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 Dr.Bob's Delphi Clinic
See Also: Dr.Bob's Delphi Papers and Columns

For more recent news, see Dr.Bob's Delphi Clinic.

2001/12/07 - Dr.Bob's Tip of the Hat #13
In this latest Tip of the Hat I show how to distinguish between design-time and runtime (standalone or being debugged) inside your Delphi applications.


2001/12/01 - Kylix Developer's Guide
Now available: Kylix Developer's Guide by Charlie Calvert, Marjorie Calvert, John Kaster, Bob Swart, and David Intersimone. The CD contains Kylix 2 Open Edition and a bonus chapter "What's New in Kylix 2", introducing the so-called "Snap" technologies in Kylix 2 such as DataSnap, WebSnap and BizSnap - see also the Table of Contents.
You can now download (or read on-line) a sample chapter in PDF format (chapter 3 about Basic Pascal Syntax written by Charlie Calvert).
I have written three in-depth chapters about web server development with Kylix (using NetCLX, also known as WebBroker), namely: chapter 19 (Apache Web Server Applications), chapter 20 (Web Server Development), and chapter 21 (Advanced Web Server Development).


2001 December - The Delphi Magazine #76
My Under Construction column in the December issue of The Delphi Magazine is about new DataSnap Connections. In this article, we check out new DataSnap connections. There are three new components in Delphi 6 especially written for DataSnap connections (or providers of data), namely the ConnectionBroker, SharedConnection and LocalConnection. In this article, I explain what they are, plus when and how to use them.


2001/11/27 - TurboPower ProActivate
TurboPower has announced the availability of ProActivate; a tool for software licensing and distribution. With ProActivate, you can protect virtually any Win32 EXE in a compressed security envelope that only a ProActivate license can access (DLL and OCX support will be added later).


2001/11/26 - Delphi Developer's Guide to XML
Delphi Developers Guide to XML by Keith Wood, published by WordWare is designed for the Delphi developer who wants to learn about XML; covering all aspects of utilizing the power of XML with Delphi. This book provides a solid introduction to the technologies that make up XML and its related specifications. In-depth coverage of the Document Object Model (DOM) includes investigation of the basic specification and three implementations: Microsoft's DOM, CUESoft's DOM, and Open XML's DOM. Similarly, both Microsoft's version and a native Delphi implementation are described for the Simple API for XML (SAX). Generating XML documents is detailed using simple text, Delphi's Web modules and XMLBroker, each of the DOMs, and SAX. Developing applications that make use of XML is also covered, including XSLT and SOAP examples.
The only downside of this book is that it doesn't cover any of the new Delphi 6 XML features (but it is compatible with Delphi 3 through 6).


2001/11/19 - Dr.Bob on DevX #7 - WebBroker Reporting
I have written my seventh article in the Delphi 10-Minute Solution column (as Delphi Pro) on DevX. This new 10-Minute Solution shows how to Produce HTML Reporting Output with WebBroker Components - a feature available in Delphi, C++Builder and Kylix.
You can now download the source code for this solution.


2001/11/05 - XML Document Programming & Data Binding
Delphi 6 contains new XML features in the form of XML document programming, XML Data Binding Wizard, XML Mapper and BizSnap (SOAP/XML Web Services). My most recent two Dr.Bob Examines columns describe these XML features in Delphi 6 (also available in Kylix 2 Enterprise), starting off with XML Document Programming and now also XML Data Binding.


2001 November - The Delphi Magazine #75
My Under Construction column in the November issue of The Delphi Magazine is again about Delphi 6 WebSnap (part 3). In this article, I conclude my discussion of Delphi 6's WebSnap technology (well, for now at least) with various helpful techniques, including details of how persistent sessions work and guidelines for putting them to use in your web applications.


2001/10/31 - Delphi/Kylix SOAP & DataSnap papers
My latest Delphi WebBroker application is a dynamic (short) paper configurator and generator. The first version shows 14 different ways for a SOAP Server Application (in Delphi 6 or Kylix 2 Enterprise) to use a SOAP Data Module to export the Biolife datasets to a SOAP Client Application (again in Delphi 6 or Kylix 2) using a SoapConnection component.


