How to stop Delphi from generating a RSM file? - delphi

I just added the '64 bits platform' to my project and my Delphi (XE7) keeps generating a huge RSM file (which increases the compilation time). According to the Help this should not happen if the 'Include remote debug symbols' option is disabled.
And in my case it is disabled.
There is something else to be disabled?

from http://embarcadero.newsgroups.archived.at/public.delphi.ide/201203/12030416462.html
Delphi XE2 generates RSM files that are several MB in size. As I
understand it, these files are for remote debugging. Is there a way
to turn off the generation of these files?
Yes. In the Project Options look on the page "Delphi Compiler\Linking"
for "Include remote debug symbols" and turn it off if you do Win32
debugging. Note it is necessary for Win64 debugging.
and continuing on http://www.devsuperpage.com/search/Articles.aspx?G=2&ArtID=20168
The IDE is 32-bit, because that's the only way it can work on both 32
and 64 bit versions of Windows. (Win64 can run 32 bit apps, but Win32
can't run 64 bit apps.) That's why the remote debugger is used for 64
bit and cross-platform apps.
Jeff Overcash from TeamB
Is the reason that Delphi XE2 is not itself really 64-bit?
Sure, then it can't be run on 32 bit OS's. All third party components
won't work at all until a 64 bit version of it exists (a 64 bit IDE
would not be able to load a 32 bit bpl), this would be a major reason
for people not to upgrade too. Supporting both a 32 bit and 64 bit
IDE doubles the testing time for little to no benefit.

Related

Import chartfx to Delphi XE2

A number of delphi applications that I work with use an activex chartfx control. I realize that the company softwarefx stopped supporting delphi a while ago but we are transitioning to 64 bit builds and this component is our main obstacle. We could convert all our charts to TeeCharts if necessary but this would be a lot of changes.
I have gotten the 32 bit chartfx component to install and compile in xe2 but am unsure of the next step. Support did provide me with 64 bit dlls.
So I guess I have 3 questions:
has anyone sucessfully moved chartfx to a 64 bit delphi environment or
could you direct me to instructions on creating a component that is 32 bit at design time but can be 32 bit or 64 bit for compile?
is there a better way to do this?
edit: uploaded chartfx62 client server delphi code to http://www.filefactory.com/file/ce61229/n/Cfx62ClientServer_TLB.pas
You need to get the 64 bit ActiveX DLLs to go with your 64 bit runtime. Designtime Delphi is still always 32 bit.
If ChartFX doesn't supply 64 bit version you are stuck. Having looked on the website it seems that the vendor does not yet supply a 64 bit ChartFX ActiveX and is soliciting feedback as to how much demand there is for it.
I would recommend transitioning to TeeChart which is native Delphi code and has a very strong tradition on Delphi. You can be confident of future support for other platforms as and when they become available.

How to select 32 or 64 bit Informix Csdk 3.7?

My developer machine is a Windows 7 64bit and have some programs on 32 an others on 64 bits
since the upgrade of the 3.70FC3 and 3.70TC3, I'm having problems compiling with VisualStudio 2010 sp1.
maybe there is some configuration that I need to do to change 64 to 32 bit. Or maybe is not supported to have both csdk
If it is feasible, you select which is in use by setting $INFORMIXDIR (oops; I mean %INFORMIXDIR%) to the correct directory and any other related changes (the correct bin subdirectory added to %PATH%, etc).
If there isn't an easy way to switch such variables, then it may not be feasible; I avoid working on Windows so I can't report of my own experience. Classically, it was certainly expected that you would choose one version and stick with it. On Unix, it has been possible to have both, but there isn't the registry to complicate things.

Will compiling a DLL in Delphi 7 on a 64bit OS result in a 64bit DLL?

As the title suggests!
I'm trying to get a 64bit dll
No.
Nope. Delphi 7 was released in 2002; the first AMD64 processor was released in 2003. No way Delphi 7 knows how to generate 64-bit code.
All released versions of Delphi following the 16 bit Delphi 1 emit 32 bit targets. At the moment your options are:
Wait until the upcoming 64 bit Delphi release. We anticipate this some time this year, but your port will be non-trivial.
Port to FreePascal. Again, a non-trivial port.
Port to a completely different language: even more work than porting to Free Pascal.
Carry on running 32 bit code.
Compiling a program means to translate your source files into CPU opcodes (and something more, it has to generate a executable image that can work on the OS it was designed for, respecting the OS ABI - Application Binary Interface). Each type of CPU has its own set of opcodes, and even if the Intel x86 architecture has many similarities among 16, 32 and 64 bit opcodes, there are enough differences and the ABI is anyway different.
Creating a 64 bit exe/dll means to generate 64 bit opcodes using also the new 64 bit ABI, and to do that a compiler must be written to "know" them, what a compiler can do is defined by how the compiler itself is written, not by the system it is run on. Delphi 7 compiler "doesn't know" about 64 bit CPUs and exe/dll ABI, and thereby can't generate it. This is true as well up to Delphi XE. The next version should be the first one to come with a 64 bit compiler, you can wait for it, or if you're in a hurry there are some partially compatible compilers like FPC.

Delphi issues on windows 7 x64?

