Delphi XE3 Starter Development Essentials

158 Pages·2012·2.24 MB·English

Delphi XE3
Starter
Essentials

Delphi XE-XE3 Starter Essentials
September 2012

Author: Bob Swart (aka Dr.Bob)
Bob Swart Training & Consultancy (eBob42)
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials Table of Contents
Table of Contents

1. Delphi XE-XE3 Starter IDE 1
Delphi and C++Builder.......................................................................1
Installation.......................................................................................1
Run Delphi “as Administrator”.............................................................2
Welcome Page..................................................................................3
Project Targets and Object Repository..................................................6
Options Dialog..................................................................................7
Delphi IDE New Menu Items................................................................8
File | Open From Version Control….............................................8
View | Configuration Manager ...................................................9
The “old” Component Palette.....................................................9
Run without Debugging............................................................10
Project Options.................................................................................10
Build Configurations.................................................................11
Warnings as Errors..................................................................11
Resource Compiler...................................................................12
Project Manager................................................................................13
Build Configurations.................................................................14
STRICT Build Configuration.......................................................14
Object Repository..............................................................................15
Form Designer..................................................................................16
Edit | Copy.............................................................................16
Quality Central..................................................................................17
Summary.........................................................................................18
Exercises..........................................................................................18
Exercise #1............................................................................18
Exercise #2............................................................................18

2. Language Enhancements 19
Delphi Compiler and Language Enhancements.......................................19
Unit Scope Names...................................................................21
Delphi 2010 Enhancements.......................................................23
Custom Attributes ...................................................................23
Enhanced RTTI........................................................................24
Scoped Enumerators................................................................26
IS and AS keywords.................................................................26
Class Constructors & Destructors...............................................27
Delayed Dynamic Link Libraries...........................................................28
Example DLL...........................................................................28
Implicit..................................................................................28
Explicit...................................................................................29
Delay Load.............................................................................30
DelayedLoadHook....................................................................31
DelayedHandler.......................................................................32
Delphi 2009 Language Enhancements..................................................34
Type Aliases ...........................................................................34
Compiler Defines.....................................................................34
Compiler Directive...................................................................35
Record Alignments...................................................................35
Compiler Warnings ..................................................................36
Unicode Strings.................................................................................36
Exit.................................................................................................36
Bob Swart ([e-mail]) - ii - September 2012
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials Table of Contents
Generics ..........................................................................................37
Generic Stack .........................................................................38
Generic Methods......................................................................40
Anonymous Methods..........................................................................41
Anonymous Exit......................................................................41
Useful Anonymous Methods ......................................................42
Generics.Defaults....................................................................43
Combining Anonymous Methods and Generics .............................45
Delphi 2007 Language Enhancements..................................................46
Unit namespaces.....................................................................47
Strict Private and Protected.......................................................47
Final Methods..........................................................................48
Sealed Classes........................................................................49
Nested Type Declarations .........................................................49
Class data..............................................................................50
Class properties ......................................................................50
Ampersand Character...............................................................51
For ... in ... do ........................................................................51
Function Inlining......................................................................51
Operator Overloading...............................................................52
Summary.........................................................................................55
Exercises..........................................................................................55
Exercise #1............................................................................55
Exercise #2............................................................................55