2001/10/24 - Kylix 2 Announced (and Kylix 1 Patches)
Borland has just announced Borland Kylix 2, the first RAD development environment to deliver web services for Linux, and other new features such as BizSnap, WebSnap, DataSnap, VisiBroker 4.5, and more. Kylix 2 will be available in three editions: Kylix 2 Enterprise, Kylix 2 Professional, and a Kylix 2 Open Edition (available later in Q4).
At the same time, a number of patches have been made available for Kylix 1. See Dr.Bob's Kylix Kicks for more information and updates of Kylix, as well as some upcoming articles using the 60-day trial of Kylix 2 Enterprise.


2001/10/17 - Dr.Bob on DevX #6 - ActionBands
I have written my sixth article in the Delphi 10-Minute Solution column (as Delphi Pro) on DevX. This new 10-Minute Solution shows how to Use ActionBands to Enable End Users to Customize Your Delphi Applications - a new feature of Delphi 6. You can now download the source code for this solution.


2001/10/08 - Tomes of Delphi: Algorithms & Data Structures
Anyone who ever attended one of my annual BorCon Delphi Efficiency sessions will remember that the most important subject of performance optimisation (apart from finding the bottle-neck) is often the algorithm and/or data stucture used. Consequently, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that I've been really looking forward to Julian Bucknall's book Tomes of Delphi: Algorithms and Data Structures, published by WordWare, now reviewed in detail on this website. If you're only half serious about data structures and algorithms (or efficiency for that matter), then you should read this book. Trust me, you won't be sorry!


2001/10/05 - Mobilize your apps with WAP and Delphi
Is it time to take some of your applications mobile? Read my latest article on TechRepublic to find out about the Wireless Application Protocol and see how easy it is to use, and you can you produce WML with WebBroker.


2001/10/04 - Borland Delphi 6.01 Update (fixed)
If you registered your copy of Delphi 6, then you can now use the registered e-mail address and password to download the first (fixed) update to Delphi 6 from http://www.codegear.com/downloads/free/delphi.
Read this article on the Borland Community website for information how to verify your patch version and a list of fixes.


2001 October - The Delphi Magazine #74
My Under Construction column in the October issue of The Delphi Magazine is again about Delphi 6 WebSnap (part Two). In this article, I continue the discussion of Delphi 6's WebSnap technology, covering master-detail relationships and creating user login functionality.


2001/09/21 - Enterprise Studio for Windows
On Monday, at the opening keynote of the European Borland Conference in London, some interesting pre-announcements were made by Nigel Brown of Borland UK. Nigel Brown showed a time-line and mentioned the upcoming releases of Kylix 2 (Q4 2001) and JBuilder 6 (Q4 2001) and the Borland Enterprise Studio for Java version 3 (with JBuilder 6) and a new Borland Enterprise Studio for Windows (containing both Delphi and C++Builder), both for Q1 2002.
Nigel Brown called Delphi 6 the first development environment from Borland with SOAP and Web Services support, but made it clear that this [SOAP and Web Services] would be available in the next versions of JBuilder (6) and Kylix (2).
Also, when asked, Jason Vokes (from Borland UK) confirmed that the next release of C++Builder is also in the works, with SOAP and Web Services support, of course.

No press releases or further information had been made available, but the announcement itself came from a reliable source (Nigel Brown and Jason Vokes, Borland UK), and was made at a public conference.


2001 September - The Delphi Magazine #73
My Under Construction column in the September issue of The Delphi Magazine is about Delphi 6 WebSnap (part One). In this article, I begin an overview of this new web application development framework introduced in Delphi 6: what it's all about and how to use it. This month I show how to get started and how to use the Web App Debugger application type for debugging.


2001/08/16 - BDE 5.2 MSI merge modules
The BDE can be deployed with the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI). New BDE 5.2 merge modules are now available that can be used with any Windows Installer-based development tool, such as InstallShield for Windows Installer or Wise for Windows Installer.


2001/08/10 - Using Web Services with Delphi 6
The first part of a 2-part article about Delphi 6 Web Services has been published on the TechRepublic website. In this first part, I show how you can use (existing) Web Services with Delphi 6.


2001 August - The Delphi Magazine #72
My Under Construction column in the August issue of The Delphi Magazine is about SOAP and Web Services. Web Services is very much the buzz phrase of today and this month I show how to use the new SOAP capabilities of Delphi 6 to create your very own Web Services as easy as pie.


