I have been away from BCB for over five years, and now I am having a st00pid n00b moment.
I am using BCB, and using a VCL component package for which I have the Delphi source.
I want to comment out a few lines in the Delphi source of the component (to not add a few toolbars in a form's OnCreate()).
So, I comment it out, and the syntax highlighting shows it as a comment. I build my package, just to make sure it gets recompiled and my out-commenting didn't work.
I breakpoint on the line before, step and the code which is commented out in the edit is executed (as if it is picking up an old OBJ ?).
What's my checklist here?
The answer will be awarded to whoever leads me to that D'oh! moment. Thanks
Well you're obviously linking to old code. You'll need to figure out what you're linking against and fix it.
Does your application list the Delphi package in it's "Build with runtime packages" list? If so, you're linking to the code in the delphi package, re-build that. The file you're interested in is the "BPL" file (that's the file you need to rebuild). Sometimes packages automagically build themselves (if they're marked as "Always Build") - but you're talking about an Delphi package used by BCB, maybe the magic is not that strong.
If you are not linking to the BPL then you're linking to the compiled version of the unit, a DCU or an OBJ, I don't work with BCB so I can't tell. Is the PAS file part of your project? If it's not part of your project then you're using the compiled unit and, as far as the IDE is concerned, you happen to be looking at a text file that has the same name as your compiled file (DCU or OBJ). Add the file to the project!
Is BCB actually capable of compiling PAS files? If it's not then you'd need to compile the PAS file using it's native compiler (Delphi). Maybe you've got a C++ only BCB that can't compile PAS files? Not sure such a version exists, but then again I've only been exposed to Delphi-only or RAD Studio environments.
Related
I'm still using Delphi 5.
I have a program which is a rewrite of an earlier program and in fact uses the root unit from the earlier program. When I compile it, Delphi doesn't link the BPLs into the EXE for some reason. New programs and old programs compile fine, so the problem is obviously with this one program. I've compared the project options for Linking and Compiling with other programs which are linking just fine. The compiler options in the main unit are the standard ones.
While the program is on my development box, it runs as expected, obviously reading the BPLs in the development area. But of course it won't run on another machine unless I copy the BPLs over, which is obviously not very clever.
I've read everything I can find on the subject, but although I've found references to linking not working, I haven't found anything which helps to work out why the linking isn't working in just this one case.
Can anyone point me at some documentation about this or point out something I've obviously missed looking at? I know it's something I've done, but despite spending hours on it I can't work out why!
Since there are no errors generated, I can't show you where it went wrong. Any suggestions about where I might find the problem would be much appreciated.
If you go to the Packages tab of your Project Options, is the Build with runtime packages checked?
If it is, you need to deploy the other packages to other machines if they aren't already on those machines at locations where they can be found by the OS.
If it isn't, Delphi will compile and link your project as an .Exe file and the code from the DCUs in the packages will be statically linked into your .Exe so you won't need to deploy the .BPLs (and they would be ignored even if you did).
AFAIK, when Delphi compiles a project to an .Exe (that is, if Build with runtime packages isn't checked), the compiler gets the other units' code to link from the .DCU files, rather than from the .BPL files. If it can't find the .DCU files, or you have told the compiler to do a "Build" it will attempt to generate the .DCUs them from the corresponding .PAS files if it can find them either in the project directory or via the Seach Path under Directories/Conditionals.
I'm running RAD Studio Delphi XE2. Something strange appears to have been done to one of my .pas files. Many of the lines from my unit1.pas have been replaced with simply 'º' and others are missing. I am left with a small section of code from somewhere in the middle of my original file. Can I get the original unit1.pas back by somehow decompiling unit1.dcu?
Also, why would this happen? Have you heard of this before? The code runs but, obviously, I can't edit anything I can't see.
Even if you could decompile it, it would likely be an unmaintainable mess compared to your original.
Instead, try looking in the __History folder for your project. You should find older versions of your code. Pick the newest one ;-)
why would this happen?
Any number of reasons. Bug in the IDE? Bug in an IDE plugin or a custom component? Bug in your code that overwrites a source file, maybe?
You cannot decompile a .dcu file to the original source. Information is lost in the translation from source code to executable code. Type declarations, variable names, method names, code layout and so on are simply not present in the compiler's output. Compilation is a one way process.
If you use revision control, you'll just be able to pull the latest version from the repository. If you don't use revision control, you've just learnt a lesson the hard way and you will never again attempt to perform software development without revision control.
