Bold for Delphi history and update

[Berocoder 24]

I can of course not say I made this as the channel header tell. My contribution is very minor. But I want to share this story anyway.

And hopefully someone can use or even contribute to Bold framework.

Yesterday I committed a bunch of updates to Bold for Delphi https://github.com/Embarcadero/BoldForDelphi/tree/develop
 

History of Bold for Delphi

Bold for Delphi is a Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) framework developed in the late 1990s by BoldSoft, a Swedish company. Jan Norden was one of thefounders.

Bolds main focus was to enable developers to create business applications by defining the application's data structure and business rules at a higher abstraction level, rather than writing low-level code manually.

In 2002, Borland acquired BoldSoft, and Bold for Delphi was included in Borland’s release of Delphi 7 Architect. This made the framework more accessible to Delphi developers and encouraged its adoption within the Delphi ecosystem.

However, after Borland sold its development tools division to CodeGear. Later Embarcadero took over. Now Bold for Delphi was no longer actively developed as part of the Delphi IDE.
Bold for Delphi was used in many hundreds of projects with Delphi 7. Developers was now abandoned with no support from Code/Gear/Embarcadero. 

But development never stopped completely. Before Borland bought Boldsoft Ahola Transport, a Finnish company bought source-code license  from Boldsoft.
They developed an in-house ERP application Attracs for transport business now with full access to Bolds source.

 

Around 2010 Attracs company hired a consultant Daniel Mauric from Serbia mainly because hes deep knowledge about Bold.

This turned out to be a very good move. Now the development of Bold for Delphi really gained momentum.

Daniel has made countless optimizations, bug fixes but also some completely new additions to Bold.

 

But one problem was that Bolds Intellectual Property (IP) was still hold by Embarcadero.

We couldn't legally publish our changes even if we want to cooperate with other developers around the source.

In May 2012 I Roland Bengtsson made a petition to release Bold with opensource license.

And the petition got attention. After a while when I contacted Embarcadero we agreed on a meeting and it looks promising.
But later Embarcadero changed their mind and set up unreasonable conditions like all changes with source remain Embarcaderos IP. And the years passed...

 

Delphi product manager at Embarcadero changed to Marco Cantu. When I discussed this issue with him I noticed quickly he had a more realistic view on this.

Marco realized that the only way forward was to make Bold opensource. I have no idea what happened behind the scenes but Marco convinced Embarcaderos management and published this blog 22 Sep 2020 

So a big thank you to @Marco Cantu for his work!

 

Our company now renamed to Ahola Digital continue to work with our main Bold application Attracs.
Our Bold source continue to improves thanks to Daniel Mauric.
These changes are now published in repository above.

 

There is a lot more to do. Many inhouse tools and source are not commited in to repository yet.

 

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Main Purpose of Bold for Delphi

The primary purpose of Bold for Delphi is to simplify the development of business applications by automating data persistence, object lifecycle management, and business rule enforcement.

It emphasizes separation of concerns by letting developers focus on defining the model (business logic and rules) while the framework handles boilerplate tasks such as:

 

1. Object-relational mapping (ORM)
2. Automatic data synchronization with a database
3. Real-time data updating in the user interface
4. Implementation of business logic constraints and rules

It essentially follows the MDA approach, where application logic is derived from the model, reducing repetitive code writing and increasing consistency across applications.

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Main Components of Bold for Delphi

1. Bold Model and UML Integration:

   • Developers define the application’s data model using UML diagrams.
   • Rational Rose is supported but unfortunately IBM have
   • The model is then translated into Delphi classes with associated behavior and persistence rules.

2. Bold Business Classes:

   • These are Delphi classes generated from the UML model.
   • They represent the business objects, containing properties, associations, and behavior logic.

3. Bold Object Layer:

   • Handles the lifecycle of objects, including creation, deletion, and memory management.
   • Ensures real-time synchronization between the application and the database.

4. Bold Persistence Layer:

   • Manages object persistence by mapping the Bold business classes to database tables.
   • Abstracts database interactions, so developers don't need to write SQL manually.

5. Bold Expression Language (OCL):

   • A query and constraint language similar to SQL but designed for object models.
   • Used to express rules, queries, and computed attributes in the model.

6. Bold User Interface Components:

   • Data-aware UI components, such as grids and editors, are bound directly to the Bold object model.
   • Provides real-time updates as the model changes.

7. Bold Subscription System:

   • Ensures the UI and other dependent components react automatically when model data changes.

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Key Advantages of Bold for Delphi

• Rapid Development: Reduces repetitive coding by generating classes and managing persistence automatically.
• Model-Driven Approach: Ensures the application's logic and design are consistent and well-structured.
• Scalability: Supports complex object relationships and business rules with minimal effort.
• Real-Time Updates: Automatically synchronizes UI and data layers for responsive applications.

Example Use Cases

Bold for Delphi is particularly suited for:

• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
• Applications with complex domain models and business rules

It remains a valuable tool for Delphi developers who need to build sophisticated, model-driven applications efficiently.

 

If you are interested to contribute or just have a question about Bold do not hesitate to ask me.
I would do my best to help!