This is related to another Delphi-version question but still different;
I'm looking for a way to detect the service-pack (or build number) of the Delphi compiler that's compiling my code. The jedi.inc is nice, but it doesn't tell me the exact version. (I can't use the SUPPORTS_* defines in there either, as those are version-related too)
I need this, because some bugs are present in older versions (in this case, it's a _ValLong bug in Delphi 2009) that's fixed in a later service-pack (Delphi 2009 service pack 3 in this case).
Currently I have all kinds of checks in my code, like this :
{$IFDEF BUG_QC_68123}
But I can't just say this in my main include file :
{$IFDEF DELPHI2009_UP}
{$DEFINE BUG_QC_68123}
{$ENDIF}
...As this would miss the fact that D2009SP3 and later don't have this bug anymore.
Any ideas?
PS: This will probably also apply to older (and newer) versions of Delphi, so any library- and/or component-vendor will have an interest in this too, I presume.
There are symbols defined for each version:
VER80 - Delphi 1
VER90 - Delphi 2
VER100 - Delphi 3
VER120 - Delphi 4
VER130 - Delphi 5
VER140 - Delphi 6
VER150 - Delphi 7
VER160 - Delphi 8
VER170 - Delphi 2005
VER180 - Delphi 2006
VER180 - Delphi 2007
VER185 - Delphi 2007 (Note: symbol VER185, for example, is used to indicate Delphi 2007 compiler or an earlier version.)
VER190 - Delphi 2007 for .NET
VER200 - C++ Builder 2009
VER210 - Delphi 2010
VER220 - Delphi XE
VER230 - Delphi XE2
VER240 - Delphi XE3
VER250 - Delphi XE4
VER260 - Delphi XE5
VER270 - Delphi XE6
VER280 - Delphi XE7
WIN32 - Indicates that the operating environment is the Win32 API.
LINUX - Indicates that the operating environment is Linux
MSWINDOWS - Indicates that the operating environment is the MS Windows/li]
CONSOLE - Indicates that an application is being compiled as a console application
Source
Another source
You can't check for different build numbers.
And for the curious, VER10-VER70 where the turbo pascal versions, and VER110 was a C++ builder version.
Unfortunately, constants like RTLVersion in System.pas aren't updated in updates, but I think it would be a good suggestion if someone wants to make a QC entry for it.
If the bugs you are testing for are practical to reproduce in code, you could always test for them on startup and set your own global flags.
I get around these differences by making sure we always apply the latest updates. I haven't run in to a case yet where an update was unstable and forced me to roll it back. At least not with Delphi.
You could try including the compiler file version in your software. For example, DCC32.exe has a file version on it which you can programmatically get at and then write to a unit as a const. This could be done as part of your build process so it gets the version info before building your app (it'd be very easy to do with something like FinalBuilder).
I've done this for other things so that on our About screen we can get various bits of useful info. Also when we have an error in one our applications, we can bundle this info into our EurekaLog bug reports.
However I don't know if the file version on DCC32.exe is updated with every Delphi update.
The compiler does not expose that information. It only tells you the major version, which doesn't change when updates are applied.
I think the best you can do is to always write code for the latest update. Assume that consumers of your code will also have the latest update. If they don't, then it's their own fault, and not a problem you need to worry about. Mention it in your system requirements. Sure, your code won't work for them, but neither will anyone else's because they're still using known-bad code.
The next-best alternative is to write assuming that no updates have been applied. That is, write your code as though all known bugs are still present. The downside is that your code probably won't run as well as it otherwise could, so everyone who did the right thing by upgrading gets punished by continuing to have your suboptimal code.
Related
I have Delphi XE4 Enterprise. How do I find out if I have FireMonkey or FM2 or FM3?
Where does Embarcadero store the detailed information about FireMonkey versions?
As of today, the list of FireMonkey versions, and associated Delphi versions is:
FM1: Delphi XE2
FM2: Delphi XE3
FM3: Delphi XE4/5
The FireMonkey version is more of a marketing designation than a true software version. Principally it's Delphi itself that is versioned.
