Darian Miller

I had this idea brewing for a bit, so while working on another project, I put together some info on 10.3+ in a Github Wiki as a start. Since a new EDN portal is coming with 10.3.3, perhaps this won't be needed to be populated for older versions....I might do so if the EDN portal is underwhelming, or if I just want all the info in one place and I have more time: https://github.com/ideasawakened/DelphiKB/wiki/Delphi-Master-Release-List

Including FMX client screen testing and full mobile compiler support?

Thanks. I obviously didn't dig too deep... started a new Unit Test project and selected platform and there was Win32/Win64/MacOS platform options only. I'll definitely dig in deeper! Thanks

Related: Jolyon has some recent articles on his blog, and a new SmokeTest 2.0 tool on GitHub: https://github.com/deltics/deltics.smoketest He's apparently currently building a whole new set of tooling for Delphi 7-10.3, including a Nuget for Delphi: http://www.deltics.co.nz/blog/

There are plenty of differences beyond basic code checks... File I/O, socket implementation, authentication, database drivers, etc. Also - many people test GUI interactions with DUnit which is VCL based. There needs to be a FMX based version. Then you have the whole interaction with running tests on a different system than what you are developing on and providing feedback to the developer. Then of course you'd want to run all the tests automatically with Jenkins or some other tooling so now the C/I system also needs to build/run/report/monitor tests on different platforms. You should also be running tests across different versions of each platform. I assumed that there was a solution for actual cross platform testing for Delphi. I did find this today: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dunitfmx/ Project description: "DUnit translation to FMX and Mac OS X" with an additional note: "When project finish, it shall work for run unit test in Windows and Mac OS X. And of course for Android and IOS too." But this repo hasn't been updated in 5 years. I started building my own custom tooling and the more I sketched it out, the bigger the project got so I thought I'd pause and post a simple question to see what sort of responses I'd get.

Well, that's what I was getting at... full support isn't built-in. Do you test FMX client applications on Android this way?

Also related, DUnitX says Cross platform currently supporting: Win32,Win64 and OSX Compilers. https://github.com/VSoftTechnologies/DUnitX

Is there FMX support for client-side testing? I must have missed something obvious - wouldn't be the first time. Can you share a simple test project for all platforms?

Do you use it today on Linux/Android/iOS?

Cross platform, as in Win32/Win64 sure...

From what I understand, DUnit is Win32/Win64/MacOS 32-bit only.

Any plans to support more platforms in Delphi? I don't use FPC at all.

As long as you repeat them in the right order, I assume it work out fine as you will end up with all updates. But, it also might be a good opportunity to rebuild from scratch. What I have been considering building is a resource for every hotfix for every version, listed in order. Today it's a mess to try to go back and figure out how to properly install an older version and get all updates. I am waiting until their new EDN portal is released - hopefully they will have that ability built-in.

AFAIK, since some patches are manually installed (files copied to a folder), currently there's no automated way of knowing if you have all the patches installed. Use this list of patches and go through each one to manually verify: https://community.idera.com/developer-tools/b/blog/posts/rad-studio-delphi-and-c-builder-10-3-2-list-of-patches I imagine someone could write a tool to scan your installation and tell you which patch level you are at...

So when the test suite was executed, were the other 3-4 issues documented as problems to be fixed in System.JSON?

How to request an extension: Visit https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/publishing Fill out the form and select ‘I submitted a new app or app update but it is not live’ In the feedback field, indicate that your application was built with Embarcadero Delphi or C++Builder, and that you’d like to request an extension to the 64-bit requirement https://community.idera.com/developer-tools/b/blog/posts/google-play-store-android-32-bit-extension-for-delphi-and-c-builder-customers

I wonder how many patches 10.3.2 can produce? This seems like one for a patch!