2001/07/26 - Dr.Bob on DevX #5
I have written my fifth article in the new monthly column (10-Minute Solution) as Delphi Pro on DevX. This new 10-Minute Solution article shows how to Update and Maintain dbExpress's Unidirectional, Read-Only Datasets in Delphi and Kylix.


2001/07/21-25: BorCon2001 Conference Report
The Borland Developers Conference 2001 was held from July 21-25 in Long Beach (CA). Like previous years, I'll present a "live" Conference Report on this website including details (and photos) of all major events, Borland and third-party announcements and session details.


2001/07/07 - Delphi 6 New Language Features
In my Dr.Bob Examines column I examine some of the new Kylix and Delphi 6 language features, such as constant typed constants, enumerated enumerations, and more.


2001/07/04 - Dr.Bob Examines #18: DrBobCGI 3.1
In this Dr.Bob Examines article I'll present the cross-platform edition of DrBobCGI (to produce web server applications with Delphi and Kylix without the need for the WebBroker Technology). For everyone who wants to create CGI applications using Kylix Desktop Developer (which doesn't include WebBroker). As one of the examples, I'll show how to (set and) get cookie values using DrBobCGI.


2001/06/18 - Dr.Bob on DevX #4
I have written my fourth article in the new monthly column (10-Minute Solution) as Delphi Pro on DevX. This new 10-Minute Solution article shows how to create a multiline Button component in Delphi (which can also be used in C++Builder).


2001/06/15 - TechRep: Creating NT services in Delphi
An NT service application is a 32-bit Windows application that can run without requiring a user to be logged on. In fact, NT service applications seldom interact with the desktop at all. In this article on TechRep, I will show you how to create, install, and configure NT services written in Delphi.


2001/06/05 - Open Letter on Internet Registration
In an open letter to the Borland Community, David Intersimone Vice President of Developer Relations, outlines the new Internet registration process for JBuilder 5 and Delphi 6.


2001/05/26 - Dr.Bob Examines... #17
In my Dr.Bob Examines article, I'll show how to analyse datasets and produce HTML-based documentation reproducing tables, fields, types and indices. Quite handy when reverse engineering legacy code (or just when you want to create some documentation for existing systems).


2001/05/21 - Dr.Bob on DevX #3
I have written my third article in the new monthly column (10-Minute Solution) as Delphi Pro on DevX. This new 10-Minute Solution article shows how to migrate your BDE applications to Linux with dbExpress.


2001/05/18 - Delphi 6 Video/Audio
Delphi 6 interviews on the Community TV are made available as .avi/.mov video and now also as .mp3 audio files!


2001/05/14 - Delphi 6 Screenshots
Anders Ohlsson has posted the first Delphi 6 screenshots on the Borland Community. You can see screenshots of the installer, the component palette and also the IDE and a Web Services demo.


2001/05/08 - Delphi 6 Announced
Borland has just announced Delphi 6, as what they call the industry's first RAD Web Services Development Platform, supporting XML, SOAP, WSDL and XSL. Delphi 6 contains many new features such as dbExpress/DataCLX, DataSnap, WebSnap, and BizSnap.
Delphi 6 will be shipping (on June 8th) in three editions:

Of course, for true cross-platform development using CLX, you should combine Delphi 6 with Kylix.

2001/04/19 - Dr.Bob Examines... ADO and ClientDataSets
In this new Dr.Bob Examines column, I'll show how to convert ADO XML or ADTG (Advanced Data TableGram) file formats to the ClientDataSet binary or XML formats. Source code examples are given using C++Builder 5 Enterprise and Delphi 5 Enterprise.


2001/04/18 - Dr.Bob on DevX #2
I have written my second article in the new monthly column (10-Minute Solution) as Delphi Pro on DevX. This second 10-Minute Solution article shows how to obtain all values from multivalue input fields in WebBroker applications.


2001/03/20 - Dr.Bob Examines... #14: BDE Data to Linux
In this Dr.Bob Examines article I'll show you how you can move your BDE data (like dBASE and Paradox tables) from Windows to Linux (i.e. from Delphi to Kylix) by transforming data into XML.


2001/03/16 - Dr.Bob on DevX #1
I have started a new monthly column (10-Minute Solution) as Delphi Pro on DevX. The first 10-Minute Solution article explains how to dynamically load components from packages at run-time.


