Dimensional Data

Communicating with Human Interface Devices Communicator such as Alphanumeric display, Bar Code Reader, Sensors, Volume control on Speakers/Headsets becomes a primary use case for real-world applications. Do you spend more time in building libraries to communicate with HID for your Delphi/C++ and Lazarus Applications? WINSOFT Provides a powerful library to get the job done. It uses the standard Windows HID API. Features: Able to notify on Human Interface Devices Communicator arrival and removal. Can retrieve all the HID devices information available in the System. Flexible to getting/set Feature Report for the HID devices. Works with Windows 32/64-bit applications. Versions Supported: from C++ Builder 5 to 10.4 Sydney and Lazarus 2.0.8. Platforms: Windows;   Steps to Download and use the Native HID Library: Download Native HID and Unzip the file. Navigate to the Library folder for different Versions. e.g) Delphi10.4. Read the Readme.txt file to know about features and copyright information. Create a Windows VCL Application and use Hid.pas in the uses section. Include the Library folder into Project->Options->Delphi Compiler->Search Path. Compile and check for using the library. Key HID concepts:Report -Reports are the actual data that is exchanged between a device and a software client.  Input Report – Data sent from the HID device to the application, typically when the state of a control changes. Output Report – Data sent from the application to the HID device, for example to the LEDs on a keyboard. Feature Report -Data that can be manually read and/or written, and are typically related to configuration information. Report Descriptor – The Report Descriptor describes the format and meaning of the data that the device supports.UsageTables – Contain a list with descriptions of Usages, which describe the intended meaning and use of a particular item described in the Report Descriptor. For example, a Usage is defined for the left button of a mouse.  USB-IF WorkGroup Publishes the Usage Tables. See USB-IF HID Specifications.

It is surprisingly easy to add joystick support to your VCL In C++Builder app on Windows. Here is third party Delphi and C++ Builder component from WINSOFT for retrieving joystick position and status for any keys. You can use wired or wireless joystick for your application like games, audio/video players and other application. I have tested this delphi component on a recent Windows 10. All functionality corresponds to the declared. All buttons my joystick successful detected. Also works analog sticks. Now let’s view this demo (included to instalation packages) The first thing you need to do is install component to Delphi. It’s very fast and simple! Look this video. Demo included to component package. Now let’s look at the stages of working with a component. # 1 stage – Enumerate controlers # 2 stage – Connect to controler and get value ranges # 3 stage – Now we can read current values from controller anytime. The component uses the DirectX API. Extended capabilities also provide support for rudder pedals, flight yokes, and other devices that use up to six axes of movement, a point-of-view hat, and 32 buttons.This component has both versions for FireMonkey and for VCL In C++Builder applications to Delphi / C ++ Builder 10 – 10.4. Works with: Delphi, C ++ Builder, RAD Server, FireMonkey, VCLWorks on: Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit Source code included in registered version. Royalty free distribution with application without any limitation. Related linksHere is packages for VCL and Firemonkey:JoystickJoystick for FireMonkeyDirectX JoystickDirectX Joystick for FireMonkey Code Faster and Smarter with VCL on C++Builder Smart developers and Agile software teams write better code faster using modern OOP practices and C++Builder’s robust frameworks and feature-rich IDE. Spend less time waiting for lengthy compiles with our highly optimized modern C++ compilers for Windows and iOS Code Insight™ delivers code-completion based on your code and used libraries to help you code quickly and accurately plus customize the IDE to meet your coding style. Get native, high-speed direct access to InterBase, SQLite, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, DB2, SQL Anywhere, Advantage DB, Firebird, Access, Informix, MongoDB, and more. Get hints and tips from inline documentation as you write code Utilize popular libraries such as Boost, Eigen, and ZeroMQ plus leverage a broad range of community tools and libraries. Integrate with version control systems including Git, Subversion and Mercurial

RAD Studio 10.4.1 is a quality-focused release, and this goes for the IDE! We’ve addressed many items including some very commonly requested changes; read more below. A ‘quality-focused release’ means one where we introduce very few new features, and focus 95% of our development efforts on quality. 10.4.1 has had a lot of work in the IDE and will be much smoother for you once you install. But, in 10.4.1 we’ve also spent that time on new features, and we’ve implemented a couple of really commonly requested items. There are two sections to this blog post: first, a change to an old IDE feature; second, a new feature, and key areas that you may be very happy we’ve focused on! The Floating Form Designer Layouts and Multiple Monitors: aka, ‘when does the IDE change things?’ Notable Quality The Floating Form Designer Ever since 2003, the RAD Studio IDE has been ‘docked’: that is, while you can drag tool windows like the Palette, Object Inspector, Messages, Watches and so forth to float, the overall design of the IDE is an integrated window. Specifically the editor and form designer are integrated in the main window. The ‘floating form designer’ is when you turn this off, and it allows the form you are designing to be a window among other windows; that is, it’s not embedded in the main IDE, but mimics the Delphi 1-though-7 behaviour where the designed form can be above or behind the editor. This behaviour has been replaced by modern docked designing for seventeen years, requiring you to manually turn on the old-style feature, and unfortunately did not always behave well. When assessing the feature, we made the hard decision to remove it. What does this mean? Does it mean you can’t have multiple editor or designer windows, for example? No! Very much not. In fact, you can still have multiple editor windows spread over multiple monitors too if you wish, with each one hosting a designed form… and we’ve even tweaked a wide range of areas and UX or behaviour tweaks while you do! Two really notable items we’ve addressed in this area are: The IDE used to not work quite as you’d want when clicking on an item in the Structure pane: the Structure pane would sometimes scroll and the wrong item was selected. This is now resolved. If you click, it will select what you clicked on. I’m really glad to note this one. When you have multiple forms being designed at once, the Structure and Object Inspector windows would reflect the selection for the form designer in the window they were docked to. Now they always reflect the form you are editing. Ie, whatever you’re working on is what they’ll show information for, regardless of what’s docked where. The key to note here is how much better 10.4.1 is at handling form designing over multiple screens. These were ‘annoyances’, things that might seem minor but got in the way when working. We’re glad to note the better behaviour in RAD Studio 10.4.1. Layouts and Multiple Monitors: aka, ‘when does the IDE change things?’ When working with layouts and the designer, we also added one often-requested feature. Desktop layouts save the position and location of your IDE windows, including the monitor your IDE is on. You can create […]