marcocantu.blog

Delphi Developer Days 2012 Frankfurt and Rome

2012-05-22T21:41:45.830Z

Last week Cary Jensen and I hosted the 5th and 6th stops of Delphi Developer Days 2012 around Europe.

Frankfurt

First we were in Frankfurt, in a hotel not from from the central station (HauptBanhof) we used also in past years. We had a really great crowd, in fact the event was sold out and we could have had any more people. Most of the participants were from germany, but we had also many from Norway and other nordic countries. Bruno Fierens from TMS Software was the guest speaker: He covered development of FireMonkey controls, and showcased the coming FireMonkey grid from TMS.

Rome

The last stop was in Rome and was a bit different. The hotel was also near the station, but not far from downtown. Food was quite good. Attendees were not many (about half Italian, half from other countries) and this was a good chance for extensive questions and more experiments. The guest speaker was Danielete Teti, who covered Dependency Injection. At the end of the first day I guided half of the group for a tour of Rome, including the Quirinale hill, the key centers of Italian politics (the Parliament, the Prime Minister residence). Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (a tall dome built 2,000 years ago with impressive architectural inventions), Piazza Navona, Campo dei Fiori, and the Compidoglio (or Capitol) Hill with Michelangelo's square and the view on the Imperial Forum. We also saw both the Colosseum and Teatro Marcello, a slightly smaller theater with houses built on the upper part in later years. Here are some pictures, but not from the tour:

DDD 2012 Conclusion

This was the end of the 6 cities tour for this year. We are starting to plan for next year in a few months. We certainly want to hit US and Europe again, are considering adding special sessions with more introductory classes, as we had some relatively new Delphi developers this year (a great sign for the Delphi community, but they need slightly different content). We'll keep you posted.

In the meanwhile, though, if you need training on Delphi you can ask me or Cary to come to your company!

Delphi XE2 Hotfix 4.1

2012-05-21T21:57:14.345Z

Last week Embarcadero made available a "hotfix" (that is a patch, not a full installation) to Delphi XE2 Update 4. You can find information on the official page http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/42282. The download file (for registered users) is at http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/28881. I applied the fix, which didn't take much time and went smoothly:

The hotfix addresses a dozen QC errors, as listed in the description. While most of them relate to FireMonkey, there are also a few for TClientDatSet and other VCL components.

Notice that you have also to update the FireMonkey library for iOS, installing the related update on your Mac. According to the description, this patch "Enables users to submit iOS applications to the App Store". There are not many details though, given this is not a QC bug but an internal one.

Cloud Storage: GDrive, SkyDrive, or DropBox?

2012-05-11T21:25:20.002Z

Over the last two weeks I've been playing a bit with the three main cloud storage services and their respective Windows applications, that let you map a folder to remote storage. I've read countless blog posts about the license agreements and I really think that despite the different wording they are almost identical; I've read debates about the price comparison (but they are difficult to compare, because they do different things). What I'm not seen covered is the cabability of the Windows client applications and the quality of their integration with Windows Explorer. If you want to use them to keep a local copy of your main PC files on a safe location, and move others to a public folder to share them with the world, you don't want to use the browser and upload or download file. You want this to happen seamlessly. That's why Google released a Windows application for GDrive and Microsoft (after a few years) released one for SkyDrive. DropBox? They had one for quite some time...

Microsoft SkyDrive

Microsoft has had SkyDrive for quite some time and now gave us early users some extra free space... until the change the service name (I notice that changes Windows Live and Azure to something else). After a few years they released a client application in the same week Google released theirs. Don't tell me Microsoft doesn't need competition to put its act together! Anyway, after you install it and connect it to your Microsoft account (or Windows Live ID) you get to pick a folder that's kept in synch with cloud storage. Choose wisely, as you cannot change the folder later on but need to uninstall and re-install. Not good. After the process, you get an icon in the notification area:

Quite scanty. You can open the local folder or open the online view in the browser. The configuration settings are also a bit bare bone: there are two check boxes!

As you look into the selected folder, or one of the subfolders, you see your files with a modified icon, loosely cloning TortoiseSVN, with the file status. That's all as there is no special menu, folder configuration or any other setting. You move files there, they get backed up online. And you can share them with other computers. This is much better than in the past, when there was only the web interface, but not a huge effort.