2001/03/12 - Dr.Bob's Tip-Of-The-Hat
Dr.Bob's Tip-Of-The-Hat is a new weekly column in which I present small tips & tricks for Delphi and C++Builder developers (sometimes related to Kylix as well). I've added some new items: one tip to create a data-aware right-aligned editbox, and another to tell you about some very handy Delphi 5 start-up options (also applicable to C++Builder 5).


2001/03/08 - Review: TurboPower Essentials Vol.1
I'm the proud owner of many of the TurboPower libraries, and every now and then I collect my findings and write a little review about of one of these libraries or collection of components. The one I'm going to review today has been around for some time, and is called TurboPower Essentials vol.1 (version 1.08)


2001/03/07 - Borland Kylix Available
According to the Borland press release: Kylix should be available as of today, March 7th, 2001. However, in the "pricing and availability" section of the press release it states that "Kylix Server Developer and Kylix Desktop Developer will be generally available before the end of the first quarter 2001."and "Kylix Open Edition will be available by mid-2001.", so we probably still need to wait a little while before we receive our copy, but stay tuned...


2001/02/18 - Dr.Bob's C# Visions
C# is one of the cornerstones of Microsoft's .NET, and the language itself contains many similarities to languages and environments like Delphi, Java and C++ (but without header files!). Since we believe that C# can play an important role in tomorrow's software engineering, we've started a special C# section on Dr.Bob's website, called Dr.Bob's C# Visions


2001/02/04 - Kylix in The Delphi Magazine
The Delphi Magazine (published by iTec) will feature an introduction to Kylix (based on the current pre-release version) written by Technical Editor Dave Jewell. Dave will be following this up with an in-depth hands-on article in the April issue (assuming the shrink-wrap version is available at the expected time!) and then with more excellent technical articles on development with Kylix in the coming months: The Delphi Magazine is your one-stop-shop for the very best in both Delphi and Kylix development!


2001/01/31 - Kylix Announced
The official announcement has just been made, and the Borland Kylix website is in place! Kylix has already won the Show Favorite Award for Best Developer Tools category of the LinuxWorld Awards.
Read JD Hildebrand's report of LinuxWorld Conference and Expo for more news and information resources.


2001/01/22 - Inprise no more: Borland is back!
Well, it's official: as of today Monday, January 22nd, the name Borland is back (including BORL as the Nasdaq ticker symbol instead of INPR).


2001/01/04 - Review: TurboPower's OnGuard
Let's start the new year with a good new tradition: a monthly review (next to our monthly columns). This first time, I've taken a look at TurboPower's OnGuard, which is a serial number/unlock key generator/checker (this short description doesn't really do it justice I'm afraid) that can be used with Delphi and C++Builder.


2000/12/29 - Dr.Bob Examines... #12: The Best of Y2K
In my last Dr.Bob Examines column (of this year, that is) I'll look back at Y2K and list my favorite hardware, software, book, magazine, event, user group, website, movie/DVD as well as a few personal predictions and wishes for the next year(s) to come.


2000/12/28 - Best Of The Net
Best Of The Net - December 2000 Dr.Bob's Delphi Clinic has just won another award: the Best Of The Net from About.com.
"The Dr.Bob's Delphi Clinic was found to be a comprehensive, credible, and informative site that simply could not be passed up."
Zarko Gajic, About.com guide to Delphi Programming


2000/12/21 - VisiBroker 3.3 for Delphi 5
John Kaster of Borland Developer Relations has just revealed that Borland is planning to release full VisiBroker 3.3 support for Delphi 5 (both CORBA Server and CORBA Client development - including an IDL2PAS), before Delphi 6 ships.
Some people have even demonstrated the technology at Borland Conferences around the world, like my own session about a prerelease of VisiBroker 3.3 for Delphi 5 at the Inprise UK Conference last September.


2000/12/16 - HeadConv v4.20 Wizard
I've just released HeadConv v4.20, the latest version of my free C DLL Header Converter. New in this release is a two page dialog (Wizard) as side-kick for the command-line edition. HeadConv v4.20 is capable of generating implicit and explicit Delphi import units (16/32-bit compatible) for C DLL header files.
Please note that HeadConv is not perfect (it will fail on complex structures) and on average "only" has a 85-90% correct conversion rate - there's always some handwork required before and after converting the header files - see also my article on Using C DLLs with Delphi.
HeadConv v4.20 will be turned into an Open Source header conversion tool under management of the Delphi-Jedi (Darth) project. As a result, I will no longer be able to (try to) fix any conversion problems or implement other wishes. Please stay tuned for further announcements regarding the future of HeadConv.


