CyberPeter

My app has a splash screen, but it was created at least 16 years ago (BCB5 I think) and I'm really ready for something else. It's based on two BMP's. One is used as a mask to tell the code what should be transparent. Instead of hurting my (currently covid impaired) head trying to figure out the old code and ancient methods of then, surely VCL Forms and graphic support has evolved to something where this is a lot easier to do ? I recently upgraded to C++ Builder 11 (coming from Builder 2009) I was thinking of finding a graphical artist who can make me a nice *.png that I then use as splash screen. It's far easier to ask someone to make a nice PNG than to describe the need for two BMPs, one of which acts purely as a mask etc. I tried a few things with a free test.png found on the net (artist unknown), but I'm not having the easy success I hoped I'd have. Are there good and easy ways to do this using Builder / Delphi 11 ? I looked around but wasn't very successful in finding documentation. I see Anders has a couple blog posts about it, but that too seems outdated (correct me if I'm wrong). The easy: - I created a Windows VCL test app - Set Form BorderStyle = bsNone - Plonked a TImage on the form (Align = allClient) - Loaded the test.png in Image1's Picture at design time - Compiled. Works nicely but of course the form color shows where the PNG is transparent - I then set the Form background to MoneyGreen, TransparentColor = true, TransparentColorValue = clMoneyGreen - Compiled. Nice result but the PNG half transparent regions blend with the green color, and are hence not blending with the background. - The net result is sadly not perfect. It was simply too easy 😉 I made this screenshot on a white background. If I set AlphaBlend = true and give it an AlphaBlendValue = 100 (for instance) there are certainly very nice additional features to play with: Now, this doesn't need to be total failure. - I could experiment with different Form background colors and see how they interact with the half transparent fields of the PNG. Perhaps the net result is pleasing. - I could ask the artist to make me a transparent PNG but with well defined edges that don't blend, that are not half transparent. In conclusion, as far as super easy methods go, this certainly is not a bad start if a good color compromise can be found for the blending issues and/or depending on the PNG. But ... perhaps I'm missing quite a few things that can be done to achieve a perfect result ? Please let me know. Thanks. The test.png also attached:

Just FYI I installed C++ Builder 12 yesterday (fresh install, no settings borrowed from earlier versions) I built again and get the exact same error.

I was counting on the fact that v12 would have the same VCL styles as v 11 ? I mean they can add styles, but remove them ?? This introduces all sorts of problems since I store the selected style in user settings, and if I need to use different styles in a new build I will have to deal with that. In v11 I use: but they are not available in v12 ? v12 features: instead, which are not the same styles.

Frustrating. I'm all in currently. Let's see if I can get passed the issues.

Oh, I waited until my release was out of the way before I started messing with v 12. Next release is still a while away. I did not risk that. No issues ? A smooth release ? Did you have compile and/or link issues going from v11 to v12 ? I'm having some linker issues at the moment. It looks like I have to recompile all libraries (32 bit, I assume 64 bit will be the same). I did not expect that. I thought they had not upgraded clang etc. yet ? Certainly not 32bit. Oops, I realize I'm digressing.

Any idea if it's worth reporting this as a bug (when that service becomes available again (sigh)) ?

Months ago I tried to install v 12 via the web-install (I also reported a bug: https://quality.embarcadero.com/browse/RSP-44128 ) Every few days I tried to resume the install process without success (bad gateway) Now it happily reports: which means .. what ?? It's obviously not installed, it never downloaded to begin with. Also annoying that reporting / amending bugs is still read only !? So I logged in to my account: https://members.embarcadero.com And went to "My registered user downloads" ( https://cc.embarcadero.com/myreg ) but got: "Received an unexpected EOF or 0 bytes from the transport stream. An error has occurred while processing the page. Please try to refresh the page, or return to the home page." I see people reporting v 12 issues here and I can't even manage to download and install it ?? Where do I go to download and install v 12 ?? I'm so thoroughly frustrated with Embarcadero.

For the moment solved by copying "C:\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\Embarcadero\\Studio\\22.0\\Styles\\Windows11_Modern_Dark.vsf" "C:\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\Embarcadero\\Studio\\22.0\\Styles\\Windows11_Modern_Light.vsf" to "C:\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\Embarcadero\\Studio\\23.0\\Styles\\Windows11_Modern_Dark.vsf" "C:\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\Embarcadero\\Studio\\23.0\\Styles\\Windows11_Modern_Light.vsf" but very curious whether I should report this as a bug, or if this is expected behavior ?

Embarcadero could so easily avoid all this confusion and frustration by redirecting https://members.embarcadero.com to https://my.embarcadero.com/

Thank you Jon, that helped.

