Jim C

Thanks again Pat for the suggestion and I am appreciative of you offers to assist.... I can't navigate the IDE, immediately after adding the unit and dfm to the test project. At that point, I get a wait cursor and the IDE crashes/closes. Unless I am misunderstanding your latest suggestion... When I load the current implementation of all the units and forms in Seattle, I have no highlighted code and no warnings and no errors when compiling. I will uninstall 10.4 and either try out the Delphi 11.1 trial version or install my Seattle version on this laptop. Either way, if it fails, I will assume it's the Win 10 OS that is corrupted. Again, same laptop and a less completed program, and Delphi 10.3 had no problems, Embarcadero won't let me reinstall the 10.3 version, since it's no longer supported as a Community edition... I didn't want to go through all of the work of starting from scratch and hoped for an easy solution but have given up on this for now. I will post a reply if I isolate the problem after installing a clean OS, installing the Trial or Seattle (haven't decide yet) version of Delphi and see what works. I won't waste my time with 10.4 which appears to be very buggy, based on other posts. By the way, my program is a weather program (using openweather.org Jason data), using the MS Speech SDK and an Access database to quickly select weather favorites in different cities throughout the US and world and then speak the current and forecasted reports.

Thanks Pat for the suggestions. First I tried starting with the .dpr and same 10-15 seconds of IDE freezing and then closing. Second: I created a new project and slowly added each unit, one at a time to the new project and except for a splash screen unit and 3 units with classes (in their own units), all additions immediately freeze and close the IDE within the 10-15 seconds, after they are added. I can't switch screens or view code, since the IDE is frozen (program has 8 units, so 5 fail). Included in the failing units is one with a single memo component and labels and it shuts down the IDE. After I added a unit, I didn't save the project and worked my way through one unit at a time. Please keep in mind that this program utilizes no components from external libraries and compiles/builds without even a warning when I load it up under Delphi 10 Professional (Seattle), which is where I developed it. As part of the development process, I also checked for memory leaks and minimized all that I could. I wanted to work on the same program on my laptop and at the same time test the newer Community version of Delphi, so that's when my latest problems started. I didn't expect to have this problem and it appears to be the Delphi 10.4 IDE (with patch installed). I had no problem with Delphi 10.3 but was forced to uninstall/install version 10.4 because the 1 year Community license expired. It has been nothing but problems since then and I am starting to believe that I won't be able to use this newer version but am lucky to have the older pro version with a perpetual license. I might just give up on Delphi. I've programmed in Delphi (since version 5) and it has been a pleasure until now. I will try any other suggestions from you or others before I give up. This is a new laptop with Windows 10 (Intel i5 and 8Gbyte Ram) and it could be an OS problem but I will use up my temporary licenses again, if I start from scratch and reinstall the OS and then Delphi!

I am using Delphi 10.4 Community Edition and having the same issues as Tom F with the IDE closing... I tried all of the suggestions given to Tom and at one point was able to work with my VCL project, compile and run the application... Other older projects of mine, and samples run fine without an IDE closure... After closing Delphi (after my successful project load and run), I restarted and did not Reopen but selected Open Project. I am back to the same IDE problem where the project loads (a little different than Toms initial problem), the main form is displayed but the cursor disappears and after around 10 seconds, the program/IDE quits... I am a long term Delphi programmer and almost purchased the 11.1 version last week, at a significant discount, but am glad I didn't... The Community Edition idea is great and up until 10.3 I was able to utilize the IDE and develop programs without a problem (other than my own!). My last Professional purchase was 10 (Seattle) and that has been very stable for my needs.... I am now retired and have been looking for a reason to upgrade but now will stay with the older version... I have been a Microsoft Visual Studio user for years with no hassle and its always been reliable as I have upgraded versions... I was cutoff from Delphi Community Edition for a while, after having PC problems and reinstalling 3 times... Guess what, Embarcadero support told me via email that I was out of luck... License terms only allow 3 installs! I would also have preferred to stay with older Delphi Community editions but you have no choice and I have been burnt with suddenly having components that I purchased becoming outdated and would need to upgrade! I've had enough and hope someone at Embarcadero reads this... Back to my original problem: On this PC, I had Delphi 10.3 running for the year allowed, with no IDE problems and similar (personal) projects... Any advise is appreciated!

Thanks Uwe for your reply. Yes, I did download the XML Mapper through Getit (picture below) and "Create..." is grayed out in both the Menu and Button with XML data loaded (picture below). I looked over the documentation and it states: "Note: XML mapper relies on two .DLLs (midas.dll and msxml.dll) to work correctly. Be sure that you have both of these .DLLs installed before you try to use xmlmapper.exe. In addition, msxml.dll must be registered as a COM server. You can register it using Regsvr32.exe." I'm assuming that it's not working because msxml.dll is missing from my PC but Mapper did work with my previous version of Delphi (10.3), so I am even more confused? :

Thanks Peter, for your reply. It looks like the Community Edition (Delphi 10.4 Version 27.0.40680.4203) doesn't correspond with the 10.4 Professional edition but did under version 10.3. My 10.3 license expired (Community editions are only valid for one year, with no renewal option that I can find) and I was forced to use the 10.4 Community version which doesn't agree with your screen print. After your post, I searched under every menu option and can't find XML Data Binding. Here is a screen shot of my install, which defers radically from yours:

I just downloaded the new Delphi 10.4 Version 27.0.40680.4203. There is no XML Data Binding (that I can find) and IDE Help documentation is grossly incorrect (e.g. Code Insight has moved under Language and is Off by Default!). I also did a 'Getit' Install of XML Mapper and it doesn't work... Has anyone else experienced these or similar problems? I also can't get context sensitive help to work and reinstalled Windows 11 and then went back to Windows 10 (with new Delphi installs of Ver 10.3) and used up my license count and was referred here! Delphi help brings me to Win 10 Edge Help and I should have done a clean install but now don't want to run out my Community Edition license count! I have used Delphi since it's initial offering 27 years ago... It used to be a great product and many parts of the IDE are still great but very disappointed in all of the bugs, starting with Delphi 10-Berlin. and worsening over time. My last Pro version was 10-Berlin and that is buggy so I switched to the Community editions and am not doing work for hire or selling my apps, so that is legal... I'm stuck, since if I download again to see if I got a 'bad' install, I will run out my license count again...