3. RTL and VCL Enhancements 57
XE RTL Enhancements .......................................................................57
FormatSettings .......................................................................57
Binary Streams.......................................................................59
RegularExpressions..................................................................59
Windows 7 Support ...........................................................................60
Themes..................................................................................60
Fonts.....................................................................................61
Taskbar buttons................................................................................61
Progress.................................................................................62
ImageList –icon.......................................................................64
Direct2D..........................................................................................66
DirectWrite.............................................................................67
New VCL Components........................................................................68
TButtonedEdit.........................................................................68
TCategoryPanel.......................................................................68
TCategoryPanelGroup...............................................................68
TLinkLabel..............................................................................69
TCustomHint...........................................................................69
TBalloonHint...........................................................................69
VCL Enhancements............................................................................70
TControl.................................................................................70
TActionManager ......................................................................71
TButton..................................................................................71
TApplication............................................................................72
TBitmap.................................................................................72
TComboBox............................................................................72
TCustomListView.....................................................................72
TDBImage..............................................................................72
TEdit/TMaskEdit/TLabeledEdit....................................................72
TGraphic................................................................................74
TImage..................................................................................74
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Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials Table of Contents
TImageList.............................................................................74
TLabel....................................................................................74
TListView................................................................................74
THeaderControl.......................................................................74
THeaderSection.......................................................................74
TMemo...................................................................................74
TPanel ...................................................................................74
TPopupActionBar.....................................................................75
TProgressBar..........................................................................75
TRadioGroup...........................................................................75
TScreen.................................................................................75
TTrayIcon...............................................................................75
TTreeView..............................................................................76
Ribbon Controls.................................................................................76
Actions and TActionList ......................................................................78
Using TActionList.....................................................................78
Action!...................................................................................82
Problems?..............................................................................83
ActionBands .....................................................................................83
ActionManager........................................................................83
CustomizeDlg..........................................................................84
ActionBars..............................................................................84
Customise Action.....................................................................85
Action!...................................................................................85
Further Customizations ............................................................85
Returning to Ribbon Controls ..............................................................86
Ribbon Styles..........................................................................88
Touch and Gestures...........................................................................89
Biolife Fields ...........................................................................89
Touch and Action.....................................................................90
Gestures................................................................................90
Action!...................................................................................91
Custom Gestures.....................................................................91
Touch Keyboard......................................................................95
Deployment............................................................................96
COM Enhancements...........................................................................97
ActiveX Wizards ......................................................................97
Automation Demo....................................................................98
RIDL Files...............................................................................99
Importing Type Libraries...........................................................102
Summary.........................................................................................103
Exercises..........................................................................................103
Exercise #1............................................................................103
Exercise #2............................................................................103
Exercise #3............................................................................104
Exercise #4............................................................................104

4. Unicode 105
Unicode ...........................................................................................105
Unicode Transformation Formats ...............................................105
UTF-8....................................................................................105
UTF-16 ..................................................................................105
UTF-32 ..................................................................................106
Windows API...........................................................................106
Notepad.................................................................................106
Unicode and Fonts...................................................................106
Delphi 2009+ and Unicode..................................................................107
Bob Swart ([e-mail]) - iv - September 2012
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials Table of Contents
AnsiString Encoding.................................................................107
String Assignments and Conversions..........................................108
UTF-16 Surrogate Characters....................................................109
UTF-16 Number of Characters...................................................109
Unicode Files and BOM.............................................................110
TEncoding..............................................................................110
Console or Text File I/O............................................................110
TStrings / TStringList...............................................................111
Output Logging.......................................................................112
TCharacter .............................................................................113
Character Sets........................................................................113
Extending TCharacter...............................................................113
Unicode Support Routines.........................................................114
Explicit Unicode Conversions.....................................................114
Unicode Migration..............................................................................116
SizeOf in Bytes........................................................................116
Length in Items.......................................................................116
Number of Characters..............................................................116
FillChar..................................................................................117
Move.....................................................................................117
TStream Read and Write...........................................................118
Windows API...........................................................................118
Chr -> Char............................................................................119
Character Literals....................................................................119
Integer and Float To AnsiString.................................................119
UpperCase..............................................................................120
Globalisation and localisation ..............................................................121
Globalisation and SysUtils.........................................................121
Localisation using ResourceStrings.............................................122
Not for runtime packages .........................................................123
Summary.........................................................................................123
Exercises..........................................................................................123
Exercise #1............................................................................123
Exercise #2............................................................................124

5. Delphi and Subversion 125
Subversion.......................................................................................125
Local Repository......................................................................125
Remote Repository ..................................................................128
Overview of SVN Projects .........................................................134
Summary.........................................................................................134