It's a little debateable as to what FireMonkey version ships with XE5. Following the pattern, it ought to be FM4. But I can find no reference anywhere to Embarcadero using the name FM4. So I rather suspect that this is what happened (all speculation on my part):
The original release with XE2 was named plain FireMonkey.
The release with XE3 removed iOS support and fixed many deep and fundamental flaws with breaking changes So it was branded FM2.
With XE4, iOS returned and more flaws were fixed, again with breaking changes. The library was reaching stability, and named FM3. They even used FM3 in marketing material. Exponentially better than the original was perhaps the message. Or is that just the mathematician in me? Maybe the marketing people thought it looked cool.
XE5 added Android support and had some more, albeit more minor, breaking changes. Somebody at Embarcadero said, if we keep changing FM version then people will get fed up with all our breaking changes. So let's just call the thing FireMonkey and leave it at that.
Going forward I think you'll just see FireMonkey and FM from Embarcadero. The version that counts is the Delphi version.
The version of the FMX framework depends on the Delphi compiler version you use.
Until now, each Delphi version (starting from XE2) contains a somehow different/extended/changed Firemonkey framework.
BTW Delphi XE4 Firemonkey framework is FM3
Is there any information on the project file, source code and *.dfm file compatibility between the different DELPHI versions.
If I do not use the latest features of DELPHi XE3 can I still open the code base and compile using eg. DELPHI 2010 ?
( I Know Unicode Issues, or Component changes like INDY 9 to INDY 10 will block the down grading , but this an other topic for me)
The bad think e.g. not working : use your Delphi 7 project, open and compile using DELPHI 2010, you can not reopen the project with DELPHi 7 because some objects will have extened properties from opening the project with 2010. Manual rework back to DELPHi 7 style in that case is rather time consuming.
Can a developer team work together, were members are using different DELPHI XX versions?
It's possible to do what you want but I cannot imagine why you would want to. When we ported our app from D6 to D2010 we had shared source that would build in both versions.
This was purely a transitional arrangement. As soon as we were confident in the D2010 port, we severed the umbilical cord. And at this point we embraced the new features of D2010 with relish.
In order to make this work we used the following crutches:
Helper functions to mitigate the ANSI/Unicode differences.
Unit aliases to deal with unit renaming. For example the themes units changed names from D6 to D2010 and the unit alias feature hid that.
Oodles of conditional code.
All this was needed because we had a porting task and so had to compile in both versions. The old version for our existing product maintenance, and the new version so that we could test and develop the port.
But I see no reason for you to do any of this., not least because it leads to very complex code. If you want your app to build in D7 then always build it in D7. Since you cannot use features of modern Delphi and retain compatibility with D7, why use anything other than D7? When you buy modern Delphi you also gain access to old Delphi versions.
From what I've read from the previous posts, Delphi 7 is stable and has the best help system but is slow, Delphi 2007 is fast but the help system is bad and the IDE is buggy. Delphi 2009 is stable and fast but the help system is bad too. The posts were made when 2010 isn't available yet. I am planning to upgrade from Delphi 7 to 2010. Is Delphi 2010 stable, fast and has a good help system?
Delphi 2010 is one of the best Delphi releases ever. It stabilizes some of the new features introduced in Delphi 2009. The IDE is fast, and in the project I used it was very stable.
The thing there is that the IDE and the help system are build as a RAD Studio for different languages. Especially the help system tries to be everything for everybody. Even having only one personality installed, it has many entires about other languages I do not care about (but I can filter them). Yet there are many entires missing depth that never made it into the new help format.
The help system starts painstakingly slow (especially at first startup). But, to be fair, this is partially do to the MS Help System being a pain in the neck (this, in my opinion, just was the wrong path to chose).
Embarcadero invests quite some effort into the help system, and it had several updates during the 2010 release.
You do know about the varying expense of conversion to Unicode as 2010 is fully Unicode based?
