One Application, Many Different Development Environments - Part II
November, 2013
TOPIC
Oxygene for WPF and WinRT
In September, we took a look at a simple application and how it was written using several different programming environments. We started with what we’re all familiar with, Delphi for Win32, moved to C# for WinForms which had a different language and IDE, but used similar window controls, then kept the language the same and built the app in C# using WPF, and finally used Oxygene, a Visual Studio plug-in compiler with the Pascal syntax. We also looked at a web version of the application using JavaScript.
This time, we’re going to continue where we left off, in a Windows desktop application using .NET and WPF in Oxygene, but using some more advanced techniques to make it look better. There’s a second reason for revisiting this–learning about layouts in XAML. This becomes important when we move to mobile platforms and need to handle a wide variety of device sizes.
Once we’ve rearranged the layout, we’ll look at how the XAML changes to support WinRT using Oxygene for WinRT, followed by a Windows Phone version.
The learning curve is very steep on these different platforms and there are significant differences just within the Microsoft platforms, so this time we’ll concentrate in this area. Next month, we’ll see a demonstration of Delphi XE5 and how it handles these devices but further exploration using Oxygene for Java and Oxygene for iOS must wait until next year.
PRESENTER
David Cornelius is a full-time Delphi developer and has been programming since the 1980s.