It appears to be back for me as well (It was offline 24 hours ago)

And remember the help pages being offline for weeks on end (last year I think) !? It's unfathomable they can't keep their online stuff working in a reasonable manner. It just makes you feel they can't keep their shit together, so why trust them to make a toolset you can trust to always work when you need it.

Yup ...

I tried to log in just now ( https://quality.embarcadero.com/login.jsp ) to check on some issues, supposedly fixed in 12. It won't let me log in either. " Sorry, your userid is required to answer a CAPTCHA question correctly. " Ironically there is a "report problem" link, and when you click it it says you need to log in first .. 🙄

Sure, but since it has been showing in multiple versions for quite a while, it stands to reason the issue is still there, since no actions were taken to address it. But if you have a downloadable file I will gladly download and try again. So far I tested 8.69 and the latest 9.x official download from mentioned website. I am not the OP, I just chimed in because I also see the same problem. What are the chances my setup happens to be corrupt just like the OP's setup .. Only after your yesterday post François, did I download the latest from the website. I did not make any changes to it and I did not mess with the compiler options. The cbproj files were simply loaded and compiled without making any changes. I also mentioned I never install packages so in a way my IDE is as clean as it comes. You mentioned: Perhaps the fact that you have ICS installed makes a difference !

Before I jump through those hoops I need to know that this issue specifically has been addressed and you're merely looking for confirmation. If nothing has changed in this regard since 8.68 (at least) then there's no point. Happy to try the next release when it's available from the download site.

I wouldn't know where to start. But since this issue is present in 8x and 9x downloadable versions, why would the repository be any different, unless changes were made to explicitly address this issue.

Identical C++ Builder version Identical Win11 22H2 OS. NO add-ons whatsoever, including anything ICS. I never install components. I just downloaded the latest 9x version https://wiki.overbyte.eu/arch/icsv90-D11.zip from https://wiki.overbyte.eu/wiki/index.php/ICS_Download I closed all (File / Close All) in the IDE. A blank slate. I opened IcsCommonCB110Run.cbproj and compiled in 32 and 64 bit mode. No Problems whatsoever. Again, I closed all to start fresh. I opened IcsVclCB110Run.cbproj and compiled in 32 and 64 bit mode. 32 bit was OK, but 64 bit failed with a linker error: [Linker Error] CodeGear.Cpp.Targets(3984, 5): Fatal: Import/Export error on symbol _ZTVN19Overbyteicsavltrees10TCacheTreeE (flags:0x6004)

Using Builder 11.3 ? I could build the run time package with Builder 11.0 without a problem. After I updated C++ Builder to 11.3 I built the exact same code and ran into mentioned Import/Export error. I have not yet tried with the latest code.

Despite the error it does look like all objects (*.o) are built ok !?

I built V8.68 using 11.0, now quite a while ago. Only run time. I have been using it for both 32 bit and 64 bit. Today I rebuilt the same code using C++ Builder 11.3 and ran into the exact same error (64 bit only) *very* annoying Did you end up finding a work around ?

Is anybody aware of a (relatively) simple Hex View 'component' based on VCL ? I don't need much. Just a fancy view of a block of data that my application provides (Buffer). The typical hex edit look. Select something in the data block and the corresponding text block on the right gets highlighted as well. Perhaps some tweaking, colors, font etc. No file IO, no editing, no search functionality etc. Mapping a structure against the data is a wet dream for later. At the moment I simply display text in a TMemo but if there's something out there that I can use without reinventing the wheel, that would be nice. I don't like to install a component per se, I much rather prefer to instantiate a class, but I use C++ Builder (11.3) so that would rule out Delphi then (?) Or better, perhaps I can build a Lib/a from pas files and include that in my project (assuming that works - no experience with Delphi really). I realize most people here use Delphi, not C++ Builder, but there is enough synergy I think to wager this question ? I have been searching without much success. This is a last sanity check before I give up and move on to something else 🙂

This is Lazarus code. That's a step too far for me 🙂 I Googled TMPHexEditor and downloaded it from SoftPedia. Trying to compile that code resulted in the exact same errors found in https://github.com/zhugecaomao/HexEditor which leaves me to believe they are the same (or one heavily borrowed from the other)(without doing some file compares, no point). The code is simply too old, it predates UnicodeString able compilers. I'm not fluent enough in Delphi to sort it all out. If you have updated the *.pas file(s) to be able to compile them using recent compilers, and if you don't mind, please share. Thanks.

Thanks. Will check it out.

Cool. Where can I find it ?