A. Answers to Exercises 135
1. Delphi for Win32 IDE......................................................................135
Exercise #1............................................................................135
Answer to Exercise #1 .............................................................135
Exercise #2............................................................................136
Answer to Exercise #2 .............................................................136
2. Language Enhancements................................................................137
Exercise #1............................................................................137
Answer to Exercise #1 .............................................................137
Exercise #2............................................................................138
Answer to Exercise #2 .............................................................138
3. RTL & VCL Enhancements...............................................................142
Exercise #1............................................................................142
Answer to Exercise #1 .............................................................142
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Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials Table of Contents
Exercise #2............................................................................143
Answer to Exercise #2 .............................................................144
Exercise #3............................................................................145
Answer to Exercise #3 .............................................................145
Exercise #4............................................................................145
Answer to Exercise #4 .............................................................146
4. Unicode........................................................................................150
Exercise #1............................................................................151
Answer to Exercise #1 .............................................................151
Exercise #2............................................................................151
Answer to Exercise #2 .............................................................151

This Delphi XE-XE3 Starter Essentials manual covers the fundamentals and the new
features in Delphi XE, XE2 and XE3 Starter editions (compared to Delphi 7 Personal).
There are some more advanced topics that fell beyond the scope of this “starter
essentials” manual which will be covered in other places (see for example my site at
http://www.eBob42.com/courseware or http://www.drbob42.com/courseware for more
details).

- Delphi XE2 DataSnap Development
- Delphi XE2 iOS Development
- Delphi XE2 XML, SOAP & Web Services
- Delphi Prism XE Development Essentials
- Delphi XE VCL for the Web Development
- Delphi for Win32 Database Development (currently covering Delphi 2007)

The information in this courseware manual is © 2012 by drs. Robert E. (Bob)
Swart of Bob Swart Training & Consultancy. All Rights Reserved.

The information in this courseware manual is presented to the best of my knowledge at
the time of writing. However, in case of errors or omissions, I welcome your feedback or
comments (by e-mail) as Bob Swart Training & Consultancy cannot be held responsible
for any damage that results from using the information in this manual or the example
source code snippets. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Bob Swart ([e-mail]) - vi - September 2012
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials 1. Delphi Starter IDE
1. Delphi XE-XE3 Starter IDE
In this section you'll get an overview of the IDE features in Delphi Starter. Most
of the screenshots are made using Delphi XE Starter Edition, but the same
applies to Delphi XE2 and Delphi XE3 Starter Editions.
Delphi and C++Builder
Delphi and C++Builder are different personalities of the same IDE. With the 2007
editions, this IDE was called RAD Studio, and also included a Delphi for .NET personality.
With Delphi 2009, the .NET edition was replaced by Delphi Prism for .NET, and the RAD
Studio IDE kept the combined Delphi and C++Builder personalities.
In this courseware manual, I will cover only Delphi and not C++Builder, so I will refer to
the IDE as Delphi instead of the combined RAD Studio IDE.
Installation
The installation of Delphi XE, XE2 of XE3 Starter consists of at least two steps: the Delphi
Starter IDE and the Help and Documentation, each with a separate installer. An optional
third step consists of the download and installation of InterBase. The product includes a
free key for InterBase Developer Edition.

You can also download a trial edition of ER/Studio, as well as an ODBC driver for
InterBase which is required for ER/Studio to work with InterBase.
Finally, the Partner and Additional Products include a download link for the Remote
Debugger (in case you want to debug an application running on another machine,
especially helpful if the Delphi IDE itself is not installed on that other machine), as well as
the Embarcadero RAD Studio XE Partner Software, CollabNet Subversion Server, and
InstallAware Express, CodeGear Edition.
Bob Swart Training & Consultancy - 1 - www.drbob42.com
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials 1. Delphi XE Starter IDE
The Delphi Starter installer shows the features included in this edition of Delphi:

The database features include InterBase Express, which is why you should download and
install InterBase. The installation also includes the Borland Database Engine, which
includes support for dBASE and Paradox database tables, but I would recommend using
InterBase and InterBase Express instead (even for local database tables).
Although not explicitly mentioned, one third-party library is included with Delphi Starter
Edition, and that’s Indy 10.

