Dimensional Data

It is safe to say that Cloud Computing is an absolute game-changer, especially in the IT industry. Generally, it is the delivery of all kinds of computing services from servers to databases, from applications to networking, storage, and more, over the internet to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. Many companies are now embracing this innovation as part of their windows application development. Among all the cloud computing services in the market today, Amazon Web Services or AWS is currently the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. In this webinar led by Stephen Ball, Marco Cantu, and Richard Hatherall of Appercept, we will dive into Amazon Web Services, particularly with the AWS SDK library for Delphi. What is Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its Key Services? In this video, we will be looking at how we can use Amazon web services or AWS with Rad Studio 11. Prior to that, the webinar will briefly discuss the essence of cloud computing and why should you use such service rather than the traditional IT measures. One of the key essences of cloud computing is about making large-scale computing power accessible to anyone. Another notable advantage of this service is that it can cut costs and it enables companies to focus more on the core business instead of focusing on the obstacles that get thrown by IT infrastructure. We will also get a side-by-side comparison between cloud computing services and on-premise software in terms of various factors such as scalability, server storage, data security, data loss, and maintenance. We will also learn the differences between all major cloud deployment models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Finally, we will also learn all the fundamental information about Amazon Web Services and all the key services that it offers. Generally, AWS provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs and it also provides a variety of basic abstract technical infrastructure and distributed computing building blocks and tools. What is Appercept’s AWS SDK for Delphi The webinar will also share Amazon Web Services’ humble origin that started in March 2006. It is important to note that AWS pioneered the usage of virtualization to deliver IaaS at a cheaper and on-demand pricing basis. We will also dive into some of the key services offered by AWS including the Simple Storage Service (S3 Storage), Simple Notification Service (SNS), and Simple Queue Service (SQS). In connection to this, Appercept recently launched a new AWS client library exclusively for Delphi ~ the AWS SDK for Delphi. Currently in Preview Edition, this AWS SDK for Delphi offers support for a few AWS services. It offers direct mapping to the AWS APIs and a few of the aforementioned AWS key services like the S3 Storage, SNS, and solid support of user accounts and access permission. The library will soon be available on GetIt and will soon be included in the Enterprise and Architect editions of Delphi and RAD Studio. To know more about this AWS client library and Appercept’s future plans, feel free to watch the webinar below.    Download a free trial of Delphi and try out the examples in this video for yourself.

Achieving a great user experience is extremely important especially in windows application development to tell if the application managed to fulfill the user’s needs. From the user’s perspective, navigating and exploring an application can be done and managed more effectively through multiple tabs. Ever since their introduction, tab controls have been a staple in desktop applications. When incorporated properly, tab controls add tremendous value to the user experience. However, if not done right, this could possibly ruin everything. Interestingly, in this session from the recently concluded DelphiCon as well as from the Desktop First UX Summit, Ray Konopka of Raize Software will share everything we need to know about the dos and don’ts of managing and controlling tabs. Why are tabs so important and why are they popular? Ray will explain why tab controls are so popular and why they have become a staple in almost all desktop applications. One of the major reasons is that they are visually expressive as these tab controls managed to convey what they do and their purpose concretely. These tab controls are also spatially efficient and most of all, they are extremely easy to use. The session will also highlight how tab controls effectively help us manage content. For instance, tab controls provide quick access to alternate views. Another notable strength of tab control is that it gives users the ability to isolate related content, so they don’t have to look at everything. How to properly and efficiently manage tabs? While tab controls are proven to be effective and undeniably work well to improve user experience, there are still notable challenges when it comes to UX designs. One of which is how users handle a large number of tabs. Managing context is also critically important when it comes to tab controls but at the same time, it becomes a challenge too. The same thing goes with styling issues and mixing metaphors. The session also tackles the recommended optimal number of tabs a user can open to achieve the best experience. It will also teach us how to handle a large number of documents in a tabbed document model as well as the variety of methods available to properly and efficiently manage the tabs. The video will also share some ideal design guidelines for tabs and it will also introduce us to Konopka signature controls that are available in Rad Studio including the TRzPageControl and TRzTabControl components. To learn more about Tab Controls, feel free to watch the video below. Why not try the original low code app builder software by downloading a free trial of RAD Studio Delphi today?