I searched around but I couldn't find a straight answer to these questions, only bits and pieces: if I install windows seven x64,
1 - will I be able to use delphi 2007+ as I'm used to aka start it, code in it, debug in it, compile in it ? I've seen the debugger issue and the hex edit workaround.
2 - will my application compiled in that environnement work on 32 bit versions of windows ?
3 - will my application I compiled with delphi on 32 bit windows work this 64 bit version ?
(of course all this is assuming "normal" applications as-in I don't expect things to work if I'm playing with pointers expecting them to be 32 bits long, obviously)
The overall question of this would be, as someone who is moving to windows seven 64 bits, will I be able to/should I use this as my main delphi developpement platform or will i be better off keeping a 32 bit boot for delphi dev ?
Thanks to anyone who can give me a clue about this
As Mason Wheeler stated, there's a problem with the 2007/2009 debugger and 64-bit platforms but it can easily be fixed.
I'm using D2007 (with this fix) on Windows 7 64-bit on a daily basis and it works just great.
There is now a hotfix for this.
No idea about Windows 7 64 bit version, but I have been using Delphi 4, 5, 2007 and 2009 for nearly a year now on Windows XP 64 bit, and given the effort Microsoft spends on backwards compatibility I don't see why things should be very different on Windows 7. This answers your last question - no need to keep a separate partition. Use virtualization for running things on a 32 bit system. Windows 7 does AFAIK offer you a virtualized Windows XP subsystem - at no cost, but you may need to download it separately.
Re 2. and 3.: The OS an application is compiled on does not matter for the deployment, as long as the compilation itself works. I have only ever been compiling 16 bit Delphi programs on 32 bit Windows versions, without problems. You should however always test on clean installations of your target OS versions, as a developer PC is sufficiently different from a user PC to not assume that everything will just work. This however is general advise, and has nothing to do with a 64 bit OS.
Your Delphi programs will run on a 32 bit layer (WOW64 - Windows on Windows 64) of Windows 64 bit which is close enough to the real 32 bit OS that you do not need to care about it, unless you work very closely with the lower system level.
I was doing some work on Delphi 2007 under Windows 7 64-bit yesterday, and it was a disaster. Every time I'd leave the program while debugging, either by quitting out normally or by stopping the debugger, it would raise an assertion failure that I couldn't get out of, bringing down the entire IDE. (This never happened under XP.) Apparently the WOW64 emulator isn't quite as stable as it ought to be... :(
If you're going to try to work on Windows 7 64-bit, I'd strongly recommend upgrading to Delphi 2010, which was built specifically with Windows 7 compliance in mind. If that's not an option, then at least install a VM with XP on it for your dev work.
Answers are:
1. Yes - With the workaround for the debugger issue
2. Yes - Delphi 2007 (native) will only build 32 bit applications
3. Yes - Unless it's a Device Driver or low-level service
First apply the patch as mentioned on Olaf's Blog. This fixes the debugger exit error.
Second, Install Windows XP Mode, which is a fully clean (and legal) windows XP 32bit virtual machine.
Compile application on Windows 7 64bit. Install onto the virtual machine. It should just work. Rinse, lather and repeat for other applications you are developing.
XP Mode is available to all owners of Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate editions. Don't know about corporate editions.
This is what I'm currently using for development as I had to perform an emergency OSectomy of a Macbook Pro
I run Delphi 2007 on Windows 7 Professional 64 bit and it was fine for a bit until a patch Tuesday a while ago. The IDE would die after throwing the debug error (SetThreadContext failed). I applied the patch found at http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/27521 and no more problems.
HTH. YMMV.
Doug
FYI, I am running Delphi 7 on Win7 64-bit. The trick to run this version is to NOT install to the Program Files(x86) folder - instead, install to something like C:\Delphi7. Been working with it this way for about a month now with a pretty heavy development load and it works great!

Why can't my program find its DLLs on Vista 64?

I recently got a new laptop. Unfortunately, it came with Vista. It's been one big hassle getting it to work, and the comp has hardware components for which there are no XP drivers, so I can't "upgrade" to an OS that actually works. I've mostly gotten things working, but one particularly odd problem has me stumped.
I installed Delphi and tried to build a project. It compiled, but wouldn't run. "This application failed to start because sdl.dll was not found." Fair enough. So I grabbed SDL.dll and put it in the C:\windows\system32 folder. (Using Vista 64-bit Home Premium. This is a 32-bit dll, though, so I put it in the 32 folder instead of the 64 one.)
Hit Run again. Same problem. But why? That's where it goes, right? And C:\windows\system32 is in the system path. Anyone know why it can't link to the DLL?
(And yes, I know that I can work around the problem by putting the DLL in the same folder as the .exe. I'm currently doing that as a workaround. It's a bad idea in the long term, though, because I have a handful of different projects that all require SDL.)
That is not a Vista problem, but a 64 bit Windows problem: The name System32 is really confusing, but this is actually the folder where the systems (64 bit) DLLs reside.
So on any 64 bit version of Windows...
... all 64 bit system DLLs are located in C:\Windows\System32.
... all 32 bit system DLLs are located in C:\Windows\SysWOW64.
The name comes from Windows on Windows 64 (WOW64) which is the name of the translation layer allowing 32 bit applications to use the native 64 bit system resources.
Raymond Chen recently addressed the basic reason behind why 32-bit system directories are weird on 64-bit Windows. The first paragraph of the entry is really the key to understanding the reason behind segregated 32-bit directories:
On 64-bit Windows, 32-bit programs run
in an emulation layer...If a 32-bit
program tries to look at the system,
it will see a 32-bit system.
I think you'd have to have separate directories to keep these things all separate and working. The seemingly counter-intuitive name of SysWOW64 for the directory where the files reside is makes more sense when you consider that WOW64 means Windows On Windows 64-bit, which is what the emulater that's mentioned above is called.

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