Google GDrive

Google's storage service has been rumored for years, and it was finally released recently. it is integrated with Google Docs (and Google Apps), which already provided file storage at least for those (like myself) with a paid company account. Now you get integration with the Windows file system. Again, when you install GDrive you point it to a folder and it show a nice icon in your notification area, with some more menu items:

There are the two core menu items (view local drive, open in browser) plus a few more direct links 8buy more storage, view items shared with me) and some nice status information (active account, available space). Also the preferences are a bit more complete than Microsoft ones:

For example you can synch only some of the folders under the main GDrive folder and, well, you can buy more storage (the message is not so subtle...). GDrive specific features is that is merges in its files and folders the local files on your PC and the documents on Google Apps and the "virtual folders" you arranged your documents into. On the local file system you get placeholders for the online documents, which can make it much faster to open them. But it you copy a local file (like a Word or PowerPoint file) you can still open it online, if you want. I use Google Apps a lot and find this feature quite handy. This is a view of a folder:

In this case there is no visual clue about the file status, which is a bit disappointing.

DropBox

DropBox is the service that first integrated remote or cloud document storage with Windows. I think they still use Amazon's S3 behind the scenes, which explains why they are considerably more expensive. I do have quite a lot of free storage from they referral program... if you want to contribute some more signup to DropBox from this link.

From the installation, you can notice that DropBox has more flexibility. It's notification icon keep telling you of the files is it downloading or uploading, and using it for shared content among multiple computers is really very nice. The icon and its menu look like this:

Notice the "all files up to date" which is the more detailed than the other services, and the recently changed files, and the pause... but if you open the preferences dialog you can see that it is not even comparable to Google and Microsoft apps in terms of flexibility and customization. Yes, it might be geared towards power user, more than the average user, but I certainly appreciate the difference:

This is only one of the 5 configuration pages. For example, you have the option to move the entire DropBox repository to a different location on your file system. And other advanced features.

But the real difference between DropBox and the other services becomes visible as you start moving to Windows Explorer itself. DropBox enabled files and folders have extra menu items that let you perform specific actions, like making a folder public, retrieving the URL of a public resource, getting past versions of the files, and perform many more actions without having to open the web browser. As Microsoft's solution (and well before it), the files and folders are marked with status icons. Here are the two instances of the folder and file menus, but their actual content depends on the sych and accessibility status:

Conclusion: DropBox clearly wins on Windows Integration

Online services must work nicely and easily give you power without having to resort to a browser, be geared towards synchronizing different computers and devices. For now on Windows DropBox is a clear winner (and I'm not saying this because of the affiliation, as I'm also a Microsoft and Google Partner). Too bad the price difference is significant. Cannot Google or Microsoft or Amazon go buy DropBox (make Joel happy) and deliver us the best of the two worlds? Or hire a good Windows programmer and make Windows Explorer integration a little more rich for their online storage services? Microsoft should have the knowledge to do this and I was expecting a bit more from them.

PS. Or maybe one of us could write a Delphi application for integrating with Explorer, and sell it to them. Microsoft already bought a Delphi application for a few millions (Skype), you never know. ;-)

FireMonkey Links #2

2012-05-04T10:55:37.042Z

Here is another blog in the would-be series of FireMonkey updates, after the initial post at http://blog.marcocantu.com/blog/firemonkey_links_1.html , with links and news about the new Delphi library.

Graphical Math Functions

Pawel has a nice demo of Bezier Surface Visualization (from Turbo Pascal to Delphi FireMonkey) in his blog, including source code.

Anders has a MathWiz app for iOS, that's available on AppStore for 99 cents.

FastReports for Mac

The company is about to release its Delphi reporting ending for the Mac. Information and early demos at http://www.fast-report.com/en/news/9497.html.

FireMonkey Class Hierarchy Poster

Might have already blogged about this, but in case you missed it, there is a nice poster of FireMoneky classes, much like the old VCL ones. The PDF is at http://www.embarcadero-info.com/firemonkey/firemonkey_chart_poster.pdf.

. Do you know of any cheap service to get this printed on a real poster?

eLearn from Embaracadero

A new series of webinars by Embarcadero, focused on FireMonkey, started last week (I'm listening to the second installment while typing this blog entry): http://blogs.embarcadero.com/firemonkey/index.php/2012/04/20/elearning-series-getting-started-with-firemonkey-begins-may-3-2012/. The registration page is here (http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/42194) and the logo here on the side.

