Dimensional Data

Many people know that you can mix C++ and Delphi in one app, however, not everyone knows how to implement this technique. Whether you are planning to develop windows 10 apps, iOS, or Android applications, you might find great reasons why combining two different programming languages can be extremely beneficial. In this video from the recently concluded DelphiCon 2021, David Millington will share with us what C++ builder can offer to your Delphi app and how surprisingly easy this technique can be done. Why would you build an app out of two programming languages? A programming language is called a language for a reason. It is a way to communicate into express intent. Interestingly, the way that a language is designed makes some languages better for some purposes than others. Some languages are good at data processing while some are writing algorithms that are very easy to understand or to read. Some languages like Delphi are connecting to user interfaces and some are being efficient for performance. This means that you can choose the languages you use based on your intent. But the key is, you are not limited to one language and you can always mix and match languages based on your purpose. How to call C++ from Delphi? The key in calling between languages is binary compatibility. In this video, David will explain everything about this binary compatibility as well as the differences between Application Programming Interface (API) and Application Binary Interface (ABI). Here, we will learn how to call C++ from Delphi not just by writing C++ but also by using an open-source C++ library. Mixing the two aforementioned languages, Delphi and C++, lets you write most of your app in Delphi but bring in some C++ fast-compile performance or some of the vast number of C++ libraries that are available. The session will provide an actual demo showcasing an existing Delphi app and will guide us through the process of calling C++ from Delphi through a method and also by using an open-source C++ Library. Here, we will see the benefits of using C++ and how it can effectively optimize the performance by getting about 8 times speedup from the equivalent Delphi code. If you want to know how to use C++ Builder to extend the reach of your Delphi app, feel free to watch the video below. Download a free trial of RAD Studio Delphi today.

There is a great number of instant messaging applications on the market today. One of the fastest-growing and increasingly popular apps is the Telegram app. Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging application that provides end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls, chats, and several other features. It also comes with various developer tools that you can work with an ide software like Delphi. In this video from the recently conclude DelphiCon 2021, Alexander Syrykh will share with us everything about Telegram, how to work with the Telegram bot, and how to generate invoices using FastReport VCL and Delphi. Do you want to know everything there is to know about Telegram? With the increasing number of Messaging apps today including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Alexander will share us the reasons why you should use Telegram. Aside from providing a stable messenger operation, Telegram has a fast-growing audience of monthly active users with an increase of 10% over the last 6 months. Also, it has a fast bot creation. Generally, bots are third-party applications that run inside the Telegram app. Here, users can interact with the bot by sending them messages, comments, and inline requests. Interestingly, Telegram allows users to create their own Bots. To do so, you need to write a message to the so-called Botfather which allows you to create new bot accounts and manage your existing bots. The concept behind how the Telegram bot works is pretty simple. In this video, we will learn how to work with Telegram Bot using either the Webhook or the Long Polling methods. How to do you write a Telegram Bot using the API in Delphi? The session will also highlight how to work with the Telegram Bot API using the Delphi programming language. To work with Telegram Bot API, there are libraries offered by different programming languages like Delphi. Since Delphi library is not yet on the list provided by telegram in its repository, Alexander will introduce us to the so-called fastTelega that serves a Delphi Library for Telegram. Here, you will learn how to create a bot menu with the help of a hands-on application. We will also learn how to generate invoices using the FastReport VCL (reporting and document creation VCL Library for Delphi, C++ Builder, and more). The video will walk us through the process of generating invoices in PDF format and how these invoices can be sent to the bot user. To learn more about Telegram bots, feel free to watch the video below. Do you want to try the tips in this video for yourself? Why not download a free trial of Delphi today?

In this video from the recently concluded DelphiCon 2021, Cary Jensen along with his fellow Delphi experts Olaf Monien and Jens Fudge will discuss everything about FireDAC. FireDAC is a powerful Universal Data Access library for windows application development and other devices, connected to enterprise databases. Compared to other database access components, FireDAC is a relatively more easy-to-use access layer that supports, abstracts, and simplifies data access, providing all the features needed to build real-world high-load applications. What are the advantages of using FireDAC compared to UniDAC? Compared to the previous DelphiCon 2021 talks, this session was done with a live panel that aimed to answer all queries about FireDAC in real-time. One of the highlights from this session is the notable comparisons between Delphi’s FireDAC and DevArt’s UniDAC. Generally, both aforementioned database framework comes with similar feature sets with minor differences. For instance, both frameworks allow developers to access multiple different database management systems (Interbase, SQLite, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, and more) but the third-party product by DevArt (UniDAC) requires users to pay. Nevertheless, both frameworks share the same core features. What are the most useful FireDAC tools, commands, and components? The live panel session will also tackle some notable FireDAC tools and components. This includes the benefits of using the so-called FDEventAlerter that offers a unified alerts API to keep all users updated on changes in the database. It will also highlight the benefits of using FD Connections as well as the FD Monitor, a great tool to automatically lock all queries and parameters executed on the database. The panel will also discuss and answer a query about how to execute SQL on a database as well as share their insights about the most effective strategies on how to manage large databases on a single-user desktop database without a server process running on the same machine. If you want to know more about FireDAC, feel free to watch this video below. You can follow along – download a free trial of Delphi today.

