Dimensional Data

HTTP is one of, if not the most, widely used client-server protocols. It has been serving up our favorite web pages, blogs, and even this site for many years through its lifetime carried on the shoulders of the reliable TCP. But technology is evolving, and over time it has become clear there are some limitations with HTTP. The first thing is that HTTP is unidirectional. With HTTP, the client starts the request first and the server responds. So for every resource, the client is the one who polling for the resource. Added to that, HTTP expects that each interaction has a timeout before it’s assumed that the server is not responding. How can an IDE Software create a robust and scalable real-time Web Socket and Server? Let’s find out all the answers in this post. What are the solutions for the HTTP limitations? Long-polling serves as a solution to the limitations of HTTP based technology. In this case, the client sends request with a long timeout. This allows the server lots of time to reply without the connection expiring due to inactivity or an inability to respond. This was a solution for up to a certain level, but this is very resource hogging. It’s because the server resources are reserved and dedicated to the client during the long polling. Are Websockets a better solution for HTTP limitations? Yes, Websockets are a better solution to help mitigate some of the HTTP timeout limitation. Websockets can use HTTP to initialize the connection and, using the same TCP connection, upgrade to a websocket. With Websockets, we have a persistent bi-directional connection which is less resource intensive than long polling. Both the server and client can push messages any time. Today most of the web browsers support the Websocket protocol. Also the fifth version of HTML (HTML5) includes support for websockets. So in general, Websockets allow you to build real time client server applications. How do I implement websocket applications with Delphi or C++ builder? IPWorks has a complete solution to implement both Websocket server and client. It has following components: TipeCertMgr: This component used to store certificates. TipeWebSocketServer: This is the server component which accepts websocket client requests. TipeWebSocketClient: This is the client component which can connect to a websocket server and send or receive data. TipeWebSocketProxy: This component will accept Websocket connections for a websocket server and instead redirect to another server. By using these components you can develop a complete Websocket client and server application. These components are native and doesn’t need any external libraries. Also the components are optimized and work efficiently. It’s very secure with the WebSocket Secure 256-bit encryption. These components are thread safe. As an added bonus they also have a good documentation to get started: https://cdn.nsoftware.com/help/IWF/dlp/ How do I use IPWorks WebSockets? IPWorks provide a free trial version of their WebSocket component pack for both Delphi and C++ builder. You can evaluate those components in your application. You can acquire the components from this link: https://www.nsoftware.com/ipworks/ws/download.aspx You can also use the GetIt package manager to search for an find trial versions of IPWorks: https://getitnow.embarcadero.com IPWorks WebSockets component installer comes with a demo application which works out of the box. It has a nice little Websocket echo server and a client application to connect to the websocket […]

DevExpress is a must-have component package for Windows IDE: Delphi. It provides hundreds of component sets and you can choose your component set according to your budget and needs. When looking at dashboard solutions by DevExpress, they offer many solutions for web and VCL applications along with a comprehensive collection of other technologies. What is the DevExpress Report and Dashboard server? DevExpress report and dashboard server is an enterprise ready solution for reporting and dashboard. It’s easy to setup. This report and dashboard server takes special care to be friendly and easy to use for your end-users.. Developers can let the users setup their dashboards and reports. Also we can assign users with several roles and assign privileges. The DevExpress report and dashboard supports almost any database. You can generate static reports or live dashboards very easily. For business, DevExpress can identify trends of your business out of the box. Regardless of your existing system, you can setup and make this up and running writhing minutes. User authentication is built in. Also this reports and dashboard has version control. So there is space for trial and error. Also you can easily localize all documents. What are the system requirements of DevExpress Report and Dashboard server? These are the system requirements for the current version of DvExpress report and dashboard server. Windows Server (2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019), Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 Microsoft SQL Server 2008+ IIS 7.0+, .NET 4.6+ SMTP Mail Server HTTP Activation windows feature enabled HTTP Errors and Static Content windows features activated Windows Authentication windows feature activated IP Security windows feature enbled How to get started on building our dashboard visualization? You can get all the information to setup the DevExpress dashboard from this link: https://docs.devexpress.com/ReportServer/12432/report-and-dashboard-server Also you can try an online demo from this link: https://reportserver.devexpress.com/ui How to add VCL gauge and indicators to our dashboard visualization? DevExpress offers collection of easy to use VCL Gauge and Indicators. It includes: Circular gauges Liner gauges Digital gauges You can easily drag and drop a TdxGaugeControl to the form and add many scales as you need. You can read more information form here: https://www.devexpress.com/products/vcl/gauges/ What Delphi VCL UI components are available for building a dashboard? DevExpress offers very rich data aware components to use in dashboards. Some of them are: Spreadsheets Word processor Scheduler Tree lists Ribbons Form Layouts Grid Many types of editors Pivot grid Gauges Mapping PDF Viewer Source: DevExpress website DevExpress components are considered very reliable and extremely popular among RAD Studio Delphi and C++ Builder developers. Also, the components are touch friendly which is much more of a consideration in today’s world of hybrid devices such as the Microsoft Surface devices which are often used without a physical keyboard attached to them. You can read more about their VCL components from here: https://www.devexpress.com/products/vcl/ What is the DevExpress VCL Map control? You can use popular maps in your VCL application with this Map control. It support Bing or OpenStreetMap. If you can afford the high quality Bing maps form Microsoft or use the free version of OpenStreetMap. It has animations, scroll and zoom. You can overlay anything on VCL Map controls and match with your application and make it more useful. Source: DevExpress website

