonkey (which helps future proof your code for that move multi-platform, if you need to, in the future). There is however another override for these dialogs that is not as well known, and that is the ability to pass in arrays of prompts and values. This means that very easily you can gather multiple values from a single input screen.
Along with multiple input values, the dialog also accepts a function that will control if the dialog can close. This means your dialog close options are built in line as well. Here is an example of how you can do this using a feature introduced in 2009 Anonymous methods.
procedure TForm3.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var Vars : array of string; begin SetLength(Vars,3); Vars[0] := '127.0.0.1'; Vars[1] := '211'; Vars[2] := 'TCP/IP'; if InputQuery('Server Details', ['Host','Port','Protocol'], Vars, function (const Values: array of string): Boolean begin Result := (Values[0] > '') and (Values[1] > '') and (Values[2] > ''); end)then begin ShowMessageFmt('Host : %S '+#13+'Port : %s'+#13+'Protocol : %s',[Vars[0],Vars[1],Vars[2]]); end;end;
OK, The test code here is called on a form, but my next step is to put this into the class I’m writing that manages the data connection, and then I’m ready to share the code between Windows and VCL applications. Happy days!!
Posted by Stephen Ball on April 24th, 2012 under Delphi, FireMonkey | 2 Comments »We like to get around a bit!!
Since I last posted about developer events in South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town), and our events in London and Dublin, I’ve been busy on the road for three more hectic weeks across
Scandinavia (Helsinki -Finland; Ballerup - Denmark; Oslo - Norway)
Where I found a very cool named restaurant at the hotel in Ballerup - Restaurant Pascal! It was also great to hear at one event from Jens Fudge, who is a board member of the Danish Delphi User Group, of some great workshops they have coming up soon, including sessions on Test Driven Development with RadStudio and Delphi (April).
Turkey (Istanbul & Ankara).
The two events in Turkey had over 100 attendees at each location and it was great to see a number of young developers attending. There is a great & growing passion for Rad Studio tools out there, and so good to see so many new developers attending.
Delphi Developer Days
Monday this week, I was at the launch of Delphi Developer Days 2012 in London (Heathrow). After giving a quick product it was great to see Marco and Cary give some cracking session. I was also really impressed by the wealth of material they have for the attendees. The hand book and code samples are exceptionally good!
DevWeek - London.
Finally, i’ve been attending DevWeek in London with hundreds of other developers. Our stand, hosted by Grey Matter, was really busy again with loads of Visual Studio developers really interested in how using C++ Builder they can write applications for Windows and Mac (WinMac) from the same code base- TODAY! After massive interest the winners of the Kindle and Wowee from the prize draw are shown below.
For more competitions and to find out more about how FireMonkey can help you get to multiple platforms today with stunningly visual, fast native applications on Windows, Mac and iOS check out this link http://embt.co/firemonkey-info
Posted by Stephen Ball on March 29th, 2012 under Events | Comment now »FireMonkey in Action LIVE!, London and Dublin
Following on from South Africa, this week I’ve had the pleasure of visiting two more cities with over 80 more developers to talk about RadStudio XE2 and FireMonkey. First stop was London and Tower42 where I again was presenting with David I.
This was a great event with so many customers sharing their excitement at XE2 with seeing 64bit Delphi and also FireMonkey for Delphi and C++ Builder enabling true multi-platform development for WinMac from the same code base.
FireMonkey in Multi-Colour anyone?
One of the funniest parts of the day was the monitor with a color disorder. (and the cheer every time it switched back to full colour mode) - Who would work with technology? 
FireMonkey from Tower 42
The following day I was back on a plane and this time over to Dublin to Croke Park. We were joined there by Stephen Foley (good first name) from Micromail. Its always fun getting over to Ireland and the welcome was as always very warm. Especially exciting for me was chatting about InterBase and the cool features that you get in even the smallest fully featured embedded versions like Journaling, delta backups, point in time recovery and column and table encryption.
The next two weeks will see me visiting five more cities more more live events. Hope to see you somewhere along the way
13th March - Helsinki, Finland
14th March - Copenhagen, Denmark
15th March - Oslo, Norway
19th March - Istanbul, Turkey
20th March - Ankara, Turkey
Launch of South African Delphi User Group
Last year saw Embarcadero head to South Africa for the first time with two events organised in partnership with Developer Connections (our local partner for South Africa).
Due to the success of the events, Dr Glenn Wylie (Director of Partner Sales covering South Africa & Sub Sahara Africa) promised he would get David I to join us for the next visit; and true to his word, last week, David I and myself had the pleasure of heading to South Africa for two events hosted excellently again by DeveloperConnections. (Thank you Manoli and team!)
Over 200 developers attended the FireMonkey In Action LIVE! events held in Johannesburg and Cape Town, which also saw the launch of the South African Delphi Developer Group.
Johannesburg FireMonkey Event March 2012
For all attendees of the event, there is a Special offer from Developer Connection for 10% discount on top of the Buy One Product Get One Free Offer currently running (valid until 30th March 2012) - Visit : www.developerconnections.co.za or www.thedevbay.com for details.
Posted by Stephen Ball on March 8th, 2012 under Uncategorized | Comment now »Events?
Following on from the 17th Birthday of Delphi this week, I’ve had a few people ask me about up-coming events.
Embarcadero Events
The best place to find out about events and webinars Embarcadero are running is via the events page of the website.
You can also get email notifications, which you can manage notifications through your EDN account settings. https://members.embarcadero.com/editaccount.aspx; so keep an eye on your emails too.
We have a lot of Delphi, C++ Builder and FireMonkey events running later this month and into March so DO have a look today! We are especially excited as David I will be joining me for South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town), London and Pawel for Breukelen.
Community Events
Along with the Embarcadero events, its also worth keeping an eye on community events.
Delphi experts Marco Cantù and Cary Jensen are present their annual Delphi Developer Days tour. Their first event is in London on 26th-27th March 2012, just around the corner from Heathrow. I will also be there both days if you want to come and meet me and ask questions.
I’ve also been told today they have a SPECIAL OFFER - Early Bird Discount of 10% off of the regular price when people register on or by 27th February 2012 for London.
For more about Delphi Developer Days 2012 visit http://www.delphideveloperdays.com/
Keeping with the UK, there are also Delphi and C++ centric groups like the UK Developer Group. I know from personal experience, these are a great way to build community links and learn from your peers.
Posted by Stephen Ball on February 15th, 2012 under Delphi, Events, FireMonkey | 1 Comment »Biz Flow - 3D Fish Facts Editor for FireMonkey
This example shows how to make a FireMonkey 3D filing card system for editing data on Fish Facts. (As seen on Delphi’s 17th Birthday webinar)
Follow this link for the code for BizFlow http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/28751
For the video replay of BizFlow click here. http://youtu.be/TbIgGRWGA-I
Biz Flow - FireMonkey 3D Fish Facts Editor
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