2000/11/16 - Dr.Bob Examines.... Dynamic WebBroker Images
In my Dr.Bob Examines column, I'll explain how to use WebBroker to return dynamic images (like .gif and .jpg) from web server applications written in Delphi (or C++Builder).


2000/09/21 - Kylix Slides and Paper
The slides and paper of the presentation and demonstration of Project Kylix by Bob Swart and Micha Somers at the free Linux Developers Seminar from Inprise, are now available.


2000/08/30 - Free Turbo Debugger for Download
Inprise/Borland today announced a free download of Turbo Debugger on its website. The free Borland C++ Compiler and Turbo Debugger combination provides developers with a good foundation and seamless path to C++Builder 5 development.
What does this have to do with Delphi, you might ask? Well, Brett McLean asked me if this debugger also worked on Delphi executables. I tried, and sure enough, it works! So here is a DOS-based external Turbo Debugger for Delphi programs as well...


2000/08/27 - How to write Unmaintainable Code
These are not exactly the guidelines you want your fellow developers to adopt (and then some). Read how to write Unmaintainable Code and laugh (or weep, depending on your close encounters out there)...


2000/07/19 - dbExpress Internals
At the Borland Conference in San Diego, we were introduced to dbExpress, the new cross-platform data access layer that will be available in Kylix and future versions of Delphi and C++Builder on Windows. Here you can find out what it is, and you can even provide Borland suggestions that could make it into its first release.


2000/07/17 - BorCon2000 News
At the Borland Conference in San Diego, Inprise/Borland announced upcoming Apache support for both Kylix (Delphi for Linux) and the next release of Delphi for Windows (Delphi 6). Support for Apache will be included in NetCLX, the new cross-platform web development architecture (part of CLX).


2000/07/08-12: BorCon2000 Conference Report
The Borland Developers Conference 2000 was held from July 8-12 in San Diego (CA). Like previous years, we've presented a "live" Conference Report on this website including details (and photos) of all major events, Inprise/Borland and third-party announcements and session details.
I've done two sessions myself: one on Delphi (Distributed) Efficiency (a topic that I've been doing since 1994) and one on Advanced WebBroker Techniques, a topic that I've written about in Delphi 4 Unleashed, C++Builder 4 Unleashed and C++Builder 5 Developer's Guide. In addition, I've done a Birds-of-a-Feather Session during lunch on Tuesday, on Active Server Object and WebBroker.


2000/06/27 - Borland CLX
Today at PCExpo, Inprise/Borland introduced Borland CLX the Next-Generation Cross-Platform Library and Component Framework (to be used with Delphi and C++Builder, producing native Windows and Linux applications).


2000/06/16 - Dr.Bob Examines.... Delphi 5 CORBA Server
In my Dr.Bob Examines column, I've written a wrapper around the CodeSite Debugging Object from Raize Software, in order to turn it into a Delphi 5 CORBA Server. Mr.Haki has already written a follow-up article in which he writes a JBuilder 3.5 CORBA Client (on Linux) that talks to this CodeSite CORBA Server.


2000/06/06 - First Ever Public Kylix Screenshots
You don't want to miss this: the first ever public screenshots of Kylix, brought to you first by Dr.Bob's Kylix Kicks.


2000/05/29 - Delphi in a Nutshell
Delphi in a Nutshell by Ray Lischner has been published by O'Reilly and is available from Amazon.com. A sample chapter (about the Delphi Object Model) is now available, and so is a detailed review by Arnim Mulder!


2000/05/16 - Dr.Bob's Kylix Kicks
Today, we launch a new part of this website, which will be devoted to Kylix - the Linux edition of Delphi and C++Builder. The subsite, called Dr.Bob's Kylix Kicks at http://www.drbob42.com/kylix, contains a detailed report of the public Kylix demonstration given by Charlie Calvert at the CttM (May 1-2, 2000), so make sure to check it out...


2000/04/30 - Dr.Bob Examines... Custom InternetExpress Components
Dr.Bob Examines... another feature present in both Delphi 5 and C++Builder 5: Custom InternetExpress Components. Based on the component package that I've submitted for the Borland Community March/April Programming Contest, here's an article that shows how to create your own Custom InternetExpress Components.


