What are /r/delphi's favorite Products & Services?

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You can get a full FREE edition of 10.2.3 here

https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter

You do have to create a (free) user account, but after that you can legally download and use the full product.

No need to pirate it.

Activities are an Android term for something similar to a Delphi form, so I'm guessing you are having issues opening forms, or projects in general. If you could provide the errors or a better description of what is happening that would really help.

Generally speaking Delphi has really good compatibility moving from an older version to a newer version. But when you are moving from a newer version to an older version, which it sounds like you are doing, then you run into trouble if the project uses a feature that didn't exist in the old version.

For example, 10.4 has FireMonkey and multi-device support that didn't exist in 2010.

I would suggest you look at the free community edition of for Delphi 10.4 https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter/free-download

The new Update Subscription "upgrades" the software maintenance / assurance. So you have the new Update Subscription automatically.

Some of the new features include:

• Larger update windows (updates and hotfixes for up to two (2) years and three (3) major releases), so if you have an XE6 project you are still maintaining, but don't want to update it to XE7, then you will get some hotfixes and updates for XE6 to make maintenance easier for you.
• Exclusive bonus features, add-ons, and technical content - Subscription members will have access to exclusives that are only available to subscribers.

And you still get all the benefits you had before. Part of the reason for the change is to add more benefits and to make it clearer the purpose and benefits.

The Delphi Boot Camp should get you started.

And Delphi Starter is currently available for free.

> So any commercial software is a non-starter for hobbyists?

I'm sorry but that's plainly a mischaracterization of what I have said. To understand where I'm coming from, consider the new, young Swift programming language. Check out the Swift website. Note this line on the front page: "For students, learning Swift has been a great introduction to modern programming concepts and best practices. And because it is now open, their Swift skills will be able to be applied to an even broader range of platforms, from mobile devices to the desktop to the cloud."

Their clear focus is to build a development community around the Swift language by making the barrier to entry as low as possible and by targeting new developers as well as existing developers. Swift will soon become a more widely used language than Object Pascal because of this focus.

People are looking for new languages and they're not choosing Object Pascal because it's simply easier to choose another language.

> Also Joseph didn't make that distinction.

I don't know who Joseph is or what distinctions he may or may not have made. Better to focus on what I have said rather than what others may or may not have said.

Borland had Personal editions of some of their versions, but outdid themselves with the Turbo edition, which was functionally identical to D2006 Professional except that you couldn't install third party packages. They never followed up on this and let it die out.

Years later, Embarcadero offered their Starter Edition, which had some odd feature limitations. It was available for sale at first and then was made available for free. Great for getting started, but a little frustrating to use because of the limitations. However, they didn't kill it off after only one version, so they're already ahead of the game compared to the Turbo editions.

The Community Edition replaces Starter and is the most feature complete free edition they've ever offered. It is functionally identical to 10.2.3 Professional, which includes Win32/64 and mobile.

You could argue that they should have done this sooner, and I'd absolutely agree with you, but I think the important thing is that they (imho) have finally done it right.

You can pick up a used copy of Mastering Delphi 5 for practically nothing, about $3 plus shipping from a reseller on Amazon.

You can also get a copy of Marco Cantu's Object Pascal Handbook for free...

http://forms.embarcadero.com/DzoneDownloadMarcoseBook

I don't know. Lots of goodies for people doing server side work. And bug fixes and incremental improvements in the VCL, RTL and the IDE.

And I've been waiting for them to put Linux support back in for a long time.

From the Update Subscription page:

>Ongoing Maintenance and Hot-ixes for Previous Versions

> In the middle of a development cycle on an older IDE version? The RAD Studio team will now continue to release critical updates and hotfixes for up to two (2) years and three (3) major versions, improving your investment and enabling you to upgrade to the latest version on your schedule. All maintenance updates and hotfixes will only be available to users on an active Subscription and cannot be downloaded or purchased separately. Versions currently under Ongoing maintenance include XE7, XE6, and XE5 versions. Active subscribers will also have immediate access to beta hotfixes, providing the most timely access to critical fixes. All fixes, updates and hotfixes are purely at Embarcadero's discretion.

So which updates and hotfixes to be backported is at Embarcadero's discretion, and a lot of that will come down to the technical limitations, but the plan is to make them available on earlier versions, so yes, after XE8 is released, you may get bug fixes on XE7.

In what way? We still offer Delphi Starter edition. The upgrade price is $165 USD online or $217 new user.

I'm actually really enjoying this AMAA. Wasn't sure what sort of questions to expect.

I think the book is a nice combination of Design Patterns, Clean Code, Working effectively with legacy code and the Delphi handbooks.

So even if you are still using Delphi 7 there are things worth reading. However some things might not apply to you - but may want you to migrate your code to a newer version :)

I have a new mini-app for Minimizing windows (show desktop) only on the active monitor. The lack of ahotkey for this has been bugging me for a while, especially for programming where I like to have a web site open on monitor 2 whilst working on monitor 1. This lets me show Monitor 1's desktop whilst keeping the monitor 2 web page open.

Downloading Gitdesktop (git link soon) but here is the sourceforge link if anyone is interested. The code should compile and run as it does not use any custom libraries. (binaries in the \binaries directory)

https://sourceforge.net/projects/xlogprotection/files/MinimizeActiveMonitorWindows/

https://github.com/HelenFairgrieve/MinimizeActiveDesktop

That is a nice article.

Let me also highly recommend: Axailis Icon Worksop. It is super fast to create professional looking icons in a variety of internal formats that are easy to use in Delphi.

Here is a screenshot, that shows how you can easily work on multiple different icon sizes at once. Super easy!