In one of the early sessions of DelphiCon 2021, we learned the importance of the modernization of old IT systems. From here we have learned how modernization can improve the overall system performance and how this could help windows program development much easier and faster. Interestingly, in this session, Dion Mai of AquaSoft will share his story of how they managed to successfully migrate a company’s huge database system from an old Delphi 7 version to a newer Delphi Seattle version. What lesson can we learn from the successful migration story from Delphi 7 to Delphi Seattle? Unlike the migration talk provided by Oren Aviram who introduced us to Delphi Parser, a software that can be used for easy transition or quick migration from a Legacy IT system like Borland Delphi to a newer version of RAD Studio, this video will share us a very detailed process including the various phases of migration as well as the challenges they encountered in the process and how they were able to overcome those. The company is Linx Big Farma, a retail software with more than 20 years in the market that is focused on retail for drugstores. Today, Linx Big runs in more than 3 thousand customers with nearly 5 thousand stores using the system. Apparently, the software was previously running in an older version of Delphi (Borland Delphi 7 to be specific). As the company needs to adjust to a growing market, they need to upgrade their operating system to welcome new ideas and features to their customers. What are the phases of migrating from one version of Delphi to another? The project is relatively huge as it involves 65 Delphi projects, 194 modules, and 2 million lines of code. The completion of the project took 6 months with 22 in-house members with developers and 3 outsourced developers from AquaSoft. It went through various stages or phases of migration from analysis, execution, and validation. Dion will also share all the struggles, conflicts, and bugs they encountered during each phase. To learn more about their success story, feel free to watch the video below. Why not download a free trial of the latest version of RAD Studio Delphi today?

Imagine creating applications for a computer that is easily customizable, very affordable, and only the size of a deck of cards? Well, that’s the purpose of the Raspberry Pi! With the power of TMS WEB Core and TMS Miletus, you can create applications for this platform using Delphi 11. This session from the recent DelphiCon will show us a practical use case of how you can build applications for Raspberry Pi and access external devices to measure temperature and humidity. The session will also show us why TMS Web Core and TMS Miletus are considered to be some of the most important Windows tools for developers, especially for the app’s cross-platform functionality. Why You Should Develop Applications for Raspberry Pi Using Delphi Generally, you can now develop applications for the Raspberry Pi with a tiny little computer that is very much affordable with Delphi 11 without the need for additional hardware. Interestingly, you can do it from your Windows PC even if you do not have a Raspberry Pi by yourself. You will be able to generate the binary that can be executed on the Raspberry Pi. Holger Flick will also highlight all the notable strengths of Delphi and why is it ideal for this kind of project. Overall, Delphi is an object-oriented programming language known for making the development of database-driven Windows desktop applications easy because of its rapid application development approach It also features a huge third-party marker for additional visual and non-visual components like the TMS Software. Today, developing for only one platform is no longer sufficient. Aside from Windows, you also need to supply macOS solutions, Linux, and sometimes for the Raspberry Pi too. Good thing, with Delphi you can supply solutions to all these aforementioned platforms. Everything You Need to Know About TMS Web Core and TMS Miletus One of the notable development challenges is to provide a product that is compatible with multiple platforms. One of the solutions here is to use FireMonkey instead of VCL. TMS Software has framework-neutral controls which makes this much easier. Holger will share with us everything we need to know about TMS Web Core and TMS Miletus. The session also comes with a demonstration of the so-called BME 280 Module. The application measures temperature, humidity, and air pressure using sensors attached to the Raspberry Pi. It is designed to send its data to a web service that can be accessed from any device all over the world. Check the video below to learn more about TMS Software in Delphi