The online help and documentation installer offers the choice to include the Microsoft
SDK Help. This is disabled by default, since it requires a lot of disk space. The third-party
help does not only include Indy 10 help, but also details for other third-party products
that are included with the Professional and higher editions of Delphi.

Run Delphi “as Administrator”
During installation of Delphi, the last step offers you the ability to automatically have the
IDE check for updates – both of Delphi Starter and the on-line Help for Delphi. This is a
useful feature, but if you run Delphi on Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, it only
works if you run Delphi with the “Run as Administrator” option. Otherwise, you will not
see any automatic update messages from the IDE. This issue is caused by the fact that
the application checking for available updates is called “setup.exe1”, and Windows Vista,
Windows 7 and Windows 8 do not allow applications with “setup” in their name to run
without special user permission.

1 The Check for Updates is running C:\ProgramData\{7DE921C9-42C8-4DA3-8A44-043C3349FD1D}\Setup.exe
/update /showui as can be seen if you run “Check for Updates” directly from the Embarcadero RAD Studio
program group.
Bob Swart ([e-mail]) - 2 - September 2012
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials 1. Delphi Starter IDE
As a workaround, you can start Delphi
Starter with the “Run as Administrator”
option, which will also allow you to make
changes to some files that are stored in the
C:\Program Files directory.

The easiest way to make this change is to
locate the “Delphi” option in the start menu
(in the Embarcadero RAD Studio group),
right-click on it and select option. In the
dialog that follows, go to the Compatibility
tab and check the “Run this program as an
administrator” option.

Note that this will cause the User Account
Control (UAC) dialog to appear, in order to
confirm that you want to allow the following
program (Delphi) to make changes to this
computer, each time you start Delphi from
now on. That’s just fine, so just click on OK,
and the error message will be gone at last.

Welcome Page
When you start Delphi you will first see the so-called Welcome Page. Initially, the
Welcome Page shows a list with the recent projects, project groups, and favorites, with
the ability to manage favorites, group them in favorite groups even, to quickly allow you
to locate and open up the project or project group you need.

However, the main part of the Welcome Page can also be configured to show the recent
news from Embarcadero Developer Network and the option to view other resources like
RSS feeds. If you select News | Read News, you see the Embarcadero Blogs Master Site
Feed, but can also pick another NewsFeed to view.
Bob Swart Training & Consultancy - 3 - www.drbob42.com
Delphi XE-XE2 Starter Essentials 1. Delphi Starter IDE

In order to extend the collection of RSS feeds that the CodeGear RAD Studio is using,
(and add your own personal favorites) you have to edit the menuRSSFeeds.xml file from
\Program Files\Embarcadero\RAD Studio\X.0\Welcomepage\xml\ and just add other RSS
feeds to this list (where X is 8 for XE, 9 for XE2 or 10 for XE3).
Editing this file can be done with Delphi itself, of course, although you need to have
started Delphi with the “Run as Administrator” option in order to be able to save the file
(in the \Program Files\... directory tree). Just do File | Open, click on Computer (on the
left side of the dialog), select your drive and then the Program Files\Embarcadero\RAD
Studio\8.0\Welcomepage\xml directory, and then open up the menuRSSFeeds.xml file.

Scroll down to line 123 where, as part of the English Community Blogs channel, there’s
an entry for my Dr.Bob Examines column, as follows:

<channel>
<title>English Community Blogs</title>
…
<item>
<title>Dr. Bob Swart</title>
<link>http://www.drbob42.com/rss.xml</link>
</item>

You can extend this entry with a link to my more frequently updated Drs.Bob’s Delphi
Notes weblog, as follows:

<item>
<title>Bob Swart - Drs.Bob Examines</title>
<link>http://www.drbob42.com/rss.xml</link>
</item>
<item>
<title>Bob Swart - Drs.Bob's Delphi Notes</title>
<link>http://www.drbob42.com/weblog.xml</link>
</item>

And while you’re at it, note that I’m not a real Dr. but only a drs., so I’ve changed that
part as well on line 123.
Bob Swart ([e-mail]) - 4 - September 2012