Oregon Delphi User Group

It’s the middle of the summer, so let’s set the serious work aside and have a little fun for a change. I bet we can still learn something… First, I found an old OpenGL program that displays fireworks and thought it would be fun to look at the code and watch splashes of color explode–especially since some major fireworks displays in the area were canceled this year due to budget constraints.

There is a saying that any technology that is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic! There are a lot of new features and language enhancements in the last three versions of Delphi that may seem like magic to those who do not know about them. And there are some features that have been in Delphi for a long time that some don’t realize are there. On May 18, 2009, the mysteries of the unknown and the secrets of the masters will be shown in real applications.

Anders Ohlsson from CodeGear will be at our group in Portland to talk about the latest Delphi products for both Windows 32 and .NET, show how to move your existing projects to the new environments, demonstrate modeling techniques to improve your code, and give you insight on rapidly creating web applications. There will be discounts on Delphi 2009, C++Builder 2009, or RAD Studio 2009. And one lucky winner will walk away with a free copy of RAD Studio 2009 Pro!

The end of the year is fast approaching. Since we only meet every other month, this is the last meeting this year. I had asked CodeGear to come out and show us Delphi 2009 and talk about new developments, but that doesn’t seem to be an option for us right now. So for our November meeting tomorrow night, I would like to open up the floor to discussion on Delphi news and developments and invite you to share your opinions on where the programming tools are heading.

Several months back, we had a meeting on XML and I promised a “Part II” that would go into web services. That will finally be fulfilled at our next regular semi-monthly meeting. There will be a brief introduction to web services, what they are, and who might be using them. Then we’ll get into the code by creating three web services in Delphi 2006, each increasing in complexity, and each with a VCL client to use them.

This month, the trials and tribulations of creating and running DLLs in Delphi will be discussed. We will talk about whether or not you really need DLLs, how to handle versioning, and interface design. PRESENTER Gene Juhos of Sysmatics started his programming career writing code for an IBM 3741. He’s written useful code in COBOL, FORTRAN, C, C++, Assembler, CADOL and lately mostly Delphi. He took his first Delphi training class in 1996 using Delphi 3.

We don’t have a formal presentation planned, but will discuss whatever topics arise from the group. Delphi on a laptop will be available to write sample programs wherever the night’s discussion takes us.

This month we’ll explore some custom-written non-visual components that have been useful in several projects, encapsulating common functionality for ease of use and consistency. This isn’t a new topic, but is a great starting point to discuss unit testing. Unit testing is not a new topic either, but one that more people should look at. Studying these two topics together could branch in various directions, depending on questions and preferences from the audience.

Quality Assurance is the elusive goal of every product manager–and the bane of every programmer. OK, I don’t know that for sure, but producing bug-free applications can drive a programmer crazy if he has to work with loose guidelines or tight time-constraints. But aren’t those both par for the course? This month’s format will be a little different. There will be an introduction by David Cornelius, focus on examples with Chris Newcombe, then the audience is encouraged to share their “worst bug ever” and how they overcame it.

We don’t have a formal presentation this month, but instead will discuss a few topics that may include the following (based on audience preference): Utilities written in Delphi How to call a web service CodeGear’s RAD Studio 2007 What is Blackfish SQL? Others? PRESENTER David Cornelius has been using Borland’s software development tools since the mid-80’s. He is the coordinator of the Oregon Delphi User Group, works for Retail Dimensions, is a contract programmer through CorneliusConcepts.