Two CE Versions on same PC

[balcol 0]

Hi,

I qualify for Delphi Community Edition being an individual hobby dev, and have used CE since version 10.

I have an active license for version 11.3 CE with 229 days remaining, and am in the middle of developing a small project which uses an open source package that hasn't yet been updated for version 12.x.

I've searched the docs and while I understand I can't have a copy of Delphi CE on the same machine as a Full Licensed Version of Delphi or C++Builder, I don't understand if I can install Version 12.x CE without affecting my existing 11.3 CE installation.

Is anyone able to clarify this for me please.

 

[corneliusdavid 204]

While I don't use CE and don't have an official answer for you, I would highly doubt this is possible--don't jeopardize your current installation!

 

The CE FAQ doesn't answer this specific question but the fact that 1) it doesn't allow Delphi & C++Builder (only one or the other) and 2) doesn't allow CE and a paid version on the same machine, I'm almost positive it wouldn't allow two different CE versions to coexist. You could, however, install a virtual machine, and try it out there as it would be a completely separate environment.

[Kryvich 165]

The beauty of open source libraries is that you can update and recompile them yourself for a new version of Delphi.

There are no major differences between 11.3 and 12.1 that would prevent an upgrade. 

A month and a half ago I installed the new version of Delphi CE 12.1 myself. I use some unsupported opensource libraries in my programs. To recompile them, all I had to do was add a few defines.

However, I have not uninstalled the old version of CE yet, and I currently have both Delphi 11.3 and Delphi 12.1 installed on my home computer.

My Delphi 11.3 key will be valid for another 227 days.

P.S. Which Open Source library do you use in your program?

Edited September 16 by Kryvich

[dummzeuch 1479]

I'm pretty sure installing different versions of CE on the same PC will work. But I have never used CE myself, so this is only an (educated) guess based on what I know about having multiple regular Delphi installations on the same PC.

It would be a good idea to have an up to date image backup of your PC before trying it though.

Edited September 16 by dummzeuch

[Uwe Raabe 2032]

1 hour ago, dummzeuch said:

I'm pretty sure installing different versions of CE on the same PC will work.

Yes, that also matches my own understanding. Different main versions are independent.

[balcol 0]

13 hours ago, Kryvich said:

The beauty of open source libraries is that you can update and recompile them yourself for a new version of Delphi.

There are no major differences between 11.3 and 12.1 that would prevent an upgrade. 

A month and a half ago I installed the new version of Delphi CE 12.1 myself. I use some unsupported opensource libraries in my programs. To recompile them, all I had to do was add a few defines.

However, I have not uninstalled the old version of CE yet, and I currently have both Delphi 11.3 and Delphi 12.1 installed on my home computer.

My Delphi 11.3 key will be valid for another 227 days.

P.S. Which Open Source library do you use in your program?

for this project I'm using mainly, https://github.com/RuudErmers/DelphiASIOVST-64-bit-Examples-2018 which is derived from https://sourceforge.net/projects/delphiasiovst/ but I'm not certain which is the definitive source as both projects seem dormant at the minute.

 

Thanks everyone for your input. I got a response from Emb. today that it won't work and that CE will probably complain on a VM. The general consensus being that it _should_ work but backup first, makes sense but just to be safe I'm going to stick with 11.3 until I get my head around the packages enough to make them work for me. There are many issues with hard coded search paths and legacy version issues such as "Error 'true' is not a valid integer value" as a result of "Debug Info" having a legacy value of 'true' instead of [0..3]

 

Thanks again all!

 

[Nigel Thomas 35]

I have Delphi CE 11.3 and Delphi CE 12.1 installed and running on the same machine with no issues.

[corneliusdavid 204]

3 hours ago, Nigel Thomas said:

I have Delphi CE 11.3 and Delphi CE 12.1 installed and running on the same machine with no issues.

Good to know!

[Kryvich 165]

11 hours ago, balcol said:

for this project I'm using mainly, https://github.com/RuudErmers/DelphiASIOVST-64-bit-Examples-2018

 

In DAV_Compiler.inc file, try adding the following code right after the {$IFDEF VER350}..{$ENDIF VER350} block:

    {$IFDEF VER360} // RAD Studio 12 Athens
      {$DEFINE BDS}
      {$DEFINE COMPILER27}
      {$IFDEF BCB}
        {$DEFINE BCB27}
      {$ELSE}
        {$DEFINE DELPHI27}
        {$DEFINE DELPHIRX2} // synonym to DELPHI27
        {$DEFINE DELPHICOMPILER27}
      {$ENDIF BCB}
      {$IFDEF CPUX64}
        {$DEFINE 64BIT}
        {$DEFINE CPU64}
        {$DEFINE CPUx86_64}
        {$UNDEF CPU386}
        {$UNDEF CPU32}
      {$ELSE}
        {$DEFINE 32BIT}
        {$DEFINE CPU32}
      {$ENDIF}
      {$DEFINE RTL350_UP}
      {$UNDEF UNKNOWN_COMPILER_VERSION}
    {$ENDIF VER360}

This is the same code, only {$IFDEF VER350} is replaced with {$IFDEF VER360}.

See Compiler versions: https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Athens/en/Compiler_Versions

Edited September 17 by Kryvich