Sometimes your application needs a user interface, but what is the best way to make one for Python applications? Enter DelphiVCL for Python. The VCL is a mature Windows native GUI framework with a huge library of included visual components and a robust collection of 3rd party components. It is the premier framework for native Windows applications, but how to use it with Python? Thanks to the DelphiVCL Python package, the VCL is a first-class package for building native Windows GUIs with Python. Need more design tools? You can build the entire GUI in Delphi and then write all the logic in Python. DelphiVCL is the fastest, most mature, and complete GUI library for native Windows Python GUI development.

There’s a lot to consider once you’ve published your apps and they’re out there in the big wide World. Keeping relevant, matching new and emerging trends in both technology and user interfaces or interactions is a constantly-moving target. Luckily there are some easy-to-follow strategies to simplify those tasks and a number of things in RAD Studio which can help smooth the path and improve the robustness of your solutions. The Embarcadero Migration Team will help you keep your apps modern, responsive and top quality Stephen, Mary, and Al are back and walk you through the process of modernizing and migrating a legacy C++ application to the new C++Builder 10.4, specifically incorporating InterBase and FireDAC connections, among other innovations. A video about how to improve your app to keep it looking modern and top quality Follow along in this great video presentation where you get over an hour of their insights and advice, all for free!

The InterBase VAR program is here to help you take your ideas from paper to market. We know one size doesn’t fit all and each solution is unique; that is why the VAR Program exists. VARs can embed InterBase with their applications with a “silent install” and pay for licenses periodically as they are distributed. This licensing option and volume license discounts are possible by setting up a VAR agreement. Follow along with this video to learn more about how you can become an InterBase VAR and how you can make money from this ultra-fast, scalable, high-performance, robust and modern database system while giving your clients and company the best quality cross-platform solution available.

Security should always be the top-most priority whether you are the developer of an application or the end-user. In this TCoffee and Code session, Embarcadero MVPs Jim McKeeth, Ian Barker, Charles Anderson, Zach Briggs, and Glenn Dufke have a 2-hour-long conversation which entirely focuses on security. The topic highlights a comprehensive developer’s guide to security. Here, they address everything from Supply Chain Risk such as ‘poisoned’ APIs and SDKS to the danger of dealing with cracked software. Security isn’t just stopping hackers; it’s API and SDK and supply-chain security too. This great collection of very experienced developers also tackle the proper way of dealing with and understanding your libraries and the most effective ways to prevent your data from being hacked or compromised due to many risk factors. The discussion highlights important security-related topics including password protection, biometric systems, application security, regulatory compliance, encryption, and other equally important security-related windows app development tools. The Do’s and Don’ts Of Security. How to learn from their experiences and what you should know. For software developers, designers and managers, this conversations also focuses on the Do’s and Don’ts when designing and developing software. They guide us through the right way to develop an application safely and securely and how to write secure code. The team also focus on how to protect data whether it is a movement or at rest as well as securing your interactions with the development platform and how to deploy your project securely. Why not grab a coffee and join in the conversation? If you want to know more about security and its crucial role in software development, feel free to watch this TCoffee and Code session below and learn from this relaxed and fact-filled developer conversation over some coffee and, of course, code.   

Sometimes your application needs a user interface, but what is the best way to make one for Python applications? Is it using Python Windows GUI builder? The answer, quite emphatically, is DelphiVCL for Python. What is the Delphi VCL for Python? The VCL is a mature Windows native GUI framework with a huge library of included visual components and a robust collection of 3rd party components. It is the premier framework for native Windows applications, but how can you use it with Python? Why you should use the DelphiVCL Python Package Thanks to the DelphiVCL Python package, the VCL is a first-class package for building native Windows GUIs with Python. Need more design tools? You can build the entire GUI in Delphi and then write all the logic in Python. DelphiVCL is the fastest, most mature, and complete GUI library for native Windows Python GUI development. Watch this video for everything you need to know about DelphiVCL