Which database you are using?, in all cases moving from BDE to any other DB components is a good decision, even if you forced to do it.

I have migrated many projects from old BDE, ADO to Devart components, I'm using Unidac, which I consider it the best DB components for Delphi.

Also they have a migration wizard, that should do the all job for you, try to download the trial version and test it with your app.

Or to a newer Delphi.

.Net has never been great at migrating between versions, so it might save a bunch of time in the long run.

Delphi 11 was released today.

I have the previous versions, so I don't know if there is some kind of lockout. I certainly hope not, but if there is even the chance, I recommend getting all of the available licenses and download the ISOs up front, even the ones you don't think you'll use.

https://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/previous-versions

I always thought Starter was a little under powered, but I'm probably biased because I use Enterprise. And from the link, it looks like previous versions are only available for Professional and above. I'd check with a sales rep to be sure, though.

The subscription service is more cost effective than updates if you update frequently (every couple of releases), and there are other benefits. Highly recommended.

• https://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/update-subscription

I strongly discourage pirating software (and I assume you do, too). But I wonder if irrelevant software normally "so heavily pirated"?

Now you have an answer.

If you're genuinely interested, Embarcadero has a free Community Edition for use by students or hobbyists.

https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter

The Community edition is free if you don't make more then 5,000 USD a year from using Delphi.

https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter

Who Chooses Delphi Community Edition?

Individual Delphi developers, hobbyists, and students who are learning new programming languages, starting to develop cross-platform apps, maintaining open source Delphi projects, or learning the Delphi IDE, who are making less than $5000 in revenue and want to get started with professional-level developer tools.

It’s also perfect for early stage startups who are bootstrapping their product vision before securing capital! Develop your professional app with the Community Edition, knowing that you can skip the learning curve your competition faces when building for multiple platforms.

If you're a hobbyist, then you could probably get away with using the Community Edition.

The down sides are that the CE (currently 10.3.3) lags behind the commercial version and you can only use the latest released CE version (can't keep using 10.1, for example).

Oh, and your subscription lets you get keys for older versions. I think there might be some kind of time limit on those, so if you're interested, get them soon.

Check out the community edition. https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter This is great for students to use along side their study, and even to produce a concept application. If your company or you earn over $5k in the year, then you need to upgrade to a full license, but much better and longer lasting that a trial.

After a lot of suffering, I managed to get the "download page" for both Delphi and CBuilder, it looks like you could too if going to https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter/free-download/thank-you . I don't know if the download will allow you to proceed without the key that is sent in an email. Very confused by the randomness of the CE signup!

There is also the Delphi Starter edition. I think it's a little light on features, but I'm not the target audience, either.

Academic pricing is available, which is cheaper, but has some licensing restrictions. I think you need to contact Embarcadero for details.

• https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter

• http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter-faq

I use navicat to create all my SQL queries. It allows you to connect to multiple databases and has a pretty good visual SQL creation tool.

The tunnel script feature allows you to directly work with your servers database.

It it pretty easy to set up but PM me if you need a hand setting it up.

There was a book published around 1995-1996 called "Delphi For Dummies". Surprisingly it's not on Libgen but there are probably used copies floating around on Amazon. I would have to say this is the most accessible introductory, friendly book I've seen to the Delphi language if you ignore the changes to the IDE and the more complex objects.

I remember a good book series called Who's Afraid Of C++ (and C) which was also very conversational. There really need to be more books like this, as there are so many Delphi titles just read like a rehash of the old Borland manuals and focus on the IDE too much.

When i first needed to learn Delphi in 1998, the best resource was the book Delphi Programming for Dummies.

But here's the thing, and there's no way around it:

• you have type actually type in every example

You have to actually do the work. You have to actually type the code, and place the buttons, and listboxes, and text boxes, and date pickers.

• copy just read it and nod along
• don't copy-paste the code

Actually type it all in, and run it, and when you screwed it up debug it.

I took 4 days, typed in every example in the book, from cover to cover, and then i was able to do actual work in it. Actually sit dio

In 1998 I spent a week with

• https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1568846215/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-hHnFb2ZGGZCJ

Delphi for dummies.

The rule with all programming topics:

• read the book
• and type in every example

You have to type them in. You can't copy-paste. You can't just read and imagine it.

From zero to programming in it in 7 days.

It's a matter of opinion. I would never use that variable after my finally block, but if for some reason I was tempted to put code after that and write some huge procedure in which something like that might happen, then you could use FreeAndNil(). But really, buy and read "Clean Code" and just don't do stuff like that. FreeAndNil does have it's uses, I just wouldn't bother with it here, but that's mostly because of my coding style. YMMV.

The entire lazy way that beginner Delphi users get used to working (just put code in button) is indeed the opposite of clean code, it's a big ball of mud. But you can write clean code in any language. Starting to care is a good start. You can see what people do in java and C# and adapt to Delphi easily. is it hard to see when someone declares a class, declares a method, even if you don't know much about other languages? Not really hard. In fact, NOTHING in the book Clean Code is that hard to adapt to any language. Delphi has Interface types, but remember that "Interface" in the sense of the book (and in the general design community) is a more general term it doesn't mean you have to use a reference counted interface. Abstract base classes can serve the same role, and are more appropriate in Delphi in some cases. Get familiar with IoC containers, dependency injection, and the appropriate use of interfaces.

Object Pascal Handbook from Marco Cantu. https://www.amazon.com/Object-Pascal-Handbook-Marco-Cantu/dp/1514349949

they used to give away a PDF version with Delphi Starter, but once it is free now, I'm not sure.