Delphi Chromium enbedded alternative on Firemonkey OSX, Windows and Linux - delphi

I need a fast and reliable HTML5 Browser component. For my needs TWebBrowser is too slow. I came across Chromium embedded but the components I found (DCEF3, DCEF4) are relying on Windows units. Also, there are no libraries for OSX32 as chromium is only available on 64 Bit for Mac.
Is there an alternative approach for native HTML5 for FMX on Windows, Linux and OSX?
Background: I use Delphi, FMX and FMXLinux to create a cross platform application on Windows, OSX and Linux and would like to embed and deploy Chromium together with TMS Webcore to offer a fat client and web access simultaneously without having to develop complicated forms twice (FMX and Web).
Michael

There is a version of DCEF maded by Salvador DF that can be compiled in Firemonkey at: https://github.com/salvadordf/CEF4Delphi.
It is a library for Delphi that i have tested on Windows 32&64Bit with good results.
I need to try it on fmxLinux using the binaries that you can find at: http://opensource.spotify.com/cefbuilds/index.html
But i think there is some work to do.

Related

Delphi XE4: target linux desktop? (gui application)

I am embarking on a cross platform app, but not mobile. It will be win/osx/linux. Would love to use Delphi + firemonkey, but it appears linux is not a possible target?
The GUI will not be extensive. Most of the code is non visual.
What are my options here? (Do I end up using lazerous for the linux side.... and then I have to have a special UI there?)
Please let me know my options here, how to solve this cross platform dev project (and hopefully avoid c++).
Linux is not currently one of the supported operating systems, as can clearly be seen from the product description on the Embarcadero web site. If you need Linux/Unix support, XE4 and FireMonkey aren't an option. (XE4 supports Win32, Win64, OSX, and iOS.)
There's support for Linux planned at some point in the future (after Android, which is currently being developed and slated for release later this year).

Installing HTML Components into Delphi XE

I think pbear's component HTML Components, v 9.45, is just what I need. His free download only has packages for Delphi 2006 and earlier. I have Delphi XE. How would I install his components into my Delphi?
Try this Google code download site THtmlViewer.
Seems to be updated to XE2 version plus Lazarus.
See also this answer to SO question How to display an email images on Pbear Html viewer component?.
Have you considered using Delphi Chromium Embedded? This is the Delphi API for Google's Chromium, which is used by the Google Chrome web browser. Several Delphi versions are supported, including XE and XE2.
Unless you only need rudimentary browser support, it makes sense to use an up-to-date browser with solid support for modern web standards.
The repository includes Delphi sample projects for VCL and FireMonkey.

Is there a web browser component for use in FireMonkey application?

For Delphi VCL there is TWebBrowser and some 3rd party components like TEmbeddedWebBrowser available for browsing a web.
Is there a similar web browser component but for Firemonkey framework in Delphi XE2 (ideally with Windows and Mac support) ?
You can use the ChromiumEmbedded package for Delphi. There's a TChromiumFMX component which is suited for FireMonkey applications. I've tested the demo project from the repository and it works fine for 32-bit Windows.
However I can't tell you if nor how to build and use it in Mac OS. The only thing I can tell you is that the ChromiumEmbedded for Delphi is distributed only with Windows binaries, the binaries for Mac OS you can download from here.
As far as I know (!), the situation is as follows:
CromiumEmbedded supports OSX (& Windows of course)
There is a Delphi ChromiumEmbedded
Delphi supports OSX through the FireMonkey framework
There is even a FireMonkey version of the Delphi ChromiumEmbedded
The Delphi/FireMonkey ChromiumEmbedded does not support OSX
If somebody knows better, that would be fantastic.

What is the "current" Delphi web app framework?