I am trying to install a commercial component called JamShellBrowser but it will not install.
I have contacted the developer, but meanwhile I'd like to know:
What is a vrc file?
How is it produced?
Can it be controlled or modified with the Delphi XE4 IDE?
I checked the IDE's help but I could not find anything about vrc files and I searched for Delphi vrc and did not find anything that would help me.
The error message is:
Checking project dependencies...
Compiling JamShellDelphiXE4.dproj (Release, Win32)
brcc32 command line for "JamShellDelphiXE4.vrc"
c:\program files (x86)\embarcadero\rad studio\11.0\bin\cgrc.exe -c65001 JamShellDelphiXE4.vrc -foJamShellDelphiXE4.res
[BRCC32 Error] JamShellDelphiXE4.vrc(2): file not found: JamShellDelphiXE2_Icon.ico
Failed
Elapsed time: 00:00:00.1
I searched the components folders for an ico file, but there is none... thus the message, but even if I remove the line MAINICON ICON "JamShellDelphiXE2_Icon.ico" from the vrc file or even delete the vrc file it is automatically generated when I try to install.
I moved from Delphi 2010 to XE4 a few months ago and noticed the apparently new vrc file but I do not know what it is or how to handle these files.
A .vrc is a temporary file created by Delphi MSBuild process to compile resources files (.res) which will be linked in the final binary output. It is passed to CodeGear Resource Compiler/Binder (cgrc.exe) and deleted after the build process.
It doesn't appear anywhere in .dproj file. This behaviour is from BuildVersionResource target, imported from $(BDS)\Bin\CodeGear.Common.Targets. Look at this file (and at CodeGear.Delphi.Targets) if you want to get a better understanding of build process.
Removing <Icon_MainIcon> tag from .dproj it's not enough, as VERSIONINFO resources can also force the creation of .vrc file (I believe "vrc" stands for "Version Resource", although it is also used for main icon in applications).
In case of packages, Delphi always put version info in packages projects. The "include version information" IDE option is ignored with package projects.
So, if you (like me)
don't rely on Delphi IDE to set application main icon
don't rely on Delphi IDE to set version info resources; and
do manage to include your own resources files for everything
you can disable its creation entirely by setting the SkipResGeneration to true in your msbuild call. E.g.:
msbuild.exe myProject /t:Build /p:Config=Release /p:SkipResGeneration=true
However, this only works for MSBuild-based builds. I don't know how to do the same for builds from Delphi IDE.
Just open your #PROJECT#.dproj in any text editor file and find lines
<Icon_MainIcon>#PROJECT#_Icon.ico</Icon_MainIcon>
and delete them.
You will find one per Build target.
Save the file and you are done.
Edit: The original answer referred to the .dpr file, however note the section to edit is in the .dproj hence I've updated the the answer above to reflect this.
I believe this is a built in IDE behaviour of Delphi XE4 and XE5, possibly caused by an upgrade bug. Generation of VRC files is something that you can not disable except by removing the tags in the dproj file that cause it to be generated.
If there was a way to fix it or remove it, it might involve comparing your dproj file with another dproj file and looking for something that was appropriate only to a .dpr+.dproj Project that somehow got into your .dpk+.dproj project, like <Icon_MainIcon>.
It appears to be an intermediate file that is auto-generated when a .dpr+.dproj project has some version information which must be written out of the .dproj file, and into a temporary location and then compiled and linked into your application as a version info resource. However, I have also seen it get generated for a .dpk+.dproj project, and this mystifies me as well.
It also seems to contain a resource for your default application icon and version information, and packages do not normally have a versioninfo or application icon resource.
What I find to be possibly a BUG is that there is no UI in the Delphi IDE to let you set the Application Icon of a Package. Yet, I sometimes get a .VRC and an .ICO file. But I am not aware of a fix, other than to report the issue to Embarcadero Quality Central.
With a .dproj project, a .VRC intermediate file makes at least some sense. I see the following content: Version Info, Application Icon, and VCL Styles (ie AquaLightSlate.vsf) resource linkage.
this is a clarification...
I've just started to install several component libraries into Delphi RAD Studio XE5 that I've got installed in XE2 and XE4. When I try to Build most of them, I get this same error.
The problem isn't so much the .vrc file itself, it's this particular error:
[BRCC32 Error] <project_name>.vrc(2): file not found: <project_name>_Icon.ico
I can't figure out a way to bypass it, and I have no idea what it's looking for or where.