Nowadays, developing an app for a single platform is no longer sufficient. In order to welcome new ideas and features and also to widen your target market, you must come up with a product or software that can be accessed across multiple devices or platforms. It means that aside from Windows app development, an application must be compatible with other operating systems like macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. You need to be using IDE software which can support creating apps suitable for multiple different operating system targets. This is what we are about to learn from this session by David Intersimone from the recently concluded DelphiCon. How can I create multi-platform Applications with Delphi, FireMonkey, and other technologies? This programming session will discuss and demonstrate using Delphi and FireMonkey to create multi-platform applications using technology news feeds, Google Cloud APIs, Air Quality REST calls, JSON, RSS, Atom, InterBase/IBLite, etc. Here, we will learn how to handle multiple sources of information, APIs, data formats, and real-world multi-platform specific tips and techniques along with a series of video demonstrations and hands-on applications. Interestingly, this presentation is based on some programming projects that David Intersimone has been doing for the last several months. He came to realized that there is a lot of forest fire incidents happening in various parts of the world especially in areas like California, Northwest, and the United States. He decided to develop an app that can provide details about air quality, humidity, and other related environmental information at any given time. He came across Purple Air, a manufacturer of air quality sensors, and discovered that the website provides a map and a way to get an HTML widget and API. From here, he decided to build his first Tablet PC Application. This is where the multi-platform exploration began. He took the widget information provided by Purple Air and put it inside of an HTML local file. The video will show us how he took advantage of Delphi and FMX as well as how he managed to handle multiple sources of information, INI files, APIs, and data formats. To learn more about how David managed to build this app from scratch, gather information from various sources up to its deployment, feel free to watch this video below. 

If you are into robotics, then this session is definitely a great fit for you. While robots are considered to be autonomous machines that can perform certain tasks based on the inputs taken by sensors, they are merely mechanical pieces until they are properly programmed using a powerful piece of ide software. This makes coding an integral part of their system. Interestingly, this session from the recently concluded DelphiCon, will show you how you can control visual programs in an Arduino Manipulator robot from a Delphi Application over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. How can I program a Robot and control it from Delphi? The robot can be programmed both with Arduino IDE or with Visuino, the graphical development environment for Arduino, and is also by far the easiest way to program the robot. We can communicate with the robot from the Delphi application in multiple ways. The simplest way is using a serial port over USB. Alternatively, we can also use Bluetooth if we have Bluetooth Module on the shield. If we installed a Wi-Fi shield, we can also use Wi-Fi to communicate with the robot. Finally, we can replace the Arduino controller board with a different controller that has built-in Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. When working on a robot project, programmers are more likely to encounter a variety of challenges along the way. There are often shields using the same pins that can cause conflicts. Some shields are simply not compatible with each other and you just have to look for alternatives. There are also some electrical problems such as power noise causing the boards to reset as well as other challenges like mechanical problems, wrong communication, and wrong Delphi project settings.  How can we create an animated timeline and communicate with a robot? In this session, we will also learn how to use an animation timeline to control the robot. The timeline has channels controlling the service and it needs to have the right values to position the servos properly. The simplest way to achieve that is to manually position the robot controlling the servos with the potentiometers which will be demonstrated by Boian Mitov in this video. He will also demonstrate how to write a simple visual application for the robot and a small Delphi application to display and record the values. The video will also show us different ways to communicate with the robot over a Serial Port (Delphi), over Wi-Fi, and over Bluetooth. Feel free to watch the video below to learn more.    

The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a topic of one of the TCoffee and Code sessions by Embarcadero and from there, we have learned that the possibilities for innovation are increasing every single day. Today, most of the devices we have at home are being controlled by smartphones. With the help of some windows application development, we can control devices with just a few quick taps on our phone. In this video, we will see how innovative technology can go using a smartwatch and Delphi. This video led by Sileide Campos and Victory Fernandes from the recently concluded DelphiCon 2021 will show us how they managed to program a Smartwatch to control devices using Delphi. What happens when an Android smartwatch meets Delphi? The so-called Internet of Things rapidly evolved from simple embedded systems in single-function devices like microwave ovens to the most advanced technology algorithm applied to modern devices. Every day, a new smaller, faster, and thinner technology is being introduced in the market. Smart homes are becoming increasingly popular allowing people to easily control appliances and devices like lamps, thermostats, cameras, and television by using the apps that they download on their smartphones. In this video, we will be introduced to another innovative gadget that works the same as your smartphone – the smartwatch. Using some well-known smartwatches that run on Android like TicWatch, Campos and Fernandes will demonstrate how surprisingly easy and fast it is to put apps on your smartwatch using Delphi and be able to control various devices. The video will also highlight the advantages of using WearOS to develop apps for your smartwatch as well as some near application ideas that you can develop using the system. How do I control devices using an Android smartwatch? The most interesting part of this video is the actual demonstration of how the smartwatch app works. In this video, we will get to see some actual applications and how they managed to program them using the Delphi RAD Studio. This includes an easy and no-code QR code application that can verify users if they are already vaccinated or not. The samples also include a Google Map application, Bluetooth Low Energy app, and other more complex devices that run with ESP32 microcontrollers. They also demonstrate the user’s capability to configure and change layouts according to the smartwatch model. To learn more about this interesting piece of technology and how it works with Delphi, feel free to watch the video below. Why not download a free trial of RAD Studio Delphi today and try out some of the ideas from this great video?

