corneliusdavid

I was going to say, look in your "public documents" folder under Embarcadero\Studio\FireDAC (e.g. C:\Users\Public\Documents\Embarcadero\Studio\FireDAC) to see if there are backups of the connection definitions. But then I re-read your question and you said the .ini file is unchanged. I guess I'd look in the Windows registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Embarcadero\FireDAC and make sure those paths and filenames look proper.

@JohnLM Cool website--interesting graphs!

Many people post their code solutions on Github to share and discuss with others; some include everything, even the input files and the instructions for the puzzle. This was a reminder on the Reddit site (where a lot of solutions are posted) not to include the instructions and input data. There are several different sets of input files and they generate different numbers; you're not supposed to share the input file generated for your unique login to AoC. When you submit a correct answer to the first puzzle for a particular day, you get revealed a second puzzle for that day (there are only two per day). You don't see it until you correctly answer the first part--and the second one is always some twist to the first puzzle and uses the same input file. If you don't see any of them, then you haven't submitted any correct answers. You don't have to be at the website at a particular time but they aren't revealed ahead of the day for the puzzle.

I've been going slow, too (busy). I was stuck on Day 04 for quite awhile, thought I had it late last night and submitted an answer--but it was too low. I finally decided to look at some of the other answers on Reddit and found I had been making it way too hard on myself--nearly every other answer (no matter the language) approached it in a similar way and much simpler than my attempt. I haven't had time yet to redo my program (nor the heart to throw away all that work--even though it's wrong). One thing I read on Reddit was a big note that reminded people that if you post your answer anywhere online, DO NOT post your input file! There are different input files for different users on Advent of Code and your input should not be shared with anyone else--solutions should work regardless of the input file and will have different answers. Also, don't post the puzzle text input (I need to go remove the texts from my repositories).

Oh, yeah, you mentioned this in the first post and I just skipped right over that--you're right, it'll be something specific about these two datasource components. So, then what is different about these datasources from all the rest? Are they hooked to a different type of dataset or have any other properties set uniquely? Does changing the creation order in the DFM have any effect?

Another one is HelpScribble, a tool I've used for over a decade.

I think I have seen this but it's been a while, like maybe in an older version of Delphi? In what version is this happening? It may be that while Delphi is loading the DFM, it can't find the source for the component so it thinks it's an invalid or old property and removes it--somewhat like loading a form that has been descended from a custom base form but the base form is not part of the project. You do mention descendants, so maybe include all the ancestor frames in the project if they aren't already?

There are two puzzles each day, the second is not revealed until you submit a correct answer for the first. Yes, this works for these simple cases but what if the first number is higher than the second (making you think it's decreasing), but all the rest of the numbers after that are increasing? Well, it's an invalid row and you throw it out, right? What if there was a modification to that rule where in some cases you wouldn't throw that row out? It would change how you need determine increasing/decreasing.

The tricky part is to figure out whether the levels are increasing or decreasing for a particular line--this determination has a real twist in part 2. Have fun!

Yeah, it trains you to modularize your solution to accommodate changes to the requirements, a real-world occurrence that programmers must continually face.

It's Flow Control Highlighting. It indicates that execution flow leaves the block or function at that point. In this case, it's not terribly useful as the "return" statement is at the end of the function but if you had a switch statement with several cases and some of them returned from the function, those flow-control markers would give a visual cue about where the code goes. You control this in Tools > Options > Editor > Color > Structural Highlighting.

That was a very fun and informative video! Thanks for posting!

Ah yes--I often forget to add those. Thanks for the reminder--done.

I've solved the first few days of puzzles, written as D12 console apps. My answers are on Github. I'm skipping some that I'm either not sure how to tackle or will take too much time away from my daily tasks--like Day 4, not really sure how to search a matrix of characters for patterns in every direction.

I tried this in D 12.2 and saw this just once the first time I inserted the code and tried to double-click a test button to create its OnClick event but then I made a couple of changes to the string, saved, then tried it again, and it worked. Sometimes the parsing needs to be jiggled a little, like take a couple of the quote marks off the beginning and end of the string constant, then try it, then put them back on. After that first stumble, it's working find for me now--and I can't get it to break again.

