Xamarin.Android.Support.V7.AppCompat vs Xamarin.Android.Support.Compat - xamarin.android

Can someone please explain me the difference between Xamarin.Android.Support.V7.AppCompat and Xamarin.Android.Support.Compat?
I totally get why we have to use Xamarin.Android.Support.V7.AppCompat. This is basically to support old verison of Android OS.
I have this reference in my android project but after installing Xamarin.Essentials nuget package, I get the following error:
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: already added : Landroid/support/annotation/AnimRes
Also after installing Xamarin.Essentials nuget package, my project references Xamarin.Android.Support.Compat library. I am not sure if both the libraries(V7Compat and Compat) needs to be there on my project or should I get rid of the V7Compat library.
Just not sure if I should remove V7AppCompat nuget package from my project?

The Xamarin.Android.AppCompat is just what it says. It is a library for App Compatibility for backward compatibility for previous versions of Android. AppCompat should add the functionality of the latest API to older APIs when needed. For instance, lollipop added the CardView class, which can be used in older Android APIs when AppCompat is used, with some minor differences (some of the Android L animations may not apply on older versions of Android for example).
And more specifically this version (v7) brings support for Action Bar support.
It is recommended to use AppCompat in most cases since more users will be able to run your app when you do (depending on your MinSdkVersion).
If you want to know what classes you can access in AppCompat, you can take a look at the features here:
https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/support-library/features.html
Besides, after I installed Xamarin.Android.Support.V7.AppCompat,I could install Xamarin.Essentials nuget package normally.

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DirectX Install Directory

So, I tried installing Microsoft DirectX 2010, when I was setting the directory of in the installer I put it to the wrong directory that I wanted it in. Now, every time I open the installer, it doesn't give me an option to change the directory, it just says continue and install. If anyone has a solution to this that would be really nice.
EDIT: Also forgot to note that when I installed it on my D: drive (its supposed to be on C: ) I get the error code S1023
The S1023 issue is detailed in this post. Because the setup just outright failed, and it's built on ancient pre-MSI technology, you need to clean out the old installation manually.
Delete the failed install directory
Using regedit to delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\DirectX SDK, HKLM\Software\Microsoft\DirectX SDK. If you are on a x64 system (which I hope you are), also delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\DirectX SDK.
Edit your system environment variables and remove the entry for DXSDK_DIR.
The DirectX SDK is deprecated. If you are using VS 2012 or later -or- the Windows 8.0 SDK or later, and you are using DirectX 11 or DirectX 12, then you don't need it. See Microsoft Docs.
There are a few cases where it's still legitimate to use the legacy DirectX SDK as covered in The Zombie DirectX SDK, but for the most part you should avoid using it for new projects.
If you are trying to get an old game to work, try installing the latest DXSETUP/DXWSETUP but keep in mind that it doesn't actually install DirectX at all. See Not So Direct Setup
UPDATE: There are now really no reasons to use the legacy DirectX SDK at all. See Where is the DirectX SDK (2021 Edition)? for the overall status and details.
For legacy D3DX9/D3DX10/D3DX11, use the Microsoft.DXSDK.D3DX NuGet package per this blog post. No need for the legacy DirectX SDK or to use legacy DXSETUP for this solution.
For XAudio2 on Windows 7, use the Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist NuGet package per Microsoft Docs.

OpenAM source code failed to build using ant?

We are using this openAM 9.5 RC1 branch source in our project. https://github.com/svn2github/openam.git
In order to fix some bugs, we have to modify existing openAM's amserver library. For this, we have downloaded the source code from above location and tried to compile it offline using ant (as stated in README). But we are not able to compile it anyhow (even after making necessary changes, adding dependencies etc.)
Is there any way to construct required library (amserver.jar) from this source code ?
The OpenAM 9.5.x and 10.0.x versions are rather difficult to build, but from 11.0.0 the build process should be much more simpler since the project has been migrated over to Maven build system.
In any case, the version you are using (Snapshot 9.5.1 RC1) is very much outdated and most likely has several critical issues (not to mention the security issues).
I would strongly advise against putting effort into backporting fixes to that ancient version. Instead you should realize that you are running a more than 4 years old version of a security component, and upgrade your system to a more recent version as soon as possible.

