Darian Miller

Sure, if that was easy they would have done that part already. 😉

No, not really except you simply have another version of Delphi to support, which is typically another VM to keep around. It would be nice to delete the old Delphi VM and simply use the latest version of RAD Studio to support all of your projects, including the ancient ones. I know that's a big ask but in this case, it's not a major change to allow that to happen.

And frequently it happens to be true.

I think that number is probably underestimated as many of the XP machines aren't connecting to the internet. Just busy running 24x7 on a factory floor somewhere, in a kiosk, or cash register. (Not to mention all the Windows XP still in use by government and military)

I've been keeping a list of links for each version since 10.3 on that GitHub wiki (of course, I mean to go back to versions prior but never seem to have the time, nor desire as it takes a decent amount of effort.) There are always issues with a release but a few years after the fact you can never remember what workarounds were needed and you often simply have to relearn them the hard way. For example, if you inherit a project to support that is based on 10.3, it would be nice to know what the glaring issues were with that particular version. Always installing hotfixes solves many issues with a major release, but not all of them. So with RS11, I included a new section "Some reported new version issues" so I have a little insight to what issues were brewing upon release. It's certainly not the best option, but I'm open to assist with a better implementation. I know that this has to be a huge problem for Embarcadero and the Delphi community as a whole. There are many thousands of developers stuck at an older version for various reasons. If we could get some insight into those reasons over time, and build some assurance that the latest version finally addresses their issues, then perhaps many more can upgrade to the latest - which should help Embarcadero and the rest of us as well. I know a huge number are stuck on versions prior to 2009. But there are also various developers stuck at XE2, 10.2, 10.3... RAD Studio 11 should end up being a very strong version. Other than a rather funky behaving non-dockable floating form designer (which I certainly hope gets more work), I don't know of any really strong reasons for all those on 10.1? or later not to upgrade except, of course, for the obvious issues with Third Party Components. (Where the pain is lessened if you adhere to the law "Thou shall not buy a Third Party Component without full source code.") If you are reading this and cannot upgrade - what specifically prevents you from upgrading to RAD Studio 11? Maybe we should start a new thread for that...

Once you get it installed, it does seem very nice. The non-dockable floating form designer is a bit funky but I do not resort to using that very often. There are reported compatibility issues with TNumberBox and TScrollBox. Also watch for possible unintentional image resizing iin VirtualImageList if using the HighDPI designer. I started a list of things to look out for: https://github.com/ideasawakened/DelphiKB/wiki/D28.ALEXANDRIA.11.0.0.0

I get E2099 in 10.4.2 at compile time so it's not a new issue. In RS11 I get integer overflow at runtime on the last one so there is some change in default behavior since 10.4.2

See also: https://quality.embarcadero.com/browse/RSP-35363

Ok, this made me laugh. After spending a few hours trying to get RAD Studio installed, I finally gave up on using my network named user license and used my license from the Beta. Granted, it's only got a few days left, but it helped me get the install finished (RAD Studio with Delphi/C++ Builder with all options selected except the two related to Interbase.) I thought that I would take a break and come back after destressing over the whole install failure. The IDE pops right up fairly quickly so I do: "File"->"New"->"Windows VCL Application - Delphi" and I get presented with "Error" - "No platform available for current project." Same thing for FMX. I cannot produce any more sentences without grumbling...

Just a future note to self... this error was likely due to all the licensing problems after the initial release. Apparently this message can appear if the license is incorrect. https://quality.embarcadero.com/browse/RSP-34362

Recently announced on Embarcadero's website: https://www.embarcadero.com/

F1 seems to work for me without issue so far.

Finally - everything seems to be working with my network license. I updated my recent blog post with 3 possible fixes for license issues when installing RAD Studio 11. ('Update' your license in License Manager, Delete/Re-Import in License Manager, and Manually Host in ELC for network licenses.) https://www.ideasawakened.com/post/quick-fix-for-for-rad-studio-11-license-failure-during-installation

I tried the manual approach (for the first time) and I compared the results of the two .zip files and there were binary differences so I unzipped the file into .conf and replaced the .zip file there. This did give me a new "Delphi 11 Alexandria" item in the Manage Catalog screen so that's a step forward over using the "Host Licenses" button in ELC. I also copied the new namedxxx.slip to workstation. I removed the Beta license with License Manager and imported this slip and when starting RAD Studio and it repeatedly complained of license failure and it wouldn't load. I figured there was some trace of the now missing Beta key still around so I deleted c:\programdata\embarcadero and re-imported the .slip with license manager. Now, when launching RAD Studio, I get the product registration screen, I hit Cancel, and then No to the "No valid license info found..run the wizard again" screen, "Ok" on the "You are not licensed" screen and then the splash screen continues with "Registered (using license server)" comment. I ran with elevated privileges hoping that would cure it, but I still get the registration screens but it does allow me in. So I'm a little closer, thanks. There's apparently still some traces of an invalid license somewhere. I'll probably just blow out this VM and do a full re-install with the new .slip from the manual hosting process.

