Oregon Delphi User Group

Lights! Sounds! Monsters! You know you’ve always wanted to be writing games instead of… whatever you’re getting paid for at the moment. Tonight we’ll look at doing graphics in Delphi. The talk will focus on using DirectX for Windows to create 3D graphics and the efforts of the JEDI team to make DirectX more accesable to Delphi programmers. We’ll also touch on input (keyboard, joystick, etc.) and perhaps sound. As for writing Doom 7… well, you have to start somewhere!

Because of dwindling attendance, it’s been difficult to convince anyone to present to the group. Instead of a formal presentation, David Cornelius will be available with Delphi 5, 6, and 2005 for creating sample applications as the group’s discussion leads. Also, he will be willing to show the code behind a new project he’s been working on lately, Project Timer. This small database application uses dbExpress and dbGo to connect to Microsoft SQL Server and helps him keep track of time spent on projects for various clients.

With no specific agenda, but with 3 different versions of Delphi (5, 6, 2005) on my computer and several 3rd-party vendors, bring your questions or a CD of your project and we’ll learn together. 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 and runs a contract software development business in Portland. Visit his web site at CorneliusConcepts.

In October, we introduced WebBroker in Delphi. Now, we’ll move those projects over to Kylix. We’ll go a little further in developing the ODUG web site using custom tags in a web template and will have time for general Q&A. Download: PowerPoint Slides Delphi project PRESENTER David Cornelius has been using Borland’s software tools for over 15 years, using mostly the Object Pascal language. He is the current coordinator of the Oregon Delphi Users Group and cofounder of Sohlius, Inc.

A lot has changed with Elevate Software’s popular database engine since we last looked at it. With server procedures, scheduled server events, online backup and restore, Kylix support, custom SQL and filter functions, improved documentation, and much more, DBISAM 4 takes a great database product and makes it incredible! Winning awards year after year, it is often touted as the best BDE replacement for Delphi. But even if you aren’t looking to move up to something more stable and easier to deploy than Paradox or Access, it’s reliability, speed, small footprint, SQL language, and royalty-free distribution license and many other features are reasons enough to choose it over other products.

The votes are in–a new template for the web site has been chosen! The new HTML pages will have WebBroker tags throughout and the resulting pages generated by OdugWebBuilder, a Delphi/Kylix application. The Pascal code contains a reusable base class that can be extended for a variety of databases. In fact, it was first designed to work with DBISAM a couple of years ago, but tonight’s presentation will describe the Firebird version.

Borland will be presenting Delphi 8 in locations throughout the US. We’ll show you all the reasons why you should make Delphi 8 part of your .NET plans. Here’s a very brief taste of what we’ll be looking at: ECO (Enterprise Core Objects) WinForms WebForms (ASP.NET) BDP for .NET (Borland Data Providers) VCL for .NET IDE features Compiler/language feature There will be a special discounted offer at these meetings. You do not want to miss out on the substantial savings!

Here’s your chance to participate in an interactive discussion with Pervasive Software experts Chip Izard and Jim Beecher as they discuss Pervasive’s Data Management Security and Data Integration solutions. What’s in it for you? Just by showing up you’ll learn how to: Reduce the security risks to the data in your apps Manage and integrate data across or beyond your enterprise Deliver timely access to corporate information Don’t know Pervasive? You should.

This month’s presentation will be an interactive discussion on Good Coding Practices. David Cornelius will launch the discussion covering the following topics: Indentation and spacing Good naming conventions Writing robust code And why everyone needs version control! Some example code, both personally written and commercially sold, will be shown–and you’ll get to help decide how well it was written! A free tool for quickly formatting poorly-written code will be shown and a few IDE tricks for speeding up development while preserving readable style will be revealed.

How do users perceive the difference between a rich application and an online resource? What processes should developers use to capture these differences? How are projects affected by the results of these processes? Leo Frishberg, a software developer, usability consultant, and user-centered designer, will talk about user-centered design in the context of the Web vs. the desktop. Using examples from projects in both environments, Leo will point out the similarities and differences in users’ expectations, approaches, and behaviors when faced with an application or online resource.