Lachlan Gemmell

So I went with the Alexandria 11.1 ISO and installed it in my Win7 VMs. That went fine but I’m regretting the decision. It turns out though that GetIt in 11.1 (and now also 11.0) uses TLS1.3 and while you can view the contents of GetIt, you get the 12175 error or something similar if you try and install anything via GetIt including IDE patches. I’ll get by with hacks and workarounds for now but for me regrettably it is time to retire Win7 and move to Win10 based virtual machines.

It makes for a much more lightweight VM than one based on Windows 10. If you have a multitude of VMs that makes a difference both in terms of memory and disk consumption (particularly since we took a backwards step in capacity terms with SSDs). I use them purely for writing code in, I don't go browsing random websites with an outdated Win7.

Thanks to a colleague who is successfully using 11.1 with Win7 we think we know what the issue is. I'm using the web installer while my colleague is using the ISO installer. I get the issue when the web installer first goes to download its files, while for him of course they're already there on the ISO. Based on the error code from above (12175) we're theorising that the 11.1 web installer requires TLS 1.3. There is Windows 7 support for TLS 1.2, but not TLS 1.3.

Unfortunately it's starting to look like Alexandria 11.1 cannot be installed on Windows 7. Win7 hasn't been a supported platform for quite a few years now but I haven't had any problems using any Delphi version with it up until today. I just tried a minimal install of 11.1 onto Win7, with just the Win32 platform and no optional components. That gives a different error message "Cannot load data from the server: Error sending Data: (12175) A security error occurred" Installing into a Win10 VM worked just fine. Farewell Windows 7, you've been my trusted companion for a long time now. It's not going to be the same without you.

During install of Alexandria 11.1 onto a clean VM, (no prior Delphi version) with a Network Named license I am getting the message "Operation error - EULA declined" after selecting the platforms and optional components to install. I have updated the slip files by going through the ELC host license procedure and I can import those slip files during the installation without a problem. Of course I also make sure to tick the checkbox to agree to the license agreement during the install.

Out of the box I don't believe it's possible to do 1,2 and 3 but I could be mistaken. Number 4 is there, it's called Sync Edit. Highlight some text, press Ctrl+Shift+J, then either press TAB multiple times to select the string you want to replace or navigate to it using keyboard/mouse. Change the string and all instances within the highlighted text will change as well. Remapping keys is best done using something like GExperts or maybe CnPack. They're third party add-on packs that extend the IDE and it's features. You may find within them something that resembles those first 3 features you're looking for. If you have the time and the inclination the IDE is very extendible. The Open Tools API (OTAPI) is your starting point there. Both GExperts and CnPack are good examples with full source code of how to use it.

I have no experience with stores other than Google Play and the Apple Appstore. I'm pretty sure there are no alternative stores for iOS devices. There is of course side-loading which is possible for just about all Android devices, but is less practical for iOS devices. So using alternative stores and side loading you would be able to use a single RAD Studio version for longer than if you were going through the official app stores, but within a few years I'd expect something will change and you would need to upgrade. And when I say "upgrade" I actually mean "buy another full price license". Embarcadero stopped offering upgrade pricing a few years back as part of their campaign to get everyone on subscriptions. Occasionally they offer it again for a limited time special but you shouldn't count on it being available. In that case it sounds like it would be difficult for you to make a business case to move from the community edition to a commercial license.

I see from your other posts you're probably a community edition user doing mobile development. I can tell you now as a fellow RAD Studio mobile developer that you should not purchase RAD Studio for mobile development unless you are prepared to pay the renewals each year. If you don't, when the next mandatory requirement for store listing comes from Apple/Google (and they seem to come every year) only the latest RAD Studio will have support for that requirement. Using your old version you'll be stranded and eventually unable to update your app in the store.

You can still activate a new installation, it's just becomes a bigger pain in the neck than usual. I've heard you need to contact sales in that situation rather than support, and the process takes longer as a result.

Embarcadero produces patches for the most current version. If you own that version, you get the patch whether your subscription is current or not. Once the next full release happens though (roughly every 12-18 months) the prior release is extremely unlikely to ever get another patch of any sort. This isn't an official statement and I don't represent Embarcadero. It's just an observation of how they've behaved in the past.

As I said last week, if you have a legal license for QuickReports 6 then email support@qbssoftware.com to request the installer for Delphi 10.4. If you won't take that advice then I'm sorry but I have to assume you don't have a legal license for QuickReports and I don't think anyone here will want to help you any further.

When FireDAC was first acquired by Embarcadero there was no way for third parties to add drivers as the list of registered drivers was hard coded. Is that still the case? There is reason to believe that since then the architecture may have been opened up for third parties as evidenced by the CData FireDAC Components and to a lesser extent the recent Embarcadero Encrypted SQLite FireDAC driver available through GetIt. Are these "first class" FireDAC drivers or do they hack their way into the architecture in some semi-supported way? If they are "first class" FireDAC drivers is the mechanism they use to register themselves with FireDAC available to all, or did CData have to get specific code changes made by Embarcadero in FireDAC for their drivers (and their drivers only) to be recognised?

An installer for QuickReport 6 for 10.4 Sydney does exist however you cannot get it through the QuickReport website (you actually can't get any version through the QR website, their download system is broken). If you email QuickReport support however they will send you a link for a 10.4 installer.

I haven't confirmed it with Embarcadero but I heard they no longer have a bundling deal with CData. I looked into those connectors but decided against using them for licensing reasons. Look closely at the license for those bundled connectors. They are only allowed to be used for your internal software. If you redistribute your software to any third party you have to buy a full license from CData. OK so how much is a full license? Well for just one connector the price varies by connector but the Gmail connector for example is $799 per developer, per year. Now can you distribute to third parties with that license from CData? No you can't. That $799 connector can still only be used for internal use. So how can you distribute to anyone outside your company? The website says contact CData for further pricing. I didn't bother. Buying the full suite of connectors is somewhat more economical. You can get all their FireDAC connectors for $1999 but that's per developer, per year and still doesn't let you distribute software outside your own company. If they were $50 each and you could distribute them as you liked as with almost every other Delphi component I'd consider them. With their licensing as it stands today I find it very difficult to justify purchasing them. See here for the details from CData https://www.cdata.com/subscriptions/firedac/#faq

Good idea to make it part of MMXCE. I purchased the diff viewer back in the day but it was such a niche product I used to forget to install it when setting up a new dev VM. Looking forward to seeing the IDE integration.