2000/03/03 - Corel - On-Line Poll Results
Over 900 people have shared their thoughts by participating in Dr.Bob's first on-line poll (regarding the upcoming Corel - Inprise/Borland merger), and you can now view the results.


2000/01/26 - Announcing C++Builder 5
Inprise just announced C++Builder 5: a major new version of its award-winning ANSI C++ rapid application development tool for building Windows and Internet applications.


2000/01/20 - Dr.Bob Examines... Class Methods
A few days early: the second of my regular monthly column, in which I examine the Object Pascal feature class methods in more detail. We'll see what they are and how they work, including a small reference counting example.


2000/01/01 - Dr.Bob Examines... XML
In the first of my regular monthly column, I'll examine the question XML - Hit or Hype?. This first article isn't too technical, but poses some interesting questions nevertheless...


1999/12/25 - Dr.Bob Examines...
Christmas Present: you asked for it, you got it: a monthly technical Delphi column will be starting on January 1st right here. In Dr.Bob Examines..., I'll take a closer look at some of the more peculiar features, bugs or other wishes that I receive by e-mail on a daily basis.
Developer News was "canned" by community.borland.com because "it didn't bring enough new visitors to the site", but I'm sure Dr.Bob Examines... won't hurt, so stay tuned for more...


1999/12/09 - VisiBroker for Delphi
VisiBroker for Delphi has been made available for free download. This tool implements the OMG CORBA specs for Delphi developers, and contains an IDL2PAS, among others.


1999/11/24 - IntraBob v5.0.0.34
Now available: the Delphi 5 and InternetExpress XML edition of IntraBob v5.0; my latest (win)CGI tester and ISAPI debugger for Delphi 2.01 and higher and all versions of C++Builder. By using IntraBob as "host application", you can set breakpoints and trace into ISAPI DLLs. IntraBob also supports the WebBroker Technology - including PathInfo properties to discriminate between different OnActions events, and Delphi 5 InternetExpress (using XML and JavaScript). Changes since 5.0.0.32 include saving/restoring last position on the desktop.
IntraBob v5.0 now also contains a bonus DrBob42.dpk package with an extra set of five internet components and one support unit. Components are CRC, CRC32, SMTP, POP3, FTP. The extra unit DrBobCGI can be used for CGI debugging. All components and units are provided with full source code, as freeware and as-is!


1999/09/29 - C/C++ and Delphi for Linux
Inprise announces commitment to support C, C++ and Delphi development on Linux. The Borland VCL for Linux will be designed to radically speed native Linux application development and simplify the porting of Delphi and C++Builder applications between Windows and Linux.


1999/09/02 - The Delphi Magazine and Delphi Informant
iTec (www.itecuk.com), publishers of The Delphi Magazine, are in dispute with Informant Communications Group, publishers of Delphi Informant, over Informant's use of the internet domain DelphiMag.com to promote their publication. We believe that Informant using the name of iTec's publication to promote their own magazine is a case of unfair competition.


1999/07/29 - BorCon99 Session Report
For those of you who haven't seen it yet: my BorCon99 Conference Report is now available.
Also, on the Conference CD-ROM you'll find my Java BeansExpress paper instead of my Delphi Efficiency paper. This will be fixed in the final CD-ROM (I may hope). In the meantime, you can view the papers and slides for my BorCon99 sessions on-line.


1999/07/19 - Inprise Announces Borland Delphi 5
Designed to help individual and corporate developers rapidly deliver Windows applications, as well as extend those applications to the Internet, Delphi 5 radically simplifies the integration of Windows and browser clients, web servers, middleware and back-end database systems. Delphi 5 now includes support for HTML 4 and XML, the industry standards for building Internet applications for data distribution and exchange.


1999/05/09 - Borland Developer Support TechAlert Listserver
Borland just announced the Developer Support Listserver. You can expect to receive bi-monthly (or more frequent) TechAlerts, created and sent by our Developer Support Engineers. We have started this list in order to pro-actively disseminate bug descriptions and workarounds. TechAlerts will also feature brief articles addressing solutions to frequently encountered technical issues.
Sign up today for the TechAlert listserv and keep informed of current issues!