We have learned from the previous talks that Delphi is indeed one of the easiest programming languages that you can learn.  Although Delphi is simple by nature, it is a high-level programming language that works well for both beginners and professional developers. In this video from the recently concluded DelphiCon 2021, David Cornelius will demonstrate how to work with a low-code windows application development and build a working prototype from scratch in under 30 minutes. Everything you need to know About the Low Code principle In this session, David will take us through creating a cross-platform REST Client application from scratch to a working prototype. For him, the less code you have to write, the less code you have to debug later and we couldn’t agree more. Using a rich set of components and libraries, you can save yourself time and maintenance which lowers the cost of development and can boost your productivity at the same time. Low code is a software development approach that requires little to no coding to build applications and processes. A low-code development platform uses visual interfaces with simple logic and drag-and-drop features instead of extensive coding languages. These concepts are recognized across the industry, and some predict that by 2024, 65 percent of application development will utilize low code principles. It should be noted that this concept is not no-code as you still need to account for differences in environments or simply use or format data in unique ways. Do you know how to build a cross-platform app in Delphi with very little code? Interestingly, this session features an actual demo of how you can build a working application prototype from scratch with fewer codes to deal with. The project is a REST Client app that uses FireMonkey and works on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.  The demo will demonstrate how to build an app from scratch using components that can be found in Delphi. The API source for this project is Wordnik, an online dictionary. David will show us how to access a public REST API and parse JSON results into FireDAC memory tables linked with LiveBindings to fill a couple of ListView with only a few lines of hand-written code. He will also show us some tricks using some of the features of REST Debugger tools and some nifty components like the TRESTResponseDataSetAdapter that magically transforms the JSON response into a memory table.  All of which can save you a great amount of time instead of dealing with tedious tasks of extensive coding. To learn more, feel free to watch the video below.  Why not follow along with the video? Download a free trial of RAD Studio Delphi today!

Some of you are probably wondering if it is possible to develop games in Delphi. Whether you are planning to create a simple 2D or an immersive 3D game, Delphi offers a great number of options that allow you to build games from scratch. One of which is through the Castle Game engine. It is an open-source cross-platform 3D and 2D game engine supporting many asset formats and Delphi is one of its supported ide software. In this video from the recently concluded DelphiCon, Michalis Kamburelis shares with us everything we need to know about the Castle Game Engine. What are the Features of Castle Game Engine? Castle Game Engine is an open-source cross-platform 3D and 2D game engine supporting many asset formats such as glTF, X3D, Spine JSON, Collada, 3DS, MD3, and more. The engine is using modern Object Pascal and is available online via castle-engine.io. It can be used to develop a proprietary or open-source game and is also a cross-platform that supports operating systems like Windows, Linux, macOS, and mobile platforms like Android, iOS, as well as different consoles. In this video, Michalis will teach us how to build games from scratch using Castle Game Engine’s Visual Editor. Visual Editor is one of the core features of Castle Game Engine that allows you to design your user interface with 3D or 2D game elements that you can visually interact with and move around. Another important feature of Castle Engine is the ability to use any model format from the modern glTF to flexible and powerful X3D and VRML, and more. The session will also highlight various customization options that you can apply to help you achieve the kind of game you want. How to Build 3D Game using Castle Game Engine in Delphi Michalis will also walk us through the step-by-step process of building an interactive 3D game using the Castle Game Engine in Delphi. He will provide all the materials you need so you can catch up with the process. Here, you will be working with code in Delphi and utilize everything you can do with the TCastleScene class which allows you to load, process, and render scenes. In this tutorial, you will learn how to implement various scenarios including adding health bars, changing behaviors, customizing scenes, and more. If you want to learn more about Castle Game Engine and discover how you can build 3D games with Delphi, feel free to watch the video below. Why not download your own free trial of Delphi and try creating a game today?