Category Archives: Objective Pascal

Articles about programming with Objective Pascal in Delphi or Appmethod

Intermediate, Objective Pascal

Using Azure Translator Services with Delphi

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How to use Azure Cloud Cognitive Services?
This content has been updated to reflect changes to the Microsoft API’s, including new Source Code. Read the latest and get the latest code from the updated blog post (linked above)

Often when building IoT applications there is benefit in linking to 3rd party services. e.g. Heating control systems may link to weather services to help detect external influences that may effect their operation. Typically these services are exposed via JSON and REST providing multi-platform access.

Microsoft Azure data services offer access to a wide range of datasets and services and in this blog post I will take you over my journey connecting to the Azure translator data service and achieving translation of text on Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android thanks to the REST components and helper classes in RAD Studio XE8.

About Microsoft Azure Translator Data

Microsoft Translator is a WEB API that enables Automatic Translation (Machine Translation) of text between any of the 50 supported languages

The Azure Translator data is used by Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, Bing and many more Microsoft products. It works over REST using a mix of JSON and XML to provide a number of services including translation and text to audio.

Continue reading Using Azure Translator Services with Delphi →

Beginner, Objective Pascal

Linking object/TValue to a control, VCL to FireMonkey

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In this post, Tag properties and using Rtti.TValue data property as an alternative in FireMonkey / FMX.

Click / Select… now what?

One common challenge we face as developers is that the user clicks on something, we now need to find the object that is required to do the next task based on the item selected.

Sometimes this is from a dataset linked to the control and it may be taken care of for us, other times, we may need to find a specific object that then has the data we need.

Most of us have done it at some time….

Yes… that naughty little trick of using the tag property of a TComponent to store a pointer to an instance of an object that you want a quick way of reaching.

I remember doing this in a POS system where buttons that represented different stock items were linked to dynamically created screens. I also remember often using the TListView and thankfully, the TListViewItem in VCL had a Data property (of type Pointer) that you can set at runtime to an instance of an object. This was a little less naughty when moving to 64bit coding when Integer and Pointer all of a sudden became different sizes, (and if it wasn’t for some insight from the Delphi team to swap tag to NativeInt – lots of code would have broken).

The problem with a pointer property (or using a NativeInt to achieve the same goal) is that it leaves a lot of typecasting in your code, which never sat easy with me.

Continue reading Linking object/TValue to a control, VCL to FireMonkey →

C++, FireDAC, General, InterBase, Objective Pascal

Database updates in RAD Studio XE8

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Database updates in RAD Studio XE8

With RAD Studio XE8 there have been a number of database updates to expand connectivity, and improve and introduce functionality for us programmers.

FireDAC & IBX support for Change Views

FireDAC has introduced new support for Change Views – enabling rapid identification of what has changed on the server side data and updating of client side stored data. See this <2min video for how these work.

Source code for the example ships in the samples directory:

<Samples><language>Database\FireDAC\Samples\DBMS Specific\InterBase\ChangeView

IBX has also introduced new components to make it easier to work with change views and subscriptions.

 New Platform – Teradata

FireDAC now includes support for Teradata, using the driver name TData.

TeraData in FireDAC

 

An example of how to set the driver properties is shown on the docwiki help for connecting to Teradata with Delphi.

DriverID=TData
Server=192.168.43.140
Database=MyDatabase
User_Name=dbc
Password=dbc

TDataSet TField speed up.

Marco Cantu mentioned on the Launch webinar Q&A a customer was claiming seen a speed up of around 25% on a TClientDataSet application due to the refactoring at the base of how TField is used at the core layer. 🙂 This is really cool for both VCL and also FMX developers.

64bit support for iOS

With the new platform for iOS 64bit, the database layer is also seamlessly available, just recompile and run 🙂

Other updates

There are updates for EMS including push notification. EMS is a great way to access central data from mobile devices. EMS now is updated to include InterBase XE7 for both the server and ToGo side, allowing you to use Change Views on both Server and Clients.

Where FireDAC uses SQLite, it has been updated to a newer driver.

For more of whats new in RAD Studio XE8, including EMS updates, please click here Whats new in Delphi XE8 and C++ Builder XE8

 

Advanced, Beginner, C++, General, InterBase, Intermediate, Objective Pascal

Delphi, C++ and InterBase Community

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I’m sure some of you have seen the new Delphi, C++ and InterBase community platform that is being developed at Embarcadero. If not I would highly recommend a visit.

The Embarcadero Community is the new home to blogs, event diaries, latest news and features articles. While the old locations are still working, over time expect to see more and more on the community. Community is also social media ready with links for Facebook, Twitter, linkedIn and Google+

Community Welcome Page

Continue reading Delphi, C++ and InterBase Community →

Beginner, Objective Pascal

Setting the default XML DOM in Delphi XE7

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Managing the default XML DOM

Scanning the whats new in RAD Studio XE7 (Delphi, C++ Builder) it covers the introduction of a new XML Dom (OmniXML) meaning there are now 3 XML DOMS to choose from when setting the default XML DOM.

  • MSXML
  • ADOM
  • OmniXML

The XML Dom defines which engine in essence is used to work with your XML documents.

Should I read on? Well if your using SOAP or XML in your projects, then this could make a difference to your speed and performance of the applications, and it takes seconds to implement.

Continue reading Setting the default XML DOM in Delphi XE7 →

Beginner, C++, InterBase, Objective Pascal

IBLite example from CodeRage 9

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The Object Pascal programming source code for the IBLite example from CodeRage 9 that I demo’ed is now available from Embarcadero’s Code Central http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30035

The C++ programming version demo’ed requires the data module from the Object Pascal code, so once I’ve cleaned that up I’ll post that as well.

The IBLite example code works on Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android.  The session replays are available online via the CodeRage website. – More on the InterBase sessions in my previous post

 

C++, General, InterBase, Objective Pascal

InterBase CodeRage 28th-30th November

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CodeRage 9Register NOW and join me live at #CodeRage!

CodeRage is a fantastic Object Pascal programming and C++ Programming event – highly recommended for any developer, and best of all – REGISTRATION IS FREE!!

Missed it or got a meeting? – Don’t worry, register and you can still get to see the replays!

My two InterBase CodeRage Sessions!

I will be presenting two InterBase CodeRage sessions on Thursday 30th November 2014

  • the InterBase Keynote (8am Pacific / 4pm UK / 5pm CET) where we will be revealing some of the exciting new developments we are working on with InterBase with project DeltaForce!
  • I will also be talking about InterBase’s free edition that can be used on Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS – IBLite in the session Embedding local and remote data access into your applications with IBLite (3pm – C++ & 6pm – Object Pascal)

For times and details of all sessions visit the CodeRage website – See you there!!