The FireMonkey blog

By the way, this was announced on the new FireMonkey blog, which is at http://blogs.embarcadero.com/firemonkey/ (mostly managed by David I, it seems). It think it is correct for Embarcadero to have product blogs beside personal ones.

FireMonkey at Delphi Developer Days (Again)

Finally, if you are interested in learning about FireMonkey from me (and Cary Jensen), you can attend Delphi Developer Days in Rome mid-May (which include a short city tour by yours truly).

There is a long technical introduction, an in-depth session about Styles (the real foundation of the library), plus a session covering iOS DataSnap clients. Information at http://www.delphideveloperdays.com/.

FireMonkey at Italian Delphi Day

I and other experts will also show a few FireMonkey demos at the coming Italian Delphi Day (June 7th): http://www.delphiday.it/.

30 Years of Sinclair ZX Spectrum

2012-04-27T16:16:36.797Z

This week marked the 30th year since the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was first launched. It was my first computer and I still have the original piece of hardware.

Yout can read a very nice article on "RegHardware" at http://www.reghardware.com/2012/04/23/retro_week_sinclair_zx_spectrum_at_30/. The name "Spectrum" and the colors band came to underline the computer had color graphics (in fact, it could show 8 different colors at a 256x192 pixels resolution). It also had a Z80 processors (and I did learn its machine language), and a whopping 64KB addressable space, of which 16KB was the internal ROM (including a Basic interpreter with command associated with the various keys) and left you use the remaining 48KB for applications and data.

Of course, there was no floppy (only later the introduced an infinite micro-drive tape) so all storage was on regular audio tapes and you had to have a good quality recorded to be able to read back your data and saved programs. I never bought the micro-drive, but got the stronger keyboard with proper keys (as in the second image below). rather than the rubber one (as in the first image, which was the original version). I was hoping to try to turn it on and take a few pictures (it did start the last time I tried, a few years ago) but this week was quite busy.

I have fond memories of this first computer, I'm not sure younger generations can fully understand this. For us, it was quite a miracle. I learned BASIC, played too many games, produced animated physics experiments, learned assembly to make the programs be faster, bought dedicated computer magazines (and yes, they had source code to type in!). Time flyes!

Delphi Developer Days 2012 Baltimore and Chicago

2012-04-24T16:40:09.793Z

Last week, Cary Jensen and myself did the US portion of Delphi Developer Days 2012 tour. All went very well, we had a good group in Baltimore and a packed room in Chicago (could not let in any more attendees). In both cities we had an Embarcadero keynote by Anders Ohlsson, and the company also set up free evening events with pizza, drinks, and lot of FireMonkey. This technology was the focus of the keynote and demos, which included some new iOS applications Anders is going to made public. Before you ask, information about future versions was sparse, with the reiteration and iOS and Android will be target of future Delphi compilers.

Cary and I did our many sessions and I think people got home with lots of my information... and possible a bit overwhelmed, but that was our goal. We had as guest speakers Jim McKeeth of RemObjects in Baltimore and Ray Konopka of Raize Software in Chicago (Ray's home). Got to see a very interesting picture of a Disneyland attraction. Both guest speaker were great, and we really cannot thank them enough for coming.

Baltimore Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the Baltimore event, with some of the attendees, Jim speaker, Anders speaking.

Chicago Pictures

Here are some pictures of the Chicago event, with a couple of pictures of the attendees (taken while Cary was talking) and one at the end of the evening with Anders and Ray.

Chicago, the City

I did spend an evening downtown Chicago, and here are a few pictures (taken the with phone, quite low quality): the El (elevated train), downtown, magnificient mile, and a few taken from the Hancock Tower Observatory.

Europe "2" is Next

The final two events of the Delphi Developer Days 2012 tour will take place in Europe in 3 weeks (after the earlier European events in March). The stop in Frankfurt, Germany is fully booked, but we still have room in Rome, Italy. So you can combine two days of Delphi training with a visit to the eternal city... and a very interesting touristic destination (and this even includes a short guided tour by yours truly). Sign up ASAP at http://www.delphideveloperdays.com/ for your choice to attend to this great Delphi training event.