Here are some reasons why I stick to Delphi 7, having Delphi 2010 at hand to recompile and test what I wrote in Delphi 7, in a cross-version manner:
if your source code compiles on Delphi 7, and you make careful usage of Unicode/AnsiString, it will work as well with Delphi 2010;
if your source code compiles on Delphi 7, it will work as well with Free Pascal, so
cross-platform and 64 bits are open to you;
if your source code compiles on Delphi 7, it can be cross-compiled with CrossKylix directly from the Delphi 7 IDE - see Has any one used CrossKylix for real Cross-platform development?
Delphi 7 runs well on my Windows Seven 64 bits system, if you install it not in "C:\Program Files" but in "C:\Progs" for example;
Delphi 7 starts faster than Delphi 2007, and MUCH faster than Delphi 2009/2010 - see http://andy.jgknet.de/dspeedup
generated code is almost the same since Delphi 7 - when I need speed, I use better algorithms, and assembler if it's worth it;
Delphi 7 IDE is as powerful as Delphi 2010 IDE, if you use some IDE enhancements like http://www.cnpack.org;
Delphi 7 help is still the reference - why waiting for 20 seconds on my Core i7 processor waiting for the awful MS help system to launch? and if you want to create an application able to run under XP, its content will be enough for you; if you want to know about newer OS, just use msdn web site directly, or via google: it sounded to me easier than the help integrated with Delphi 2005/2010;
I use the assembler/CPU view a lot: all Delphi IDE have the Alt-F2, but you can close this window by the escape key on Delphi 7 - I was not able to find such a keyboard shortcut under Delphi 2007/2010, and it's very annoying;
Delphi 7 executable size are small, and even smaller with our LVCL libraries (30 KB for a form with buttons);
I didn't have the need for generics and such up to now - I like knowing which code is generated;
Delphi 7 is Unicode ready, whatever you say - its associated VCL was not, but CharSets are not evil, and work well - what I do is develop under Delphi 7, then compile with Delphi 2010 and get all the Unicode benefits if needed;
I use a large screen (at 1920x1280 resolution), and Delphi 7 makes it easy to have multiple edit windows at once - newer IDE locked layout was not a good idea... at such that EMB officially added the "Delphi 7 way undocked IDE" feature to Delphi 2010: and marketing sell it as a new feature;
and so on, and so on...
You can use Delphi 7 help in Delphi 2010, if you want to.
Use this or this addon. See item 5 here for instructions (sorry, it's machine auto-tranlation).
P.S. You can have more than one help installed. Say, a F1 for Delphi 7 help and Ctrl+F1 for Delphi 2010 help.
delphi 2010 is stable and fast and is actually a good delphi compiler after years of half-baked releases, they have improved help system in delphi 2010 but i still think delphi 7 help system is superior(but thats just my opinion).you do know delphi 2010 has a 1 month trial do you? download it and play around and see if you like it
EDIT: forgot to mention if you buy delphi 2010 you'll get marco cantu's Delphi 2010 Handbook for free ,the book covers whats new in D2010 so if you consider book as part of help system than help system is OK :)
Delphi7 was faster, but it was a lot simpler. I wouldn't worry too much about performance of the IDE, especially if you're working on a modern PC. At work I've got an old P4 machine, and it runs just fine.
New language features like methods on records and generics make it well worth it to switch.
For me it's hard to live without TList<T> nowadays.
For a while I've desperately tried to keep code Delphi7-compatible, but I've ported most of the important applications to D2010 already, and whenever I need to start D7, it all feels so low-tech and simple.
I've always hated the crappy component palette in the older Delphi's. Delphi 2010 has a much better interface, and the filter function is a real time-saver.
I've decided to give up on Delphi7 and just make full use of D2010's capabilities. That makes life a lot easier.
It is possible to work with a Delphi 5 project in the Delphi 2009 IDE by referencing the Delphi 5 version of dcc32?
If so are there any issues to watch out for concerning the way that project settings (search paths, conditional defines etc.) are implemented in 2009?