We're finally getting some details to offer more pointed answers: You use Firebird from a VCL application and want to access data from a cloud. Then just install FB on a cloud-based VM, open up a port through the firewall, and change the connection from your VCL app to point to it and you're done. Yes, I've done this and it works and yes, you can use a VM in Azure.

Oh, then the question is: what database are you currently using? Will you be using the same one in the cloud? If so, it could be as simple as setting up a VM, installing the database server, and pointing your VCL app to it. This can be done with FireBird, ElevateDB, SQL Server, or many other database technologies. You did, however mention RAD Server which accesses data completely differently than a local database; so, again, your question needs provide a lot more details in order for people to give you relevant advice.

Some tips using refind for migration: Format your code first (using "formatter" command-line utility). The "uses" clause doesn't seem to be updated with either #unuse or #migrate (to add units) if it's indented. Look through the BDE-to-FireDAC scripts to learn techniques. Learn regular expressions really well. Expressions only work on a single line at a time, so code spread over multiple lines may be left broken or may not match like you think they will. Create separate rules lists for the DPR vs PAS files. Create a script you can run over and over as refining this is an iterative process. Consider using Thomas Mueller's PrepBuild utility for managing project version info. Those are what I can think of. I hope they help.

You're welcome--I hope you find it useful. Appreciate it but I have access to a couple of servers on Azure and have a couple of old licenses to Thinfinity. The application is proprietary--I know a simple generic app would work so would need to test this one in particular. I'm pretty sure Cybele Software would give me a trial of their latest version.

Are you asking about my progress with reFind? I've got a pretty long list of regular expressions but it's heavily concentrated on the specific libraries in use at the company for which I work. We have base forms and much of the script deals with commenting out code or adding TODOs to instruct the programmer on how to change a program to work with the updated libraries and base forms. But some of them might be useful as examples, like the conversion from TPageControl to TRzPageControl or TToolbar to TRzToolbar. Your Delphi installation comes with ReFind and several example rule files you can use as a starting point; there's one to migrate from BDE to FireDAC which would be quite relevant to your task. I have never used FIBPlus so I wouldn't be very helpful on that end.

Your question is quite vague and is open to a variety of interpretations; you need to be much more specific about what you want. For example: Do you want to convert your VCL code to something like UniGUI where the program runs on a Windows server and generates HTML? Do you want to know about options where you can add a library like Thinfinity Virtual UI to output your VCL to HTML? Do you want simply want your VCL program to access data from a cloud? Do you want to convert your application from accessing a local database to reading REST responses from a RAD Server (since you mentioned it)? Do you want to convert your application to a WebBroker application that generates HTML natively?

I used (or tried to use) Delphi Parser about three years ago. I don't have FIBPlus and I was using their VCL->UniGUI migration tool, so my experience may not be as relevant but I did work with their script quite a bit, fixing several missing standard VCL controls, adding support for RaizeControls, and several other things. My attempt was to take a working Delphi XE desktop (VCL) application and migrate it to UniGUI to turn it into a web app. I never got it completed and don't remember all the reasons why but I do remember being frustrated at Delphi Parser's interface, where each time you run it, you basically have to start the program over and go through several steps. It was a slow, iterative process and while suggestions for improvement were sent to the author (who seemed to appreciate them), none of them ever made it into an update. Have you looked at reFind? I'm using that in a major migration from Delphi 5 and the BDE to Delphi 12 and FireDAC. Perhaps between these two tools, you'll find a solution.

I haven't for a long time but am thinking of trying it again as I have a different user for which it might work well (they're currently using Remote Desktop). My recollection is that there are multiple layers and methods of security possible. You can use a simple username/password over HTTPS, use MFA, and even lock it down further; it's been a while but I remember being quite impressed with its flexibility.

Thanks for the correction; I missed the "and ..." part.

Looks like you were right, but only benefits C++ side of RAD Studio: https://blogs.embarcadero.com/rad-studio-12-2-athens-patch-2-available/