Delphi XE2 Help Update 5

2012-04-20T01:03:21.244Z

Embarcadero has released a new version of the RAD Studio help file, including lots of new material. You can see the announcement on Tim Del Chiaro's blog at http://delphi-insider.blogspot.com/2012/04/help-update-5-for-delphi-xe2-and.html.

The download link (for registered users) is at http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/28810 and more information is in the Help Update 5 Readme online at http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/Readme_-_Help_Update_5_for_Delphi_and_C%2B%2BBuilder_XE2.

Notice that the same information was already added to the docwiki site over the past weeks, so you could already read this (for example the FireMonkey Quick Start Guide I blogged about last week). But for some developers it is nice to have the information in the local help.

Quite interestingly, at the very moment Embarcadero released this file, attendees at Delphi Developer Days in Chicago were complaining and asking us (and Embarcadero) about the status of the help... which is slowly improving but it is honestly a problem Delphi has. Anders mentioned a new update was coming, but we didn't expect it right away (nor was he hinting this). During the same discussion attendees asked for books... and I promised (again) to finish mine on FireMonkey as soon as possible.

PS. The fact I'm a traveling around the US for this event is the main reason I'm a bit slow in blogging these days... my backlog for the blog is growing!

FireMonkey Links #1

2012-04-13T08:14:53.768Z

I keep finding interesting information about FireMonkey, so I'm trying to start a series of posts with FireMonkey related links. If you find (or have made) anything else relevant, feel free to forward it to me for inclusion in future blogs posts of this series.

FireMonkey Quick Start Guide

Embarcadero has published a FireMonkey Quick Start Guide tutorial at http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE2/en/FireMonkey_Quick_Start_Guide. Doesn't go much in depth, but it is a very good introduction.

TMS Pack for FireMonkey

After releasing a few components, TMS Software has released its first FireMonkey components collection, called "TMS Pack for FireMonkey": http://www.tmssoftware.com/site/tmsfmxpack.asp

Biz Flow

The Biz Flow demo is 3D Fish Facts Editor for FireMonkey by Stephen Ball (from Embarcadero UK). The code is at http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/28751. Below you can see a YouTube video introducing the demo:

FireMonkey at Delphi Developer Days

Finally, if you are interested in learning about FireMonkey from me (and Cary Jensen), you can attend Delphi Developer Days (next week int he US or in May in Europe). There is a long technical introduction, an in-depth session about Styles (the real foundation of the library), plus a session covering iOS DataSnap clients. Information at http://www.delphideveloperdays.com/.

That's all for now.

RAD Studio 2012 Survey

2012-04-02T15:57:21.425Z

Embarcadero has an active RAD Studio Survey, worth taking to suggest your ideas... even if the time frame to take part in the iPad sweepstakes have ended. Link is:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/93PTY5X

Takes effectively close to the 30 minutes they suggest, if you want to do it properly. It contains hints on potential future features... guess many of them won't happen, really don't know. I couldn't avoid sharing the list of language features below, though. If you want any of this to have more chance, take the survey!

Delphi Developer Days 2012 London and Amsterdam

2012-03-29T17:20:18.713Z

This week I was in London for the first stop of the Delphi event I organize with Cary Jensen, and now I'm in Amsterdam half-way through the second stop. Here is some information, some links of blogs mentioning us, and some pictures. Remember there is still a chance for you to sign up to coming stops of the event, both in the US (April) and Europe (May). Attendees and guests seem to like the class...

London

Our first stop was London, were we had a smaller group of people mostly from the UK and Nordic countries, nice group, very active, and we enjoyed it a lot. Here are a few pictures I took with my phone (not a great quality):

We has Stephen Ball from Embarcadero UK as guest speaker, and he blogged about our event along with a few others at http://blogs.embarcadero.com/stephenball/2012/03/29/we-like-to-get-a-round-a-bit/.

Amsterdam

Right now we have done the first day in Amsterdam and here are a few pictures I took:

As you can see above in the first image, we had Bob Swart as guest speaker, but we also had Pawel giving a short introduction on XE2 and he also blogged about his participation at http://blogs.embarcadero.com/pawelglowacki/2012/03/29/39591. He has a picture of myself showing a moving sphere on an iPad, which I've linked below along with another picture I took of Cary listening Bob:

More Events Coming

Two US stops and two more in Europe are coming, so there is still a lot of work for us and a good opportunity for you to attend and learn about new features in XE2 and also review some classic Delphi topics, with a second or more in-depth study.