TurboMagic

If you want to print bitmaps to an ESC/POS printer via sending raw ESP/POS commands you need to send 1 column and 8 rows of the image per byte. Means: there is a command which you tell how many columns youl will send and then you send one byte for each column containing the data for 8 rows bitwise encoded. So if you send bytes with the most significant bit and the last significant bit set but no other bits set with that command you'd get two lines in parallel. But the question would be why to do it that way? Why not use TPrinter's capabilities?

Well, you get something for free! And for quite a lot of folks its good enough. It's also more up to date than previous community editions were.

Hello, I'm using D12.1, FireDAC and Firebird 5.0 embedded. I try to create a backup using TFDIBBackup but that fails with this failure message: "Unable to complete network request to host "xnet://Global [FireDAC][Phys][FB]invalid service handle [FireDAC][Phys][FB]invalid service handle" I can successfully create a backup using gbak from command line though. I'm also quite sure creating a backup from my application works when Firebird server is installed. Here's my TFDIBBackup initialization code: constructor TDBBackup.Create(const DatabaseFileName : string; const VendorLib : string); begin inherited Create; FFBDriverLink := TFDPhysFBDriverLink.Create(nil); FFBDriverLink.VendorLib := VendorLib; FFBDriverLink.Embedded := true; FFBBackup := TFDIBBackup.Create(nil); FFBBackup.ConnectTimeout := 0; FFBBackup.Database := DatabaseFileName; FFBBackup.DriverLink := FFBDriverLink; FFBBackup.Password := c_DBPassword; FFBBackup.QueryTimeout := 2; FFBBackup.UserName := c_DBUserName; FFBBackup.Verbose := true; FFBBackup.Protocol := TIBProtocol.ipLocal; FFBBackup.AfterExecute := OnBackupFinishedInternal; FFBBackup.OnProgress := OnBackupProgressInternal; FFBBackup.OnError := OnBackupErrorInternal; FIsBackupRestoreActive := false; end; Vendor lib points to a fbclient.dll which exists and has the other libraries for embedded in the same directory and all other fbclient.dlls on the system are the exact same version and have the exact same other files in their directory: fbclient.dll firebird.conf firebird.msg gbak.exe gfix.exe ib_util.dll icudt63.dll icudt63l.dat icuin63.dll icuuc63.dll isql.exe msvcp140.dll vcruntime140.dll intl\fbintl.conf intl\fbintl.dll plugins\chacha.dll plugins\engine13.dll What am I'm doing wrong? Regular DB SQL queries via FireDac work just fine. Cheers TurboMagic

A solution was found now: The FBDriverLink of the FDConnection used in the application must have Embedded := true as well!

Hello, this is the same issue as the one described in the German DP (https://www.delphipraxis.net/215286-port-nicht-erzeugt-2.html), but there I don't get any further ideas. So I hope somebody here can help me. I have some application written in Delphi 10.3.3 which provides two endpoints and has worked in the past. One endpoint delivers a simplistic status website and the other can be used to query data via REST. For both the user can configure the port and whether to use HTTPS or not. If HTTPS is used a self signed certivicate is used and the application provides V1.0.2j of the OpenSSL libraries. Now I have the reproduceable case that the port for the REST interface is never created (says netstat -p TCP on the cmd.exe console) and the one for the status website some times is but most of the times isn't. The code for creating both DataSnap server instances is identical and looks like this: if FMyServiceEnabled and (not FRESTServer.Active) then begin FRESTServer.Bindings.Clear; FRESTServer.DefaultPort := FMyServicePort; FRESTServer.Active := True; log.Send(LevelBlue, cCategory, 'REST Server gestartet. Port: ' + FMyServicePort.ToString); end; if FStatusWebsite and (not FWebServer.Active) then begin FWebServer.Bindings.Clear; FWebServer.DefaultPort := FStatusPort; FWebServer.Active := True; log.Send(LevelBlue, cCategory, 'Web Server gestartet. Port: ' + FStatusPort.ToString); end; When looking into the logs generated, they show that this code was actually run. The issue happens on a customers PC and on my own machine as well. With another tool suggested by somebody in German DP (writing in EN 😉 ) I was able to see that both bind ahnd listen are called on the socket. But netstat doesn't show it... What can cause this and how to further diagnose this? Esp. what data snap does?

How is your text output handled within the VST? It could be that you're doing tings in OnGetText which are a bit time consuming.

Hello, if somebody is interested or needs to convert his JavaDoc comments to XMLDOC he might find use of my new little command line utility. It can be found here: https://github.com/MHumm/JavaDoc2XMLDOC Yes, I'm aware that it currently only converts summary, description, parameters and returns sections of JavaDoc and that it is written in procedural style (ok, code got longer than anticipated but it's structured code and contains XMLDOC comments 😉 ). License is Apache 2.0. So you can modify it if necessary.