Edit: Just to clarify I am also upgrading the project to Unicode but will still need to debug and run releases in the old configuration
It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what limitations you are willing to accept.
As far as I know, you can't use the Delphi 2009 IDE to maintain Delphi 5 projects directly. For example, even if you stick to functionality that's common between the two, some properties that are not supported in Delphi 5 are written to your DFMs, causing an error at run time.
I've maintained projects and library code that were written in Delphi 2005/2006/2007 that was also being used in Delphi 6/7. I usually edited and debugged these using the latest IDE. I had separate project files for each target version and made sure they all used the same memory manager. Finally, I had an automated build process and unit tests that would strip incompatible properties out of the DFMs (my own DFM Scrubber), make sure all of the targets always compile and run unit tests, which are also recompiled for each target.
All in all, it's more effort and I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a specific requirement to do so.
No. That said, it is still Delphi, and assuming you have source or D2009 versions of any custom components it can be modified to compile in Delphi 2009. The layout of the VCL has changed quite a bit since D5, so expect to have to modify your uses clauses and probably rewrite some small chunks here and there, but it is doable.
You either port your code to Delphi 2009/2010 level (Unicode), or you may as well not install the product.
I suggest you open the project and see where it fails, close the project (without saving anything), find the component versions you need and install them, and once the project opens up in design mode (all components are installed) you can start porting.
Read the Unicode Delphi migration (porting) information available at the website.
Ask your self each time you see PChar, and Char, if it needs to be PAnsiChar, or AnsiChar instead? If you are reading bytes from a disk, a com port, or a network connection, you will need to change from Char to AnsiChar, from PChar to PAnsiChar, otherwise, you might just leave the Char and PChar as they are and they will become Unicode. Always be aware that Char is not a Byte, anymore.
You also must replace explicit references to narrow Win32 API calls with versions without the A (ansi) suffix. Example: CreateFileA might need to become just CreateFile.
W
Why is there an Indy9 folder (The default install folder of C:\Program Files\CodeGear\RAD Studio\6.0\source\Indy contains subdirectories for "Indy9" and "Indy10") Why are both versions installed? What is using Indy9? I didn't think it had been updated for 2009...is Indy9 now safe to use with Delphi 2009?
There is an opened QC report about this, but it's only visible to QC sysops.
The status of "open" typically means that it's accepted that this is a bug, rather than by design.
Remy Lebeau - one of the Indy developers - said this:
The 2009 installer does ship with the
Indy 9 source code, but it is not
selectable during install. There is a
note in the documentation that Indy 9
can be installed manually if needed.
But keep in mind that Indy 9 has not
been updated to actually support 2009.
At the moment, I am not sure if it
will be.
There are some changes in Indy 9 (from the 2007 version) so that it will compile under Delphi 2009 (a few String to AnsiString changes), but based on my tests it doesn't work. It tries to, but does not connect. If you want I can give you the changes that have been added for Unicode support, but I don't believe they are sufficient.
I can't really answer why. I could conjecture a few reasons, but I do not have any insider information.
Is it safe to use? YMMV. There is a lot to Indy, so there may be some parts that work fine for your project. Even a simple test with the TIdTCPClient resulted in Socket Error #11004 every time. Same for TIdHTTP. It seems like I tried the MD5 previously and it just got garbage, but I am not sure on that one.
Answer: It was included by mistake (assumption), and it is not safe to use (based on limited tests).
That is unfortunate, because Indy 10 has issues too, and I have some legacy apps that use Indy 9.
Indy9 is there for compatibility. There were some breaking changes in Indy10 (your code that was written against Indy9 may not compile under Indy10) so you have the option of continuing to use Indy9 (I think the installer prompts and asks what Indy you want to use - at least it did with D2007).
Update: Okay a few people have correctly commented that Indy9 wont compile with D2009 (because of the new Unicode support), so I guess I don't know why it is there.
My guess, it was in the source tree, and was automatically included by installer.
Keep in mind that the source files are not used unless you tell Delphi to recompile them.
If you do not have the Enterprise version you will not even have these folders.