How to handle project specific components in Delphi?

Let's say we have a team that works on many different projects. Each team member uses different set of visual/non-visual controls/components during it's development cycle. Since Delphi requires each component to be compiled and installed globally in the IDE, how to manage this situation while working with project which was started by the other team member?
It would be great if I could checkout the sources of a project from the version control and have the ability to compile it immediately. I don't care or sometimes don't know what visual or non-visual components are required for this project, I guess they all should be included in the project sources.
Maybe there are some tools which could read main project file or directory and compile/install all the needed components on project loading (and uninstall them when project is closed)?
How do you handle this issue in Delphi?
In our company, we have the same problem.
We solve this by forcing everyone to have all necessary library paths added to their delphi ide.
We are using an additional sdk/framwork repository which containins all components/sdks/frameworks of everyone .
We keep a single text file, listing all libs with its version, install infos, etc.
Everyone checks their wanted libraries, so we do not have double libraries or different versions.
Since we all work under Windows and since Delphi keeps its paths and (afaik) installed-components informations in the registry, we extracted these informations.
We store for each used delphi version a .reg file within the sdk repository trunk.
So, if someone changes a framework, he updates the informations for everyone in the .reg files and commits it.
now, if someone wants to setup their dev-machine, they check-out the sdk, adds the e.g. xe2.reg informations to their registry, then check out the project and ... tada. compiling.
We have not tried to extract the "installed components" packages. thats on our to-do list.
An alternative would be to keep a batch file for building and installing all sdk packages at once. But i do not know if installing components via commandline is possible in delphi.
Something like the JEDI installer would be nice. The installer detects installed Delphi versions and builds & installs everything nicely.
A freely configurable version would be nice, so add all sdks -> install on each version.. perfect.
Anyone who wants to compile a given project must first install any components that project is using. There is no getting around that, unless the project directly includes the components source code and instantiates the components in code instead of using a DFM. AFAIK, there is no IDE tool that will automated component (un)installation on a per-project basis for you.
It's very wise to constraint which components and libraries that will be used by your team. If each member decide which component they will use, your final executable or packages will grow a lot and you can have some incompatibilities between libraries.
Besides, you can have extra costs buying and updating libraries that are very similar. Remember that each time Delphi is updated, you should buy new licences from most of that libraries.
So the best approach is:
ask which libraries each developer are using and discuss with them the real need of each one;
catalog those library required and install them on the machine that you will compile your final code;