Walk around the chair, sit back down and try it again and get the same error. Exit / reload IDE, same problem. Try something different: File->New->VCL Form and it works. Try new project again and now it works as expected. Exit / reload IDE and it still works. Will try to simply forget this happened...

Irrelevant. Good products are cohesive. Different aspects work with each other and support each other. It's definitely relevant when you have limited resources and a lot of purchased legacy code. There's a business decision to be made - keep throwing money at something you know you are going to replace, or not. They are choosing to add language features knowing that their tooling doesn't fully support it. I'm sure it's a hard decision. I'd like to think I would have decided differently but I don't know the internals. I would assume you would build a well-defined language spec for the current implementation, build the tests to validate that current implementation matches the spec, correct or replace the tooling to support that spec while validating the tools with tests of their own, and then add new features while extending all of your tests. But that would take a lot of up front effort while yielding no immediate revenue which is probably why they took the path they did. I should probably be more empathetic to their situation, but at the end of the day CTRL-D doesn't do what CTRL-D is supposed to do.

The formatter is old tech - given the pace of new features, I imagine a brand new formatter engine won't be available for two years or so, and then it'll take some iterations to get fully functional. So - any new language feature (including inline vars going back to 10.3 in 2018) are years away from being supported by their internal code formatter. I imagine that the consensus is the old formatter sucked so badly that they assume few people use it so only a few would notice that new language features aren't supported. But I happen to like the code formatter and use it all the time so it blocks me from using new language features.

You are the first person that has mentioned network license success. It doesn't work for me on a clean machine. I gave up on network license and did get it installed using my Beta key. Both keys show up in License Manager and I just tried removing the Beta key and Delphi no longer starts. In your ELC - when you visit the Manage Catalog screen, does RS11 show up? (Mine does not...and I'm not sure how to add to that list, but is that even needed license activations.) Does your License Manager show "Delphi Enterprise" or does it mention 11 Alexandria? "Delphi Enterprise" is what is displayed in my readme_xxxx.txt file - can you confirm what's in yours? Delphi 11 Alexandria is listed as a product_name in in the catalog_xxxx.xml.

Just be aware that the formatter can muck up the code if using these new language improvements. (CTRL-D) https://quality.embarcadero.com/browse/RSP-35318

I tried creating an installation support case on https://supportforms.embarcadero.com/ and when filling out the form and clicking on "Submit Case" button, the button becomes disabled, the text switches to "Please wait..." and nothing else happens.

Apparently some combinations of licenses and configurations don't work correctly... it's not 100% failure. I'd like to see that actual percentage though as I couldn't get my named network license to install either.

"To anyone trying to install RAD Studio 11, there is a hiccup on license refresh: In the Product Registration window please select the Advanced button, and in the License manager select your license and use the Update button. Alexandria gets added, continue with installation."

Yup. See here: https://www.embarcadero.com/app-development-tools-store

That's a pretty common issue. Once you get huge amounts of data in one spot, the only solution is snapshots, if the source supports it. We had a 7TB database file and trying to make a full copy of it once/night took forever just to go from point A to point B. We relied on snapshots but liked to always have one full copy as well. There are solutions out there for an optimized backup up Exchange server but I haven't used them. We just prayed on occasion that the email server didn't crash as it would take a number of hours to get back up and running.

I would think a little bigger. Here's an easy thought process. Set your computer on fire. (If you are on a team in an office - consider a natural disaster destroyed your office location.) Now, get all new equipment and see how painful it is to get back up and running without having to recreate any previous effort. Can you do that today? There are multiple ways to minimize this pain. The most common way to protect part of your investment is to use version control on your source code. An additional tool could be snapshotting your VM and keeping the backups offsite. Keep in mind the 3-2-1 (or 3-2-3) backup strategy. Ideally, you would hit a few buttons to rebuild your systems and not even lose your current edit session. But the amount of effort and expense that you are willing to put in pretty much dictates the amount of effort it will take to rebuild.