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I have two PCs both with XE2. I thought that I had installed identically on both but have problems installing 3rd party packages on one while the other is just fine.
I want the same on both anyway. The easist would probably just to "migrate" the working set-up by moving in into my Dropbox folder. Can I do that? If so, how?
If not, can I (easilly) backup my registry settings on one machine and then import them on the other?
I suppose I could just sort out the problem on the one PC, but am not having much luck so far. I would rather invest the time in only having one Delphi setup. And since I am moving lots of other stuff to DropBox anyway ...
The tool for this is now built into Delphi XE8 and higher.
It's found here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\bin\migrationtool.exe
Online documentation:
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Rio/en/Settings_Migration_Tool
Install CnPack wizards from http://www.cnpack.org
From the CnPack toolbar select IDE Config Backup/Restore (image below) and save this file somewhere safe
Copy the components to the second delphi machine . Keep the exact same directory structure.
I store my components as follows this helps backing up, moving etc., but you can use your own structure
D:\components_bds\DCU
D:\components_bds\BPL
D:\components_bds\ComponentsThemselves
Use the restore config file from CnPack to restore your components on the new machine
This is also useful if your testing components that you plan to remove later and keeping a backup of your installation incase something goes wrong you can save time with new delphi installation if hard drive dies. Keep a copy on flashdrive or somewhere safe
You may compare/diff the config file created by cnPack using a tool like Beyond Compare and see what the differences are to find out why third party components give problems on one of the machines. It may be a Delphi registry/installation problem or a problem in the paths of the thirdparty components. Components need to be installed in an order perhaps it did not find the needed dcu or dll it depends on.
I don't know of any way to do so with DropBox. Here's an old post I made (related to Delphi 7, but with correction of registry keys still applicable) in the CodeGear newsgroups; hopefully it will help.
(It probably goes without saying, but back up the existing registry settings on the destination machine before starting by using RegEdit and exporting them, just in case. You'll at least be able to get back to the point you're at now if something goes wrong by deleting the imported entries and then importing the saved ones.)
You can't, without some difficulty anyway. (Especially if you have
third party components installed, as they may have placed files in the
%SYSTEM% folder you may not know about.)
You may be able to (for going from the old computer to the new
computer running the same exact version of Windows!) by exporting the
registry keys under HKCU\Software\Embarcadero and
HKLM\Software\Embarcadero from the old machine, and then after
installing Delphi on the new machine (in the exact same folder
location) importing that registry file.
Many of the compiler, linker, and other settings are configured on a
per-project basis, and should transfer over when you move your source
code to the new machine.
Third-party components are a problem, as I mentioned above. You may be
able to get away with using the registry export/import if you copy
each third-party component set from the old computer into exactly
the same location on the new machine before importing the registry
file. You'll probably have to track down some .BPL files that end up
in the $(BDS)\Bin and possibly other folders under the $(BDS)
tree; the IDE will tell you about missing stuff when you try and start
it. Make sure you answer "Yes " when asked if you want to try and load
it again next time!
Most of my development is hobby stuff or wannabe releases. Instead of dying trying to move my XE2 Pro from my Dell Inspiron N7110 Win 7 machine to my new Win 10 SSD machine, I'm seriously thinking of switching to Lazarus. I've used Lazarus 2.x with Indy 10, ZeosLib, and Firebird and successfully created a working distributed internet system. I also created Lazarus version of my XE2 Blackjack program. When compared to XE2, Lazarus (IMO) has only two weakness and neither are deal breakers for me. BTW, I have successfully duplicated Lazarus (with all installed components) from one machine to another simply by copying and pasting the Lazarus directory and it works. Try that with Delphi.
Sam
I made a simple application that uses Indy and requires OpenSSL dlls.
I am not going to write an installer for it, so I have 2 options:
1) deploy it by copying the application exe + libeay32.dll + ssleay32.dll in the same folder
2) put libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll in the exe resources and extract them to the applicationpath on program start (but this can may be a problem in case I am running the exe on a windowsserver 2008 or windows vista and I used the Program Files folder to "deploy")
Can you comment on those techinques or suggest a better approach?
You could stick with option 1) :D
Or, you could use a variation on number 2, but extract them to the application data path:
GetSpecialFolderPath(CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA))
and use
SetDLLDirectory(DirectoryPath:PWideChar)
to specify where to load dll's from
Of course, to be perfectly honest, it's quicker just to write a simple installer!