I tend to copy my component libs from one version to the next, opening them, building them, and installing them (ie. the ones that don't come with installers). I've never seen this happen in prior versions. However, this is the first time I've had RAD Studio installed; in the past I've just had Delphi. So perhaps it has something to do with having C++ installed as well?
I had to change my X.optset file to get this to work.
X being the name of your Delphi version you brought over these options from. Mine was PolyDelphiXE2.optset.
Once I corrected the name here no more funny compiling that brought in a different ico reference.
First of all I would like to apologize for the question itself. I simply could not make anything better. Well, the question then follows with examples and detailed ...
I manually installed QuickReport Delphi 2006 from their sources. It is composed of two packages a "DesignTime" and a "RunTime".
My Delphi is configured to build the BPL files in "D:\BPL" and DCP files on "D:\DCP" for all packages compiled on my Delphi
The source code of QuickReport are in "D:\QuickReport" and their packages (design and runtime) are configured to save the compiled units (DCU) in the folder "D:\QuickReport\DCU." This was the only configuration done in the packages. Nothing is set up with different paths and, BPL and DCP files are placed correctly in the folders I've set up, as I mentioned earlier.
With these settings I was able to build and install QuickReport without problems (just a few compiler warnings, which I believe are normal). All QuickReport components appear in your palette in Delphi, which does not emit any error on start proving that the components are properly installed and all packages were found.
Now comes the test: I started a new win32 application, completely empty, just a blank form. Then it put a QuickReport component (TQuickRep). The first thing I noticed was that the unit "QuickRpt", which is automatically placed in the clause "uses" of the "interface" is underlined in red indicating that something is wrong.
When I perform a CTRL+ENTER in "QuickRpt" unit (uses clause), the Delphi finds the source file (.pas) correctly, which is in "D:\QuickReport" then I ran a BUILD ALL command and the following compilation error appeared:
[Pascal Fatal Error] Unit1.pas (7): F2051 Unit QuickRpt was compiled with a different version of QRExpr.TQREvElement
That's it!!!
This error is only happening with Quick Report. I have other third-party components installed using the same configuration as the paths and they all work properly.
Finally I was able to solve this problem. #RRUZ and another friend gave me the tip: An lost QuickRpt.dcu file on my system. There were a QuickRpt.res file also. I found them, but the place was very improbable to me: The delphi LIB folder!!!
Well, i have some clues about this bizarre thing.
Until Delphi 7, the QuickReport was shipped together with the IDE however, it was disabled by default. On that Delphi version, all we need to do is to register the bpl to gain full access to QuickReport!
On Delphi 2006, the QuickReport is not part of IDE and there are no BPL to register, however the guys at Borland forgotten to remove all files from the old QuickReport. The Delphi Lib Folder is one of the first folders to be checked on Delphi start, so, if there are old files there, new files on another place would be never compiled, generating the annoying error!
This problem may be present on Delphi 2005 too.
I have lots of components that worked perfectly under D7.
I managed to compile and install them by dragging them into the Delphi 2009 IDE.
However, when I try to use those components in a project, the compiler says it cannot find the source code of them.
Where I can enter the path to that library?
Solution:
I dragged and dropped the old DPK file in Delphi 2009. Then in project manager I choose “Build” an then “Install”.
Everything worked smoothly except that the applications that used the controls couldn't see its source.
Problem solved by adding the path into the Tool-Options-Library Win32.
Thanks to everybody and especially to Mohammed.
Have you added the source path of the components to your library path?
you can add it from Tools menu > Options > Library win 32 >Library path
If you've really installed them, then the compiler shouldn't need to find the source code. The compiler only needs the DCU files.
But if you've taken these components from Delphi 7, then you need to have the source code, because Delphi 7 DCU files are not compatible with Delphi 2009. (The only two versions ever that can use each other's DCU files are Delphi 2006 and Delphi 2007, and then only with certain restrictions.)
Trying to use DCU files from the wrong Delphi version will cause Delphi to try to recompile the units. The solution is not just to provide the path to the source code, though. If the units files haven't been compiled yet (and they obviously haven't if they're of the wrong Delphi version), then you haven't really installed anything. Installing components in Delphi has never involved dragging and dropping. Installing a component means installing the package that contains that component, and installing a package often means opening the DPK project file and then choosing the "install" command in the IDE.