1999/04/09 - Marco Cantù - Essential Pascal Book
Marco Cantù has started a free book (on his website) covering the basic elements of Pascal, aimed at beginning Delphi programmers but probably with useful information also for some experienced ones.


1999/04/05 - Delphi Developer's Journal Killed!
Yes, you read it correctly: Delphi Developer's Journal, published by ZD, has been killed effective immediately. The final issue was the May issue (which has been shipped already).
Reliable sources told me the that circulation (i.e. all current subscribers) has been sold to "another Delphi publication". No official reason was given by the publisher (who also killed C++Builder Developer's Journal), and I think it's sad to lose a Delphi publication this way!


1998/11/30 - Delphi 4 Unleashed: Table of Contents
The detailed Table of Contents for Delphi 4 Unleashed is now available.

1998/11/26 - Delphi 4 Unleashed: Chapter 18 - WebBroker
Delphi 4 Unleashed features a nice chapter on the WebBroker Technology (sometimes also called Web Modules) written by yours truly, for which the final master-detail example is now available here (this example had to be cut it in the editing cycle, because the book had too many pages already).


1998/09/22 - Delphi 4-to-3 Form Conversion
If, for some reason, you made some Forms in Delphi 4 and need to compile them with Delphi 3 as well: note that there are over 164 new VCL components in Delphi 4 (compared to Delphi 3). And that's not all: there are also new properties added to existing components, such as Anchors and Constraints.
I've written CONVERT3 to strip those Delphi 4 properties from your Delphi 4 forms (.DFM files), so you can recompile them using Delphi 3 again. Convert3 is based on the CONVERT2 program from last year, to convert Delphi 3 forms back to Delphi 2.


1998/09/06 - Which DPL/BPLs Required?
Are you using a Delphi 4 BPL or Delphi 3 DPL package, and you want to know which packages are required by this one but you don't have the source code to check?
Don't worry, Dr.Bob comes to the rescue again with version 2.0 of REQUIRED that lists all required (design-time and run-time) packages for you. Also works for C++Builder BPL packages, of course.


1998/06/01 - RaizeBob - Table/Form Wizard
At the CttM 98, organised by SDGN, I attended the session "Leveraging Raize Components" by Ray Konopka. Someone asked if Ray ever considered writing a custom Table-2-Form Wizard that uses db-aware Raize Components, such as the TRzDBLineEdit for example. The answer was - literally - "No, such a Wizard doesn't exist, but I know someone who can make one." (at that time, Ray was looking at me).
Needless to say, after lunch I had a prototype, and at this time you can download a Delphi 3 DLL Wizard (46,276 bytes - but it requires VCL30.DPL and VCLDB30.DPL to run) that can be used with Raize Components version 1.6.
I certainly plan to add more features (like support for TQuery and master-detail tables), and more TRzLine controls (in case more are coming in future versions of Raize Components).


1998/01/12 - TableBob - Table to Source/HTML Wizard
I've just released a new tool called TableBob, a Wizard that will generate Delphi source code (at least compatible with Delphi 3.x, I didn't check other versions yet) to re-generate a table (in Paradox format), and optionally copy one or more fields from all the records in the source table (Access, Paradox, dBASE, etc.) to the newly generated Paradox table.
TableBob version 1.02 is now also able to convert a table to HTML webpages (see the chapter on generating static HTML webpages for more background information).


1997/11/15 - InterBob v1.01 - Dr.Bob's Broken Link Detector
InterBob - Dr.Bob's Broken Link Detector, can check local or remote websites for broken links. Version 1.01 fixes some minor bugs, has the ability to disable the checking of external links (to speed up remote website checking), and includes guesses for local URLs ending with a slash: index.htm(l), default.htm(l), index.asp, home.htm, etc.
Features that still need to be implemented in future versions are: dealing with remote URLs ending with a slash, detecting broken "images", unused pages and images, etc.


1996/10/26 22:42 - Natasha Louise Delphine
Erik Mark Pascal is very proud to announce the birth of his baby-sister Natasha Louise Delphine. A week late (like any solid "launch"), but with no complications! Mother (Yvonne) and Father are fine.


1994/04/27 17:07 - Erik Mark Pascal
Today, we are proud to announce the birth of our son Erik Mark Pascal. A bit too soon, but without serious complications. Mother (Yvonne) and Father are fine (but tired).


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