IDL to Type Library - delphi

Is there a way in Delphi 7 to generate a tlb from an idl? Or even from a class/ interface definition?

you can use the IDL2PAS.bat batch file (check in this location C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi7\Bin) or the MIDL.exe application.

In Delphi 7 one of the easiest ways is to copy/paste the IDL into the Type Library editor source window. NOT the *_TLB.pas source unit 'behind' the type library, but the type library editor itself.
I don't have D7 to hand right now, but iirc you may have to set the "Type Library Language" option in the IDE settings to IDL rather than Pascal. And I also seem to recall that this technique could be sensitive to "exotic" IDL (i.e. didn't always work), but if the IDL in question is relatively straightforward, this may work for you.

Related

TOleServer and its unit not available for Firmenkey in Delphi?

As the title suggest, I can't find that unit.
Is there an equivalent?
I am trying to port a unit from VCL to Firemonkey which contains OleServer in its uses clause, but I can't find any information on Embarcaderos website regarding this problem.
I have also tried to Google it, but no success.
Where can I find TOleServer and/or its unit OleServer that is compatible with Firemonkey?
Or how can I implement that unit in my Firemonkey project?
Hi i have the same problèm before and i made change in OleServer
Copy Vcl.OleSever to your project and rename it to FMX.OleServer
in implementation section do change like this:
implementation
uses
FMX.Controls;
resourcestring
sNoRunningObject = 'Unable to retrieve a pointer to a running object registered with OLE for %s/%s';
at the initialization section change to FMX.Controls.TControl
initialization
GroupDescendentsWith(TOleServer, FMX.Controls.TControl);
end.
Finally rename VCL.OleServer to FMX.OleServer in your imported library unit
Indeed the main issue with compiling TLB (typelibrary) units for COM/OLE Servers seems to be some unit renaming that has occured. Ideally the Delphi IDE should detect this automatically and fix it.
Based on Doug Rudd's comment above I fixed my "uses OleServer" to "uses Vcl.OleServer" in my TLB unit.
Since there's a "source" folder under Delphi installation folder even for the Pro version now (at least at 10.2.2 Tokyo version that I'm currently using), I could also easily spot (using GrepWin free tool) where the "EmptyParam" that was causing my TLB to not compile had gone. It is under System.Variants unit that one also needs to use in their TLB (before it was in System so you didn't need to use some unit for it).
Guess I could have imported the COM/OLE Server again to make new TLB import unit, but since it was hand-ended (to remove using of "Graphics", "StdVcl" and "OleCtrls" units that were bloating the executable size in older versions of Delphi) and that hand-edited imported TLB used to work fine for a command-line application, I didn't have any reason to reimport the Type Library.
You can see the changes I did to make my XSLer tool work with the latest Delphi at https://github.com/Zoomicon/tranXform/commit/e99f42049b8a4c1534d9edb78ed5e6493e6e5786. That XSLer command-line tool is using MSXML (Microsoft XML) automation server.

OMF format to COFF format

is there any tool like Borland "coff2omf.exe"for converting Borland OMF LIB format to
MS VC++ COFF LIB format ?
actually i want to create .obj file in delphi and use that in MSVC++ .
Yes, there is such a tool.
See this tool.
This utility can be used for converting object files between COFF/PE, OMF, ELF and Mach-O formats for all 32-bit and 64-bit x86 platforms. Can modify symbol names in object files. Can build, modify and convert function libraries across platforms. Can dump object files and executable files. Also includes a very good disassembler supporting the SSE4, AVX, AVX2, FMA and XOP instruction sets. Source code included (GPL). Manual.
Note that this http://www.agner.org web site is the best resource I know about low-level optimization. All the linked information is worth reading, if you want to deal with performance.
But for using the Delphi-generated .obj with VC++, it won't be easily feasible, but for very small part of code. You will need the Delphi RTL used in your code. An external .dll is much better. Note also that some types (like strings or dynamic arrays) won't be easily modifiable in VC++.
To the best of my knowledge there is no such tool. Using Agner Fog's object file converter, the tool that Arnaud refers to, I've never succeeded in converting a Delphi unit into a COFF .obj that can be linked to an MSVC program.
I do believe that it's not realistic to take Delphi source code, compile it, and then use the generated object in MSVC. The other direction is quite possible. You can compile C code to an object, and link that object to your Delphi executable. When you do this you need to resolve any dependencies that the compiled object has.
But to link a Delphi object into a C/C++ program is going to require whatever part of the Delphi RTL that you use. And that's going to be tricky unless you happen not to use any part of the Delphi RTL, which seems unlikely.
In your situation I think your options are:
Port the code to C or C++.
Compile the Delphi code into a dynamic library and link to that from your C++ program.

Delphi unit for msctf.h header file (from Platform SDK)?

Is there any Delphi unit available corresponding msctf.h header file from Platform SDK?
I have checked Delphi 2010 source folder, but it seems Delphi doesn't come with that.
Thanks in advance for your time!
You can use Visual Studio's MIDL to generate a type library (.tlb) from the .idl file and then use Delphi's tlibimp.exe to generate the Delphi interface unit.
The problem with the original .idl is that it doesn't contain a library statement so I added it manually (otherwise MIDL wouldn't generate the .tlb).
See if the result helps you (you may still need to fix some parts by hand).

Include files in ridl

The Delphi project I'm working on requires me to create a very large type library in order to add COM support. The problem is with the type library/ridl editor in Delphi is that it becomes difficult to manage (from a programmer point of view) such a large file, and I'd like to split it along functional lines. The problem I have is that I cannot see a way to include one ridl file in another. I'm aware of the importlib function, but I also cannot find a way to create more than one type library in the same project, or create a tlb file from within delphi. Can anyone give me ideas on how to better manage this?
Standard IDL has an include statement for pulling in other files into the TypeLibrary compilation. RIDL stands for REDUCED IDL, so it might not support it, though. You will have to try it and see.

how to use system.xml.dll in delphi

I downloaded the system.xml.dll, then added it to my Delphi code as following:
uses system.xml;
etc...
When I try to compile the project, the following message appears:
file not found system.xml.dcu.
Can anyone guide me how to solve this problem?
Thanks.
The uses clause in Delphi refers to Delphi units, either compiled in a *.dcu file or a *.pas source file that the compiler will use to generate the corresponding *.dcu that is needed.
You cannot just reference the DLL itself.
To use your DLL, you would need at least a unit that would expose in a Pascal way the DLL interface or parts of it.
It can be the Pascal translation of a C header file or just declaring some external routines from the dll to load statically with your program...
What you probably need to reference to work with XML in Delphi are XMLIntf and maybe xmldom.
Have you looked at what the XML Data binding wizard or the XML Mapper Tool can do for you?
Note: I assumed you were working with Delphi Win32. And AFAIK system.xml.dll is part of the .NET world.
If you are using Delphi for .Net you need to add a reference to the system.xml.dll assembly to your project.
If you are using Delphi (Win32), then in order to be able to use .NET assemblies (DLLs), you have the option of using COM interfaces. Follow below steps:
Open the project you want to use it in.
Use Component menu.
Select "Import Type Library"
Select the DLL you want to use.
Follow the next steps as given by wizard.
This will generate a source file which is essentially a wrapper. You can call function of that wrapper as you need.
Please note that using above method will mean that .NET framework must be present on the computer running your application.

Resources