Edit:
Oh, and yes, as UnixShadow mentioned, hash the dll's so you can be sure that you're using the correct files!
Option 3: use Inno to install it! You may have a good reason for not wanting to use an installer, but in case your reason is you think it's too expensive (in time or money), you might check out Inno. I started using it earlier this year and was amazed at how easy it is to learn and use. And, it's free!
Of course the side benefit of learning Inno is that you'd have it available in the future for other projects...
Depending on the nature of the application, you could consider compiling it with Lazarus.
I know, I know, it is a far stretch, and I don't know sb who has actually done this with openssl, so it is probably too much work. Still I wanted to make a note of this theoretical solution.
This because FPC/Lazarus is mingw compatible, and can use the same (GNU linker), you could try to link mingw libs (.a's) statically.
Some people in the past have experimented with it, and I have heard people succeed in this with mysql, but unfortunately they didn't give details.
So I have no conclusive proof that it worked, which makes it a bit academical.
I would install them in the same folder (option 1), with the addition to actually MD5 the two dlls when starting my program. To try to verify that they haven't been modified. This does not help a lot when it comes to security cause a hacker might as well modify my MD5 sum I would compare against. But it would at least stop the program from using corrupt dlls. Ofcourse this would also block out the possibility to update the dlls without updating the main application (on good an bad).
My computer crashed recently. We have a Delphi app that takes a lot of work to get running.
One of my co-workers has it all installed still. Is there a way to copy the stuff stored in the palette? And the library paths?
I am using Delphi 5 (I know it is very very very old)
That information is stored in the Registry. I don't know exactly how Delphi 5 does it, but try looking for a key called HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5 or something like that. You'll find all the registration information under that key, including a list of installed packages. You can export the keys to a registry file, copy it to the new computer and install it.
Standard disclaimer: Mucking around in the registry manually can be risky if you don't know what you're doing. Be very careful, and if this solution causes your computer to crash, your house to burn down, or demons to come flying out your nose, it's not my fault.
Try CNWizards which has an export functionality for your IDE settings. You can use the same tool restore them on the new machine. We use it to get the same settings on every development machine. In that way we can ensure that all builds are the same, regardless of who built it.
Based on my experience of having done this a few times(!), the most important registry keys are:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Known Packages
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Library
and possibly
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Known IDE Packages
and maybe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Palette
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Palette Defaults
So long as you have done a standard D5 installation first.
It's easier/more reliable to let the IDE fill in the other bits as you start using it and you change options as appropriate. Some component packages, eg madExcept, DevExpress etc are often best re-installed using their own installers anyway.
Unless you're going to have multiple users on the same machine using Delphi then the HKLM stuff isn't really all that important - I don't think.
As a related aside - I have learned that a good way to handle this is to build a FinalBuilder script (or similar) to set up my Delphi environment each time I decide to use a new machine/installation. I copy/download/checkout (which can be done in FB too) all package source then use FB to compile it, copy it, create dirs, and fill in the appropriate registry keys etc. I always get a consistent environment and makes it much easier to rebuild individual components or packages as and when they get upgraded too. The items can also be put into the script in 'dependency order' so that you know to re-compile a dependent package if something else changes. I now have a single FB sciprt that builds D5, D2007, D2009, D2010 environments and packages of all my main components, all depending on which compiler(s) I'm interested in which I indicate by a simple variable. Well worth it.
Seems to have just worked for me on a Win 7, SP1 and Delphi 5
Logged as user with Delphi & 3rd party components installed.
registry export
hkey current user\software\borland
(no other borland products so selected Borland)
rather than Borland\Delphi\5.0)
Logged into pc as new user.
Did not start Delphi5 (i.e. never started for this user).
Regedit File, Import
Started Delphi all components, including lots of 3rd
party, present.
Project compiled as expected under new user.
Can someone please give me a step by step on how to build an installation disk for my Delphi 2010 application?
I have tried both InstallAware Express Edition which comes with Delphi 2010 but keeps on giving me error message for it continue to look for *120.bpl instead of *140.bpl
I have also tried InnoSetup with ISTool but fail to work, which I believe I am not setting it up properly.... (e.g. failed to include all required packages)
My Apps is a simple database enquiry which I used dbExpress to connect to my ms-sql database.