Due to the ongoing pandemic, most of our developers had to embrace the new normal working environment. Interestingly, Embarcadero came up with a brilliant idea to organize a weekly virtual coffee break meeting ~ the TCoffee and Code that will gather most of our amazing developers to discuss various topics related to the industry including Delphi, windows program development, and more. They will also answer different queries from their followers. The future of the internet could be the internet of things In this particular TCoffee and Code session, a team of developers will discuss everything about the IoT (Internet of Things) and Data. This session was led by the co-inventor of the IoT Award-winning technology Change Views, Stephen Ball as well as Jim McKeeth, and Marco Cantu. Here, they will dive into some of the technologies helping with the movement of data within the IoT space. The Internet of things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the Internet. Open the pod bay doors Today, IoT is rapidly transforming how we do business and live our daily lives and this brilliant team of developers discuss everything from how this concept started to the amazing things we can expect from it in the future. This hour-long virtual discussion also covers topics like where to process data, IoT connectivity, moving data, modern architectures, data Storage and software development. To learn more about IoT and Data, feel free to watch this TCoffee and Code session below.

Face recognition is identifying or confirming the identity of a person using their face. It’s something we humans do from a very early age and we take that process almost for granted. We can do this either in person, using a photo, video, or even a painting or drawing, assuming it’s accurate enough. Getting a computer to perform the same function, though, is an immensely complicated task. In order to have any true success in true facial recognition, recognizing specific faces, rather than the location or area where a face is located, requires artificial intelligence. Will Microsoft Cognitive Services API built with Native Windows Development recognize faces? Let’s find out all the answers in this post! The controversy of recognizing faces As more systems have entered the market with the ability to recognize people’s faces, people began to experience some of the positive benefits, such as the ability to verify the user’s identity when unlocking a smartphone or when carrying out sensitive actions such as accessing a banking app. Before too long law enforcement agencies also began to see how they too might be able to benefit from using this technology to identify wanted criminals or to spot a potential terrorist in a crowded airport. Stopping terrorist attacks and solving crime is of course something we all want. However, like all biometrics, face recognition is not a perfect technology. The face is much more likely to change over time and can also be easily obscured, intentionally or otherwise, with things like masks, hats, and facial hair. Why is facial recognition so popular around the world? Other biometric systems like fingerprints and iris scanners can also have challenges that affect their accuracy too, but less so than that of the face. Despite this, facial recognition has some benefits which might make it a good choice – for example, it is contactless, can be used from a significant distance, can be used to recognize persons of interest even if they are no longer physically present, for example via a video recording. Facial recognition is also passive, which means you don’t need the co-operation of the people whose faces you are recognizing. The downside to that, of course, is that it can be abused by agencies or countries to track their citizens in aid to suppression of their rights, or to keep automated and possibly wide-ranging surveillance of people a government or organization might which to oppress or subjugate. False negatives or positives can lead to legal troubles Another downside of face recognition is that it can be “false negative” or “false positive”. False-negative is the situation in which the face recognition system failed to find the matching face from the database even though the database has a matching face. False-positive is the situation in which the system matches a face from a database even though the database doesn’t have any matching face. This can depend on the technology used by face recognition but even organizations with substantial technical resources can apparently make mistakes in recognition. Ultimately it’s the developer’s responsibility to choose and understand the appropriate technology for the use-case of the application they develop. What is the technology behind face recognition? The technology behind face recognition is getting a mathematical representation of the face. It uses the distance between eyes and […]

Due to the current pandemic, webinars have become the newest form of interactive tech convention. Embarcadero Technologies, who were already way ahead of the curve on this, recently added to their great diversity of online webinars, tutorials and how-to streams with an informal virtual meeting where developers discuss various topics related to Delphi, windows program development, and the tech industry in general. TCoffeeAndCode is packed with great advice and is completely free TCoffee and Code is a hugely popular virtual meeting series where each session highlights different topics. In this video, Embarcadero MVPs like Marco Cantu, Ian Barker, Zack Briggs, Anders Ohlsson, Glenn Dufke, Dave Akerman, and Jim McKeeth gathered together to discuss everything about Delphi and its huge impact. The session also highlighted an interesting discussion on how to do business with a Delphi Consultant and they even tackled an interesting dating guide for software developers. This 2-hour-long video session also discusses WideOrbit and why the company uses Delphi. They also tell us how they hire Delphi developers and what tools and components they use for their products and services. How to do business with Delphi and earn an income with it The team also shares their thoughts about how and how much the project should be priced. They also discuss how software estimation works and how it can help the developer approach their client to get the right price for the project. The video will also highlight Delphi’s involvement in NASA’s 2020 Mars Perseverance Rover. If you want to learn more about the huge impact of Delphi you really should watch the video!