Python and Delphi are both powerful programming languages. Delphi, for instance, provides easy-to-use features compared to other languages which make it ideal for most windows application development. Not just it provides clear syntax, but it also offers an easy drag-and-drop system that enables users to build GUI software relatively much faster. Python, on the other hand, is another powerful and clear object-oriented programming language but it suffers when it comes to creating Python GUI apps. Whether you are a long-time Delphi user or a Pythonista, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to stick to one language as you can freely combine them both to build a more powerful coding environment. How to get started with DelphiVCL for Python There are powerful features and libraries in Python that are not present in Delphi and there are libraries in Delphi that are not featured in Python. We were recently introduced to the Python4Delphi library that provides a set of free components that wrap up the Python DLL into Delphi which makes it very easy to use python as a scripting language for Delphi applications. However, if you are a Pythonista who wants to embrace some of Delphi’s powerful components, there are powerful Python modules that allow you to build graphical user interfaces with Python using Delphi’s GUI libraries. In this webinar hosted by Embarcadero MVP Jim McKeeth, we will learn more about these newly released free Python modules that bring the power and flexibility of Delphi’s mature GUI frameworks to Python. Delphi is known for its two powerful GUI frameworks including the VCL which focuses on native Windows development and FireMonkey which offers cross-platform GUI app development. These Python modules include DelphiVCL4Python and DelphiFMX4Python. Interestingly, these modules are based on the open-source Python4Delphi, the same technology that powers PyScripter. How to use DelphiVCL4Python module in Python This particular session will focus more on the DelphiVCL module. Generally, the primary focus of this Python module is to provide free Python modules/bindings of Delphi’s GUI libraries to Python developers. The idea is that it gives you the ability to take the powerful, mature GUI frameworks of Delphi’s VCL and use them in Python. DelphiVCL for Python is a native Python module. It is available via PyPi or you can simply download the source via GitHub. It is natively compiled for Win32 and Win64 and should work on Microsoft Windows 8 or newer. Mckeeth also provides some basic samples including the “Hello DelphiVCL Python Script” that is included in Embarcadero’s DelphiVCL4Python GitHub repository. This sample can be opened and explored via PyScripter or any other Python editor. Another sample includes the Activity Indicator (also from the same GitHub repository) which allows you to load up and change Styles in Python. There’s also the Form Exporter that allows users to design their UI in Delphi IDE and export the form in Python. To learn more about these powerful Python modules, feel free to watch the webinar below.

The Windows user interface has changed numerous times over the years, sometimes quite dramatically. The Windows design drastically evolved from the very simple outlines and colors of Windows 3.11 in 1993 to the gloriously advanced Windows UI toolkit of Windows 11. The latest version of Windows brought us the new Fluent Design System, a revamp of Windows Metro that includes guidelines for the designs and interactions used within software designed for all Windows 10 devices and platforms. In this webinar, Jim McKeeth will walk us through the evolution of Windows Design and will dive into the latest changes in Windows Fluent Design System. How did Windows design evolve over time? In this video, we will revisit all the five eras of windows UI starting with Windows Classic which includes Windows 3.11 which notably features a very simple set of outlines, very few colors with 16 to 256 color display. In Windows 95, we were introduced to shaded bevels for a slight 3D effect while Windows 98 introduced us to Gradient title bars. Windows Luna is the next era of Windows design that was introduced in Windows XP and provided us with gradients for a greater 3D rounded look. This is eventually followed by Windows Aero which came with Windows Vista which added transparency and glass effects. Next to it is the Windows Metro which is notable for its flat primary color designs, a UI that was also applied for Windows Phone and Xbox console. Developed in 2017 by Microsoft, the Windows Fluent Design System is considered to be a revamp of Metro that provides an evolution of all the UI systems of Windows. What are the latest updates with Windows Fluent UI? Interestingly, Fluent Design preserves the clean look and feel of Metro featuring its signature simple flat-esque design while renewing the visuals that Aero had including the blurred translucency, drop shadow, and highlighting effects of the mouse cursor. The video will also walk us through the new design principles of Windows 11 as well as the signature experiences including Geometry, Layering and Elevation, Color, Materials, Iconography and Typography, and Motion. McKeeth will also share with us how to make your applications look the best on the latest version of Windows 11. This includes the use of Windows VCL Styles. Delphi and C++ Builder included the new Windows 11 VCL styles that are available to GetIt Package manager which comes with a dark mode and light mode. Some useful components for Delphi were mentioned in this video including the Skia4Delphi which we’ve seen from the previous DelphiCon webinar. To know more about the latest Windows UI changes for Windows 11, feel free to watch the video below.

Development is hard! Well, I should really say that good development, getting things to work properly, efficiently and reliably, is hard. Even the best developers make mistakes and introduce bugs or unexpected behavior. It doesn’t matter if you’re carrying out that software development on Windows with powerful IDE software which catches a lot of the mistakes before they reach your users – you can still get problems which seep through, potentially disastrously. Test-driven development is a technique which tries to stop that particular problem in its tracks by employing methods where the tests of the code’s desired behavior and functionality are written first and then the code created to make those tests pass. Developers who use test driven development say they find it leads to much improved quality of the code’s final product. In this video, Embarcadero Technology partner and MVP Serge Pilko talks to fellow MVP Jens Fudge about the pros and cons of test-driven development.

One of the hardest challenges when developing cross platform apps is making the navigation and presentation of the app’s screens work consistently. Each platform, whether desktop or mobile, seems to have a different way of making it work. Combine that with the challenges of scaling your wonderful app handiwork so that it looks great on the daunting array of screen sizes and available pixel resolutions, and it can really start to become burdensome. How does Delphi help with cross-platform app challenges? Luckily Delphi developers are blessed with a superb assortment of components and solutions to help them stay focused on the actual code features while the low-code component architecture abstracts all the complications sizing and scaling away from them, so they don’t have to trouble themselves with writing reams and reams of scaffolding code. This is the kind of “don’t write more code than you really have to” attitude to software development which attracted me to Delphi in the first place. What other solutions are available for cross platform application development with Delphi? But even the best auto-scaling and built-in native components can still benefit from the massive ecosystem of third-party components and code we get to benefit from thanks to Delphi’s longevity. In this video, Embarcadero Technology partner and MVP Serge Pilko talks to fellow MVP Andrea Magni about Andrea’s hugely popular TFrameStand component which elegantly solves lots of common problems coders can face when trying to implement navigation in their apps. I’m a big fan of Andrea’s and his TFramestand and it’s great to see Serge in discussion with him. You can also read and see more on TFrameStand on the Embarcadero blog.