I have also tried switching the flag in Delphi 2010 for "Built with Packages", no luck also...
Please help....
I am leaning toward using InnoSetup instead, but can someone tell me what is the typical set up is like... much appreciated.
Cheers.
The best place for support on an innosetup script, is the innosetup newsgroups. If you ask your question there, they would want to know more detail about what you are trying to do. Your app is going to set up some database stuff, so a lot more detail is required if you want an answer.
Innosetup is definitely is the easiest and fastest route to a setup.exe, which when placed on a CD, would make an "install CD". (Who uses CDs anymore anyways?)
In Thunderbird/OutlookExpress/WindowsMail, add an nntp server called news.jrsoftware.org,
and subscribe to the newsgroup "Jrsoftware.innosetup.code" and "jrsoftware.innosetup", and ask your question. Post your script. Show your error messages. Explain your database configuration strings, and how you are installing any dbExpress runtime components, if any apply to your application.
dbexpress in Delphi 2010 don't need nothing to be registered when deployed.
You simply need to create a folder with:
your executable.
all the required packages.
libmysql.dll
dbxmys.dll
midas.dll (if you are not using midaslib in your uses clause)
This is a easy work for an installer.
We've used Wise Installation for many years. Very easy to build install scripts. Works great.
Searching with '[Delphi] "source control"' didn't return much, so here goes: For those of you Delphi programmers working on your own, what source control do you like? I know about TortoiseSVN (which can be used without a server), but I'd like to know if there are better options before choosing it.
Thank you.
SVN will be more than enough as you'll mostly use it for backing up and diff'ing versions.
You can use VisualSVN Server and TortoiseSVN with Delphi IDE Integration. All of these are freeware. If you wish to use any other freeware SCM with Delphi IDE integration you'll need to buy SourceConneXion or Athlant. Also, if you're using D2009 you'll need to convert strings to ansistrings in order to get TortoiseSVN addon for delphi to work.
I use Mercurial, and have used Bazaar and Perforce (free for small teams). All are good, but nowadays I tend to prefer Mercurial. Mercurial comes with its own tortoise
which, while not quite as polished as TortoiseSVN, is perfectly usable:
(source: sourceforge.net)
For users of RAD Studio XE or XE2, Uwe Schuster has published an IDE add-on called Version Insight Plus that adds Mercurial and Git support to the IDE's built in version control support.
For all the systems I have mentioned, no central server is required.
I would recommend Git which is free & open source and:
Doesn't require you to even set a central server even if you want add more developers or machines.
Is Extremely Fast (imo)
Encourages the use of branches
I use it for almost every new project, even when it's just me on the project. It's an extremely fast distributed version control system and was written by Linus Torvalds and is now used in high profile projects like the Linux Kernel and Ruby on Rails.
Git isn't hard to use from the Command line but also has it's own "Tortoise" package (TortoiseGit - albeit not as polished as it's SVN cousin).
SourceGear Vault is free for a single user. I like to use the external client because I work in different environments, but If you want Delphi IDE integration, you can use Source ConneXion (not free).
You might look at some of the responses here (Stack Overflow) if you do have Delphi in mind. As mentioned in the answers there, I use Team Coherence which integrates very nicely with Delphi's IDE, and is aware of Delphi file groups (.pas with .dfm etc). I think it's written in Delphi too.
Having said that, the other comments already made are true - you shouldn't really let your choice of language dictate your choice of VCS.
Even though you've said single user, I would look for a solution that allows you to easily host it on a server/other desktop machine, so you have separated your development machine from your source repository. I'm probably teaching granny to suck eggs but you ought to check that whatever you choose can be easily backed-up too (even to a USB key or external drive would be fine). :-)
I know you have asked for Source Control, but if you are always planning to be a 'single developer' you might like to consider an automatic backup solution like AJC Active Backup instead. Yes, you lose the ability to check in and out specific versions, but at the same time you avoid the need to check stuff in and out all the time when it is only you working on a project. And you can recover or diff any previous source files by date for as far back as you care to configure. It's very much a set-and-forget solution, until you need to recover something, when it is invaluable. And the archive itself can be backed up in the normal way.
I use TortoiseSVN, but store my repositories as files on my laptop (on a share that can be accessed by mutilple VMs), not managed by a server. This means that I have full access to the repository regardless of server access, but also allows me to easily backup the repositories to the company file server when connected.
