5 Things I Like About Delphi 2007
Bloggers in the Delphi community have been tagging each other to post 5 things they like about the Delphi 2007. I wasn’t tagged but I want to play so here are my 5 things.
1) Speed - The IDE loads and shutdowns so much faster then BDS 2006. There seems to be other performance enhancements too such as switching between the form designer and code window. The IDE is so much faster that I don’t like going back to BDS 2006.
2) Vista Support - This is a wonderful enhancement. I especially like how existing projects using dialogs and routines such as MessageDlg automatically have a Vista look simply by re-compiling the project.
3) Application.MainFormOnTaskbar - I really like this new property. I’m working on an SDI application that manages windows in a similar way as Microsoft Word and Outlook. Overriding CreateParams and setting the ExStyle isn’t a big deal but having the MainFormOnTaskbar property helps to reduce some code.
Update: Steve Trefethen posted a nice overview of Application.MainFormOnTaskbar.
4) Online Help - I like the new look of the help system and the new navigation between pages is really nice. But I do have one major complaint. Help indexes found in the BDS 2006 help system are missing. For example launch the help system, go to Index, and enter “CreateDir routine” in the “Look for” textbox. The routine is not indexed in the new help system but it is indexed in the previous help system. And this is not the only routine not indexed. It sucks that this sort of information is no longer indexed in the help system.
Update:Delphi 2007 Update 1 fixes my complaint about the online help. Routines such as CreateDir are now indexed.
5) Improved Tool Palette Search - I really like how the tool palette search has been improved to find all matches containing the search word, not just matches beginning with the search word. This is a great improvement for me given that I use a number of 3rd party VCL components that are prefixed (i.e., TcxComboBox).
So that’s my list of 5 things I like about Delphi 2007. But what about the things I do not like about Delphi 2007.
1) “Non-breaking” Release - Well, sort of. The idea is that DCUs and packages from BDS 2006 can be used in Delphi 2007. In general this is true. However, I have encountered a number of problems. For starters Delphi 2007 is having trouble loading certain DevExpress packages at startup. And I have read in the newsgroups there is a painting issue too although I have not personally experienced it.
Update: Turns out the problem was me. I was installing DevExpress packages that weren’t meant for the IDE. After installing the correct set of DevExpress VCL packages my IDE problems went away.
2) Trouble Debugging - This problem has me scratching my head and for the life of me I cannot figure it out. All BDS 2006 projects I have opened in Delphi 2007 will not run under the interactive debugger. I haven’t logged this issue in QC yet because I’m still trying to figure out what is happening. Simply saying “Cannot debug project opened from BDS 2006 project file” does not give CodeGear enough information to troubleshoot the problem. But the problem still remains. I cannot debug existing projects. (Note: I suspect this issue might have something to do with the 3rd party packages such as the ones I’m using from DevExpress.)
3) More Issues with Debugging - From time to time I get a weird error message when I press F9. The message says the debugger cannot create the process. I launch Sysinternal’s Process Explorer and notice the application to debug is running under the bds.exe process and yet the debugger cannot attach to it. To make matter worse I cannot kill the spawned process. I have to close down the IDE to kill it. (Again, I suspect this issue might have somethign to do with some of the 3rd party packages I have manually installed.)
Update: Fixed my Delphi 2007 debug issues.
4) No Support in FinalBuilder (yet) - I use FinalBuilder for all my projects and unfortunately FinalBuilder does not support Delphi 2007 (yet). But according to the newsgroups a new compiler action for Delphi 2007 is in the works.
Update: FinalBuilder now has a Delphi 2007 compiler action.
5) No Support in EurekaLog (yet) - EurekaLog is another 3rd party tool I use, and unfortunately support for Delphi 2007 is not there yet. But good news is EurekaLog should have support in about 2 weeks.
Update: EurekaLog now has Delphi 2007.
I know some of these dislikes are not directly Delphi 2007 but they do prevent me from completely moving from BDS 2006 to Delphi 2007 right now. So Delphi 2007 is still an experiment for me at the moment while I wait for 3rd party support. Meanwhile I’m still using BDS 2006 for production work.
Update: I now use Delphi 2007 daily. Best Delphi IDE in a long time.
Update on Delphi 2007 Order Mess
The CodeGear folks are awesome. They were quick to respond to my pre-order issue. CodeGear’s Loreen Fornshell worked directly with me. She was able to sort through the mess and correct the mistakes made by Digital River. It did take a few days but based on my phone calls with Digital River I suspect the delays were caused by DR and not CodeGear.
Thanks to CodeGear folks like Loreen my pre-order mess has finally been cleaned up and I should have my license for Delphi 2007 later today.
I installed Vista the other day preparing the Delphi 2007. I don’t have much of an opinion on Vista yet because I haven’t spent much time playing with it other than to say you better have a beefy machine with lots of RAM if you want the best UI experience. I ordered more RAM for my laptop so I can run Vista’s Aero theme. I’m not 100% sure if this will meet the minimum requirements needed to use the Aero theme but based on what I have read it should. I’ll know in a couple of days after the new RAM arrives.
Why I will NEVER Pre-order from CodeGear Again
Borland announced last year the spin off of CodeGear, their Developer Tools Group. Since that time CodeGear has done things to improve not only their products but communication with the developer community. I have been so excited about this new energy that I pre-order a license for Delphi 2007 back in February.