I'm looking at Delphi web server apps, and the first thing I notice when I go into the New Items dialog is that there are several different frameworks.
WebBroker looks the nicest from a conceptual standpoint, but in the documentation it looks like its DB and session-management code is tied to the BDE, which makes it somewhat less than useful today.
WebSnap looks very similar, but the documentation says it's deprecated and IW ("VCL for the Web") should be used instead.
So I look at IW, and I can't make heads or tails of how it's supposed to work. The sample code is full of stuff that looks like it belongs in a desktop app, like clicking a button to fire an event handler to change the caption of a form element. (Wouldn't that have to be done client-side in JavaScript if we're creating a webpage?)
So what's the current standard framework for building a web server in Delphi?
While there are several commercial options available for writing web apps with Delphi, in my opinion Delphi no longer ships with a modern web development solution included as part of the package.
If I had to give an answer to your question though I would say that the current out of the box Delphi web framework is WebBroker. WebBroker is the only web framework included with Delphi that isn't deprecated or restricted in its functionality.
WebBroker was introduced perhaps as far back as Delphi 4. It's a good honest work horse but it hasn't really been improved much since it was first introduced. It leaves you to do most of the heavy lifting but it also doesn't get in your way. WebSnap and IntraWeb were built using WebBroker as their foundation which gives you idea of the level of services it provides.
A full version of IntraWeb has been bundled with Delphi Enterprise for many years but as of Delphi XE it now has several limitations (no SSL, no ISAPI deployment, 20 minute idle timeout) that will very likely mean you'll need to buy a license from AtoZed to use it seriously.
The version of IntraWeb bundled with Delphi Pro has always been far too limited to be considered anything other than an evaluation version.
Old question but still deserves an up-to-date answer.
Current 'settled in' solutions are:
IntraWeb:
https://www.atozed.com/intraweb/
uniGUI:
http://unigui.com/
Introduction
uniGUI Web Application Framework extends Web application development experience to a new dimension. uniGUI enables Delphi developers to create, design and debug web applications in IDE using a unique set of visual components. Each component is designed to provide same functionality of its counterpart visual component in Delphi VCL. This provides a very comfortable development environment very close to native VCL application development with an easy learning curve. uniGUI Web applications can be deployed to a server using one of the available deployment options such as Windows Service, Standalone Server or ISAPI Module.
Product Highlights:
Based on industry's most advanced JavaScript library Sencha Ext JS.
Includes OEM license for Sencha Ext JS. (Please see licensing for details).
A unique platform to create stateful web applications.
Complete IDE support for creating projects, designing forms, frames and handling data modules.
Advanced support for scripting client side JavaScript events.
Library core is fully optimized to achieve highest level of scalability.
Including advanced Stress Test Tool utility.
Comes with various deployment options: ISAPI Module, Standalone Server and Windows Service.
Supported Delphi versions: Turbo Delphi Pro, Delphi 2006, Delphi 2007, Delphi 2009, Delphi 2010, Delphi XE, XE2, XE3, XE4, X5, XE6, XE7, XE8, Delphi 10 Seattle, 10.1 Berlin, 10.2.3 Tokyo and 10.3.3 Rio (Win32 & Win64 platforms). (Linux support is in the roadmap)
C++ Builder supported.
Supported Browsers: IE 9+, Microsoft Edge, FireFox, Chrome, Safari and Opera
New state-of-the-art uniGUI HyperServer technology.
TMS WebCore:
https://www.tmssoftware.com/site/tmswebcore.asp
RADical Web
Modern SPA web application model
Pure HTML5/CSS3/Javascript based applications
Standard component framework for common UI controls and access to browser features
Debugging in Pascal code via the browser
Backed by a solid & proven Delphi Pascal to Javascript compiler that was years in development
Reuse skills and components Component based RAD development integrated
in the Delphi IDE A truly revolutionary & innovative TMS FNC component
framework that is now also web enabled, allowing to create UI controls
that can be used on VCL, FMX, LCL and WEB! Open to consume other
existing Javascript frameworks & libraries Open to use HTML/CSS for
design Open to use other jQuery controls or even other Javascript
frameworks Offers Pascal class wrappers for jQuery controls from the
jQWidgets library Easy interfacing to REST cloud services including to
TMS XData for database
Easy Deployment Application consists of HTML & Javascript files only
that can be easily deployed on any light or heavyweight webservers Use
any existing load-balancing software and/or techniques for highest
performance Small and convenient debug webserver is included for fast
RAD development
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/DataSnap_Overview_and_Architecture
DataSnap has been there for a long time, and the latest releases is DCOM-free. You can utilize it to build up server side piece (S in both C/S and B/S). Its current role is almost like WCF in .NET world.
Then if you are building a web site front end, you can use IW. But DataSnap makes it even possible to build up front end using PHP or other web technologies.
https://github.com/relativ/pascalweb
PascalWeb use pascalscript compiler , you can create web app, like php or python

Does Delphi XE2 FireMonkey support Indy for cross-platform apps?

Looking at the new Delphi XE2 with Firemonkey. Considering that it compiles for Windows, Mac OSX and iOS, VCL components are useless in a FireMonkey application.
My question is: Is there/will there be an Indy Firemonkey Edition? Cause I seriously need the IdHTTP.Post();. If not, is there a way to do this in FireMonkey?
I have been googling for quite awhile now, not finding anything. :S
VCL means Visual Component Library. There's nothing about Indy that is "visual" (meaning "seen at runtime"), meaning that "VCL components are useless in a FireMonkey application" has no relevance to Indy.
You can create a new FireMonkey HD application in Delphi XE2, target OS X, and the Indy component pages are still available in the IDE, meaning that they are compatible with supported FireMonkey cross-platform targets. They're also available for FireMonkey HD Windows targets (32 and 64 bit).
Indy ships with the IDE (and has since D6) so there is nothing extra to buy if you already have XE2 installed. Also, Indy is open-source, so you can upgrade an Indy installation using source code from Indy's public access SVN server or mirror.
Regarding FireMonkey, Indy does work in FireMonkey. Indy uses whatever the native socket API is on a given platform (WinSock on Windows, Posix on Mac, libc on Kylix, etc).
The only known gotcha with Indy under FireMonkey at the moment is the TIdAntiFreeze component is not available at design-time. The IDE cannot resolve it correctly due to the non-standard way it is packaged (to be adressed in Indy 11). You can instantiate it programmably in code at run-time, though.
I made a client server example using tcp indy http://www.freelancecode.net/community/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=246
The Components Not Used in iOS Apps DocWiki page for Delphi XE2 lists most of the Indy classes:
The following list is the set of components (along with the used
units) that might be available in the Tool Palette for iOS
applications, but are not supported for iOS applications.

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