I've been using Delphi in a VM for a number of years utilizing VMWare Workstation and I believe it runs really well. It sounds like a VMWare settings / allocation issue. Couple pointers: - Do not utilize 'thin-provisioned' disks. Pre-allocate the assigned space otherwise you'll get sporadic speed issues as the disk increases in size. - Exclude the directory on the host machine where your VM files are stored from realtime AV scanning. If you cannot exclude a specific folder (like McAfee), get a different AV. - Don't try to assign too much RAM to the VM. Test scaling it back from 12GB to 10 and then 8. I have 64GB RAM in the host and only allocate 8GB to my Delphi VM. - Use SCSI virtual disks - Display: Accelerate 3D Graphics + assign a decent amount of graphics memory (1GB) - The more snapshots of a VM, the worse the performance seems. Make physical backups instead and get rid of your snapshots. - I periodically defragment the virtual disks within VMWare (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/15.0/com.vmware.ws.using.doc/GUID-BD914064-D20D-4032-9373-88F4DA7AE7C6.html) Some items I don't use, not sure on the performance benefit - Don't use the built-in Shared Folders - Don't use the built-in auto-protect - Don't sync time with host If you can swing it - use NVMe disk instead of SSD.

https://community.idera.com/developer-tools/b/blog/posts/august-2019-delphi-android-beta-plans-august-roadmap-update Here’s what’s planned for 10.3.3: Platform Enhancements iOS 13 & macOS Catalina Support RAD Server Deployment with Docker C++ Expand C++ libraries support Delphi Android 64-bit platform support User Experience Further IDE UI/UX Improvements New Downloads/Licensing Portal Quality Focus Areas App Tethering for VCL and FMX IDE Quality C++ Toolchain performance and quality improvements With the addition of 10.3.3 this fall, we’re now planning the 10.4 release for early in 2020. As outlined in our May 2019 PM roadmap commentary blog post, 10.4 is going to focus on improved code tooling, language enhancements, VCL High DPI styles, RAD Server enhancements, FireMonkey features and quality and more.

I strongly believe that it's something for everyone to consider. I'm 50-something in the MidWest and left my well paying job early this year for similar reasons. (I 'fired' my employer.) It's also related to a basic rule in life: Never work a job that you don't like. Think of the percentage of your life which is spent at/on work related activities, and if you aren't enjoying it and/or cannot stand the choices management is making and it's eating at your soul, then it makes no sense to stay there. Now, you certainly will always have minor annoyances, as no job is going to be perfect. And you may have to take a shit-job on occasion for special circumstances for a limited time, but it's a general rule that I've preached all my life (as my father before me.) If you are in a job that you don't like, declare it as a shit-job that's allowed to continue for a limited amount of time and find an alternative. I loved the vast majority of my previous job (and certainly disliked some parts) and I would have stayed, however the new private-equity installed board handcuffed me and my team where I simply couldn't do my job so I had to leave. I certainly have a distaste for private-equity types like the ones that have purchased Delphi and massively cut the R&D staff. They actually believe they can rely on cheap foreign developers for most of the work and the quality which is being produced today should provide ample proof that their plan is seriously flawed. But, they'll keep plugging away as the numbers likely look better with the much lower costs. And meanwhile we'll get repeated bad installs, required hotfixes after every single release (2 more today!), long-term infrastructure failures that should be a career embarrassment for everyone involved, platform support always putting out fires, and less and less core reliability. That's certainly not a successful long-term plan - so I assume their plan is to sell after showing large increases in bottom line due to all the cuts. But back to the job issue - I think it would be better to work for yourself. I'll never have another boss again. I ran my own side business for 7 years and sold it after the Great Recession was over so I could concentrate on my corporate job. Running your own business is not for everyone though as you have to be able to manage the risk.

Sorry, I'm a Right is Right type person. Who wants to work for management that doesn't listen to logic? Better for your career to leave... You can put up with losing some battles, but to stay and watch them gut the place would be extremely difficult.

Totally agree. It's all related to short changing the infrastructure and R&D budgets in order to 'save money' which in actually costs them a lot more than what they are 'saving' - it's just harder to calculate so the guys running their spreadsheets don't put it in.

"Paying the piper" comes to mind. They cut R&D too deeply and will suffer the consequences. Sometimes you have to tell the money people NO. You always need someone on staff that has the cojonnes or influence to do the right thing versus the least expensive thing.

I'm starting a new Windows desktop application project (VCL or FMX not yet decided) and one of the functionality requirements is a built-in web browser. Is CE4 the way to go these days? https://github.com/salvadordf/CEF4Delphi It's been a long while since I last integrated a browser into a Delphi app and would appreciate any pointers. Functionality includes navigating to saved links and saving HTML source/images of visited pages. Thanks, Darian

You should publish the example source and define which version of Indy and Delphi