Since I am the only programmer I have not needed a separate server so far. I have seen Nick Hodges (Delphi Development Manager) say very nice things about VisualSVN Server, and I aim to check this out, to see how easy it is to backup/restore the repository: if that can be automated, and done very quickly, then I will probably adopt that.
Longer term I am going to look at the various flavours of distributed VCS, as that may be better suited to multiple laptop-based developers; I'm not sure yet, as I've not reached that page of my to-do list ;-)
One of the things supposedly in the pipeline for Delphi is integrated support for VCS. I've no details on that, or on any implications for current users of the various traditional or distributed VCS.
The language you use doesn't really matter in the choice of the SCM you will use.
It can matter if your favorite IDE supports or not this SCM.
TortoiseSVN is just a svn client, if you choose svn you can have several client.
I use Tortoise, and subclipse for committing in the same svn repository.
I would suggest using SVN server on a separate machine (either VisualSVN as suggested before or CollabNET Subversion Server) and TortoiseSVN with JVCL integration expert (also as suggested before).
Besides getting all the good stuff from the version control, you'll also automatically have backup on a different computer, which is always a good thing.
I know this will get down voted, but I feel it has to be said.
I've used Version Control software for many years at my job, and it is required when multiple people work together - to make absolutely sure that no two people overwrite one-another's work.
But for my personal development at home I don't use one. I find them overbearing and inconvenient for a simple one-person project. And I've tried several packages including Source Gear Vault and some others that other people have mentioned.
What I do instead is at every significant change to my program that I might want to go back to, I make a copy of the entire program directory. If I screw up in the next change, I can go back to the copied directory.
I also permanently keep copies of all my directories of every release of my program. If I ever need to do comparisons between my current version and previous releases, or between two different previous releases, I use Beyond Compare by Scooter Software - a simply great tool for diff-ing and copying changes between versions. If you use Source Control software, Beyond Compare will integrate into it nicely.
So I mention this simply because I have often heard everyone pushing Version Control Software, even for the individual developer. For some of us, it's overkill.
You may want to consider this simpler solution.
I use Bazaar with Delphi and it works well, especially for solo developer workflows. It has it's own TortoiseBzr but it isn't as good as some of its cousins so I recommnend the excellent Bazaar Explorer instead. One of the great things about Bazaar is it's flexibility and the ease with which you can change workflow or include another developer in a project that started off solo.
A lot of articles about Bazaar will tell you it is a lot slower than Git or Mercurial. They are out of date, now it takes a similar time to acomplish operations as they do and is faster on some operations.
My team use StarTeam and I have never used something else like SVN so it is hard for me to do a good compare. Starteam has both positive and negative sides.
Pros:
You can register Change requests and
connect them to checkins. This make
changes more trackable.
I feel more comfortable with a real GUI compared to commandline or some Shell
extension.
Cons:
Expensive, as most products from
Borland...
Latest version use Java. It is almost like the previous Win32 version and they have added more features, but I still feel that it is some slower and more memory hungry than before.
GUI could be a bit more intuitive.
I'm not big on version control, but use SVN/Tortoise and am quite happy with it. The main benefits that I see for a single developer is being able check out older versions of the application, and use multiple computers for development (desktop / laptop) - other than the obvious backup benefit. I tend to not need it for diffing files, as I find the version control tools within the Delphi IDE fairly good for this - provided the "bug" was introduced recently.
I think most Delphi developers use SVN/Tortoise (making it a fairly safe choice) - but there are trendyer options such as Mercurial and Git.
As a single developer, I have used Perforce for a number of years. It has been great. Aside from a CLI, you can use the P4V client. There's also an explorer plugin available, as well as Delphi IDE integration. I actually just found this free integration on Torry yesterday:
p4delphi
I've installed it in Delphi 2010, and it works pretty good.
Perforce is free for two user, it would require you to install perforce server, but the server footprint is very, very small. you can use P4V (Perforce visual client) which is far more convenient than tortoise, it also provide Windows explorer extension to be have just as tortoise (but you could skip this installation). Delphi integration could be done using P4Delphi.
I am using subversion, bug tracking and simple to use project planning for my latest delphi project from an web service provider. http://www.unfuddle.com has a free account for projects less than 200mb with 1-2 developers and the user interface is easy to use.