I have some code written in Delphi which should be reused in mobile projects which are unfortunately not written in Delphi. I have found out that for Android you can create a shared object .so. Strangely not via using the DLL project type but by using the normal cross platform GUI type and then stripping off the GUI support. Now the question is, can I achieve something similar for iOS? Can I create a dynamic or static library some other iOS programming environment can consume? I just found this help topic: https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Sydney/en/API_(*.bpl,_*.dylib,_*.so) Would that be a way? (I haven't developed any packages yet and I would only want to export procedural stuff)

So the recommendation is still the one from the stack overflow post: to build a static lib, which results in a .a file?

Sorry, but it's now still unclear how to handle iOS in this regards (I don't have the toolchain for this one yet): 1. Can Delphi create a dylib for iOS somebody else wih some other language could consume? (the StackOverflow post doesn't talk about dylibs) I know that it can for Android if creating a normal FMX app and stripping the FMX part out of that. But for iOS? 2. What would speak against .a files? What's the downside of those getting linked into the application of the person consuming those? I simply need to create something somebodfy else in some different language has to use and that needs to work on Android and on iOS. And before investing time into some implementation which will not work on iOS at the end I wanted to get clarification about that one.

Another question turned up now: from the shared objects (.so) I can create for Android I know, that I need to create one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit and need to place them into the right folders on the target device via deployment manager. Both have the same name though. Now what about .a files? When I generate them for 32 and 64 bit they will get output in the ios32 and ios64 or Android32 and Android64 subolders I guess. But the user of them using a different programming environment,, how has he to handle them? Place them into bitnnes/cpu dependant folders and have something conditional in his application so the right variant will be linked in?

Thanks for the answer! Does this mean this is "self contained"? That's how I understood this. For as non package developer it always sounded like packages require that you provide the used RTL packages as well, but I guess this is not the case here?

Thanks for the reply. As I haven't done any iOS development yet I don't have a MAC yet and thus wanted to investigate first whether it is possible for iOS at all. For Android it is possible but as written not via a library/DLL project! That won't properly work! As described one needs to generate a FMX project for this, as each of those generates an SO and then you strip out the FMX part and only grab the generated SO, which in a normal FMX project would be packed into the APK/AAB.

Hello, this question is quite low level. For the purpose of being used from some completely different programming language on Android I'm trying to check if I can rework a Windows DLL of mine into a shared object. I can create a shared object (.so) already, for this one has to be aware that the library project type in Delphi which would create a DLL on Windows won't create a .SO on Android. I consider this a bug or at least a missing feature. But you can create a .SO by creating an FMX project and throw out the use of the default generated form (and everything in the begin / end block of the DPR). The resulting SO can be used if the functions/procedures are called dynamically. Next step would be to get a timer up and running. I tried the FMX time, but that didn't work, it crashes as soon as I want to create it (segfault 11). So I looked into how this one is implemented and copied that code into my application (to have as few connections with RTL and FMX as possible). But it crashes on creation as well. I looked what is done under the hood and it is this: The timer needs a JHandler and this shall be fetched via Androidapi.Helpers.TAndroidHelper, which has a MainHandler class property. This accesses a FMainHandler field and if that is nil, it is initialized, but that needs a TJLooper. As far as I understood (see https://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/Handler) this is the equivalent of the Windows message loop. Can I replicate that somehow in my SO? What would I have to do to get this working? My test project is attached. If you want to try it, compile the libSOTest.so first, then run libSOTestGUI. Best regards TurboMagic SOTest.zip

While Marco's blog post is nicely written it's not excactly what I'd need. Threading is not really new to me, but I would have the need to wait in there or so. But the Kastri Timer is something I really should look at. Thanks for bringing that one up!

Thanks for these links. The first one I know and already tried, but it crashes as well, but I need to try to understand their soruce better. I had thought to give TTimer a 2nd try as that one might be easier to understand. The 2nd link is really new to me.

Hello, when compiling my app (the Hash FMX demo from this project: DelphiEncryptionCompendium) with Delphi 12 for Android 32 bit debug mode I get this failure message, while the same thing just works in 11.3. Compiling the FMX cipher demo for Android with 12.0 works though (I just uploaded a new aab for app store publication). Looking at the failure messages I wonder where on earth I should have gotten > 65536 methods in this project?! My 12.0 installation is a standard one with the standard SDK/NDK and Java brought by the Delphi installation. [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 ""C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-11.0.15.10-hotspot\bin\java.exe" -cp "c:\program files (x86)\embarcadero\studio\23.0\bin\Android\r8-8.0.40.jar" com.android.tools.r8.D8 --release --min-api 19 --output "D:\Projekte\DECGitMaster\Compiled\BIN_IDExx.x_Android__Demos\Hash_FMX.classes" @"D:\Projekte\DECGitMaster\Compiled\BIN_IDExx.x_Android__Demos\dex_list.txt"" kann nicht ausgeführt werden (Fehler 1) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 Error: Cannot fit requested classes in a single dex file (# methods: 86037 > 65536). Try supplying a main-dex list [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 Compilation failed [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.tools.r8.CompilationFailedException: Compilation failed to complete, position: null [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:119) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.D8.main(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:5) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 Caused by: com.android.tools.r8.CompilationFailedException: Compilation failed to complete, position: null [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at Version.fakeStackEntry(Version_8.0.40.java:0) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:74) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:27) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:26) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.b(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:2) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.D8.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:26) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.D8.b(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:13) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.D8.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:24) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:106) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 ... 1 more [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 Caused by: com.android.tools.r8.utils.b: Cannot fit requested classes in a single dex file (# methods: 86037 > 65536) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.E2.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:21) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.E2.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:26) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.dex.t0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:228) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.dex.o0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:9) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.dex.k.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:51) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.dex.k.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:157) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.D8.d(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:152) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.D8.c(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:1) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 at com.android.tools.r8.utils.N0.a(R8_8.0.40_1caf5950b946297b5c46a21a695cd28795208d72fd17f5129543b31a15a067c2:23) [PAClient Fehler] Fehler: E7688 ... 6 more Anybody any clue about the reason for this and how to fix it? CHeers TurboMagic