Last week CodeGear announced a 25% discount for pre-orders of Delphi 2007. I had already placed my order so I sent an email to CodeGear asking if it were possible to apply the discount to my current order. The recommendation from CodeGear was to cancel my original order and place a new one. And this is where the problems began.
CodeGear uses Digital River for their order processing (when purchasing through the Borland Store in the U.S.) and the experience has been awful. First, I attempted to submit a request to cancel the original order via the Borland Store. I received no confirmation on the cancellation request even after waiting more than 24 hours. So I called customer support and spoke with a customer service rep.
The customer service rep told me my order could not be cancelled, but long story short she could apply the 25% discount manually to the order. I thought all was good.
Friday at the CodeRage event an announcement was made about the release of Delphi 2007. Download instructions and license keys were being sent out. Heck, customers in Germany were able to start downloading Friday afternoon.
I waited all weekend for my email. Unfortunately it never arrived. And today I received an email from Digital River telling me my order has been cancelled. Yep, it took almost a week for Digital River to receive the original request sent through the web site.
On top of that, the email I received this morning acknowledged the fact that I had spoken with a customer service representative last week. Yet even though the customer service rep has already worked out the issues with the original order, Digital River still cancelled the order today. (And yes, I mentioned the cancellation request sent via the web to the customer service rep I spoke with last week and I was told not to worry about it.)
So I’ve been on the phone with Digital River (again) and I have spoken with 2 separate customer service reps today. The story I’m told now is that my order has been cancelled and the only option I have is to replace a new order. But here’s where it gets crazier.
As part of the original order I subscribed to the annual support and maintenance, also known as software assurance. I was charged for this last month when the original order was placed. I asked since my order was cancelled and I’m now forced to replace a new order will I need to reorder the software assurance option or will the original request be honored (meaning I will receive future releases free during the term of the subscription). (Note: The subscription has already been “fulfilled” and cannot be cancelled.) Digital River has no clue and the order issue is being escalated to someone higher up (this will be the second escalation today).
Meanwhile, people who purchased Delphi 2007 on Friday have most likely already received their license key and download instructions. People in the Delphi newsgroups are already talking about downloading and installing the product.
I, on the other hand, placed my order almost 1 month ago and as of right now have no idea when my order will be fulfilled. I will never again pre-order from CodeGear.
CodeGear, I love your products. I love your team and the new energy coming out of Scotts Valley. But you need to seriously reevaluate your ordering and fulfillment system and the use of Digital River, which seems to only make matters worse.
Update: I received responses from CodeGear and the mess will hopefully be cleaned up soon.
Update 2: The issues have been resolved.
Developers do matter at CodeGear
Earlier today I made a rant posting about how my Delphi 2007 order had been cancelled. It is my opinion that Digital River is the source of the problem, although some blame has to be put on CodeGear for using Digital River.
That said, I am amazed at the response I have received from CodeGear. I sent an email sharing my story to key individuals at CodeGear. The purpose of my email was to let them know about the issues I am having and the mess that is getting messier with Digital River. I wasn’t expecting any action from CodeGear because ultimately the order was messed up by Digital River and their enability to process requests in sequential order.
Soon after sending my story to CodeGear I got a couple of email responses including responses from Nick Hodge and Michael Swindell. I even received a phone call. Wow! Talk about customer service. This sort of action would never happen if the Developer Tools Group remained as Borland.
CodeGear is helping as much as they to resolve this mess, and I for one am very impressed. Now if only Digital River shared the same passion and devotion this mess would already be cleaned up.
It’s cheesy to say, but developers really DO matter at CodeGear.
New Pictures in the Gallery
I finally got around to posting pictures from the last 4 months. Check them out in the gallery.
Learning AJAX with Delphi at CodeRage
Day 2 at CodeRage is underway and the technical problems are far fewer than yesterday. As a matter of fact I have not experienced any technical issues today. Everything appears to be running fine.
Dr Bob’s session Using AJAX to Extend Delphi Web Applications just ended. By far the best session so far because I learned a lot in this one session that I can begin using today. While the focus of the talk was AJAX, Delphi’s WebBroker techology was used. I have heard of WebBroker but have never used it. I have to say I was very impressed with this technology gem, and I’m kicking myself for not looking at it sooner.
CodeRage Day 1
CodeRage Day 1 is over and overall I thought it was a great day. Unfortunately Day 1 got off to a rough start. Bandwidth issues caused video and audio outages throughout the morning but the problems were, for the most part, resolved later into the day.
CAPTCHA Requirement for Blog Comments
The number of spam messages received through blog comments at thecave.com has increased to a point where I finally had to do something about it. So today I implemented a CAPTCHA field required to make a blog comment. The code is a partial C# port of the CAPTCHA Server Control for ASP.NET, which is written in VB.NET.
My next step will be removing the 400+ spam comments posted. Joy, joy.
Update: The CAPTCHA implementation has eliminated 100% of blog comment spam on this site. I wish email spam could be eliminated just as easily.
I'll Take 2 Rat Tacos with Cheese
I have eatten here countless time. I’m not surprised there are rats.