Using DirectX Effect11 with Visual Studio 2012

I recently updated to Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate. I was programming previously with DirectX 11 June 2010 SDK and want to continue to do so using Visual Studio 2012. However, I discovered that VS2012 comes with its own DirectX SDK (in Windows Kit 8.0) and I've been trying to migrate my code using the newer versions of d3d11. Everything went fine until I try to use effect files in my project (.fx files). I had to compile the Effects11 Sample in the DirectX SDK using VS2012 and link the lib file in my project. That went fine too. However, when I compile my project the function D3DX11CreateEffectFromMemory returns a E_NOINTERFACE error (no such interface is supported). Can anyone tell me why is that? Note that I'm using the d3d11.lib from the Windows Kit and the d3dx11.lib from the DirectX SDK. Perhaps I shouldn't mix them? However, everything else works fine when I mix them, except for the effect file creation.
Any help would be appreciated.
P.S. I don't know if this is helpful but just so you know, if I add an additional library directory in the project settings of "DirectXSDKInstallPath\lib\x86\" it works. Why is that? Does it mean I'm using the older version of the libraries? This will give a ton of warnings about redefined headers in winerror.h
D3DX Library has been deprecated for the newest version of DirectX 11 (Windows 8). See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb172965(v=vs.85).aspx
Effects are now handled a different way. You can program your own library to load effects or use DirectX Tool Kit (DirectXTK): http://directxtk.codeplex.com/
Microsoft has recommended this tool kit on their web site, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee663275.aspx for more information.
Effect11 has moved to https://fx11.codeplex.com/, you need to compile it and link yourself.
DirectXTK does not provide the effect11 interface, but only simplified effects
This is probably caused by d3d library conflicts.
Make sure what d3d libraries you are using.Because there are 2 different d3d libraries.
One in DXSDK_DIR\Lib\x86 or \x64,and one in c:\program files(x86?)\Microsoft SDKs.
If you are using DXSDK, then pass $(DXSDK_DIR)Include $(DXSDK_DIR)Lib\x86 ahead of Microsoft SDKs' includes,libs directory in the Include directories and Library directories fields respectively.
In the previous version of Direct3D, the effects framework worked out of the box once you linked with the D3D10 library. In Direct3D 11, the effects framework has been moved to the D3DX library, and you have to include a separate header file (d3dx11Effect.h) and link with a separate library (D3DX11Effects.libfor release builds and D3DX11EffectsD.libfor debug builds).
Furthermore, in Direct3D 11, they give you the full source code for the effects library code (DirectX SDK\Samples\C++ \Effects11). Thus, you could modify the effects framework for your own needs. In this book, we will only be using the effects framework as is, without modification. In order to use the library, you need to first build the Effects11project in both release and debug mode to generate the D3DX11Effects.lib and D3DX11EffectsD.libfiles; you will only need to do this once unless the effects framework is updated (e.g., a new version of the DirectX SDK may update these files, so you may want to rebuild the .lib files to get the latest version). The d3dx11Effect.h header file can be found in DirectX SDK\Samples\C++\Effects11\Inc.
For our sample projects, we place the d3dx11Effect.h, D3DX11EffectsD.lib, and D3DX11Effects.libfiles in the Commondirectory that all of our projects share code from (see the “Introduction” for a description of the sample project organization).

Base SDK Missing

I get the "BASE SDK Missing" when re-opeing projects. (I got the latest build of xcode, and latest SDK installed.)
It seems to be happening when I quit a project, (not exiting xcode), and re-open the project after a while. I have tried both, with and without my iPhone plugged in. I have tried to fix the problem like described here, but it does not help for me. - It just makes it even worse! (unrecognizable SDK)
The only way I have managed to get it back to normal, is to do a manual re-boot of my mac, plugged in my phone, waited until it has checked my iPhone, and then, opened xcode. Time consuming and annoying!
Why does it happen and what is the trick to fix this?
Your recent upgrade of Xcode likely removed the earlier SDK that your project was set to use. There are a couple of solutions for the problem. The most simple solution is to always select the "Latest" SDK in your project's settings and not select a specific option. You may be uncomfortable with the idea and want to run your app on an older device but it's important you understand that all of the newer SDKs can generate code that works on older versions of iOS. There's a separate hard to remember option for setting the deploy target. (It took me a while to learn how/why to use this but it's well worth it.)
The second option is to actually find a version of the SDK that your project is set to and attempt to reinstall it. I suggest going this route only if necessary as it's not guaranteed to work in each case. Older SDKs may or may not work in later versions of Xcode (Eg. SDK 3.0 might not work in Xcode 4.3.2) due to major changes in the toolchains. Tools like gcc/gdb are deprecated in favor of llvm/lldb. Still, you may have a valid reason for using an older SDK. You may have to fix a bug that is present only when using the older toolchain or you may need to reproduce a problem that only happens with builds generated from your build server. In many of these cases it might be easier to upgrade where the problem occurs (Eg. upgrade the tools on the build server) or downgrade your dev environment. (Install an older version of Xcode.)
The reasoning behind the frustration is that Apple highly encourages rapid adoption of it's latest tools and technologies. It creates a better product as the dev community is forced to stay current and competitive while the users are forced to maintain upgrades to ensure apps continue to work. This is in contrast with the traditional model of backward compatibility allowing developers to support revision -n of a product/platform. It is also great for business since rapid adoption of the latest often encourages purchase of newer hardware and products to get the best experience. The rapid adoption ensures the more robust software along with bug fixes, enhancements make it to the majority of consumers overall increasing their penetration in the market.
You have to set your target and project's base SDK to "Latest" and not an explicit option. If you choose one explicitly it seems to break if you update xcode versions.

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