This is a problem already discussed in German DP: https://www.delphipraxis.net/214354-backup-problem-nach-umstellung-auf-v3-0-embedded.html but the hints I got from there weren't working yet or not exactly how I wanted things to work. I've got an application developed in Delphi 11.3 which used a Firebird V2.5 embedded database. Now I wanted to migrate it to a newer version (currently 3.0, but at the end 4.x is planned). The migration worked for the main part of the application, but it fails for the backup/restore menus in the application. The failure shown is: [FireDAC][Phys][FB]Unable to complete network request to host "xnet://Global\FIREBIRD". [FireDAC][Phys][FB]invalid service handle [FireDAC][Phys][FB]invalid service handle This is strange, because the same method for performing a restore is used in this application at startup when a database backup file is found which stems from an update of the application. That's needed to be able to move to a newer database file format verion (ODS in Firebird terms). In that scenario the restore is run before there was an open TFDConnection. The failure case happens when I invoke the restore menu in the application. But that one closes the connection first and after some modification even frees the connection and the DriverLink objects. I also created a separate small test application which just implements the restore using the unints from the main application. When I set a breakpoing in the main application on the close call of the DB connection, let that one get carried out and then halt the main application in the debugger the test application will present a different error thant the one described above. I modified the main application then to just close the connection in the restore menu and then do nothing more. Then I can run my separate test application and perform the restore. I also checked FDManager.ConnectionCount when I close that connection. Before it is 1 and after close it is 0, so there's no connection pooling used in that application. => what else can this be and why does it work, when running the restore before having opened any db connection?

I'm on 4.0.x now and will look at the change log document for V5.0 soon.

I still have my backup problem. Back then I started to implement a small test application. Today I added database opening, closing and reading out of some data capabilities for further testing/investigation. That test works as follows and doesn't show the error: 1. Open database 2. Read out some data 3. Perform a backup If I do similar things it failed with that XNET error. During implementing the test program I found out that this: FDriverLink.DriverID := 'FB'; was in the code instead of this: FDriverLink.DriverID := 'IB'; I changed my real application now and guess what? It works! 😉 Must have been a leftover from the times where dbExpress had been used and no FB driver existed yet.

Hello, this is the information that a version 2.1 of Delphi Code Coverage Wizard Plus has been released today. It can be found here: https://github.com/MHumm/delphi-code-coverage-wizard-plus/releases/tag/V2.1 and hopefully soon via Tools/GetIt package manager. What's new? updated code coverage command line tool used fixed duplicate accelerator keys on generate and run menu/page added support for new -ecp class prefix exclusion parameter added support for new -lcl parameter added support for new -ife and -efe parameters made Delphi 12.0 Athens known to the tool for IDE tools menu integration Enjoy TurboMagic

GetIt publication of a V2.1.1 has been done now, but one user from German DP reported some problem I cannot reproduce yet. I could install it via GetIt in 12.0 (had only Parnassus IDE plugins installed in that installation so far) and run it while he seemed to get some compilation error. Maybe somebody has a "plain"/"virgin" 11.x installation he can test on? Suspicion is that older Delphi versions require some Edge SDK stuff (as available in GetIt) isntalled which nowadays is included in RTL or so already... Enjoy TurboMagic

Sigh! That was the idea of my own small backup/restore test app I developed using code from the main app. But when using that it always works 😞 Ok, one thing is left to check: these auto reconnect options of the DB connection. But I doubt that's the issue, but need to check.

Strange. When I call offline on the DB connection and then run the backup from the same application I get this xnet error. But when I call offline on the DB connection followed by exit as next statement and place a breakpoint on that, I can run that application so it stops on the exit statement and then perform a backup from a separate test application which uses the same code to perform the backup and the backup works. Why doesn't it work when I call that from the same application?

Thanks for the offline/online hint! I'll look at this later!