The Delphi Parser - FIBPlus, BDE, legacy Migration

[Jasonjac2 0]

Hi All,

 

I have an old system:

•  2 x EXEs (D7)
• 330K combined lines of code
• BDE
• FibPlus
• IBX
• JVCL
• JCL
• TMS
• SMExport (very small amount)
• Custom Components (very small part)
• CNWizards – logging – (very small part)

I want to end up with on DAC (FireDAC unless anyone talks me out of it) and D10.4

 

I have invested in "The Delphi Parser".  The author is being very helpful, but ultimately for FIBPlus, I am going to get my hands dirty and modify the script to teach it what to convert into what.  I was wondering if anyone else has travelled this path or is about to.  Things I was interested in.  How you did it, what gotchas you got etc.

 

I like the idea of a "brighter than Grep" parser that understands the structure of a Delphi App. 

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

I didn't understood a thing

[Jasonjac2 0]

Hi,

Sorry Fr0sT.Brutal I didn't explain the background very well.  I was hoping that someone had done some work on migrating FibPlus code to a supported data access platform and at the same time was sharing my thoughts on migrating my 300K+ lines of code from D7 to D10.4.

 

See (*) notes at the bottom.

Update: While I have a hiccup with The Delphi Parser (1), I thought I would try and split the problem into:

• JVCL / JCL - Just get that installed (2)
• CnWiazrds - Just get that installed (3)
• BDE & IBX (as I am hoping the Delphi Parser will sort almost all of that for me)
• FibPlus - Hoping to use the Delphi Parser, but need to know what needs translating
• Everything else

I took the simplest part of the system that I could get to compile in isolation and all the dependent units (basically the logging into the database and the datamodule that does the auditing, but required about 4 more units), got it compiling under D7, then moved to D10.4.  Of course, without FIbPlus, it didn't compile, so I went back and forth creating Mocks by:

• 10.4 Attempt to Compile
• Take the error (undeclared class / property / method), goto the line and copy the exact line
• Go back to D7, find the line, ctrl click to the declaration, record the unit,  etc
• Go back to 10.4 and create the stubb in the correct unit.
• Repeat until compile.

This has left me with about 8 new units that mirror the declaration of the missing classes, but with no actual code.  It compiles and of course, I can't view the DFMs in the designer as there are none of the fibplus components installed in D10.4.

 

Of course, there could be lots of component properties stored in the .dfm's that doesn't exist in the code, so even though it now compiles, it won't run as the first property it finds as is streams the .dfms in is going to stop it.

 

So next up was to use GExperts component to code back in D7 to pull in the different types of FIB+ components in and copy these to some extra unit in my new 10.4.

Did this and got those to compile, so in my FibPlus mock units I have things like this:

  TpFIBDatabase = class(TFIBDatabase)
  public
    DatabaseName : String;
    Connected : boolean;
    DBParams : TStrings;
    SQLDialect : Integer;
    procedure close;
    procedure open;
  public // dfm Only
    DBName : String;
    DefaultTransaction : TFIBTransaction;
    Timeout : integer;
    DesignDBOptions : TDesignDBOptions;
    WaitForRestoreConnect : integer;

  end;

So next up:

• work out what these should map onto in FirDAC
• Then either teach Delphi Parser to convert to FireDAC OR inherit these components from the suitable FirDAC components and add in mapping code.
  • Oren of The Delphi Parser and it looks like is happy to give me a hand / work out the mapping with some examples.

 

I realise there aren't any questions in this one, but I searched and searched and couldn't find any real help with the FIBPlus migration, so these notes may be of some help to someone, sometime. 

 

I'll post another update when it compiles and actually accesses the data!  Have a good week all.

 

 

(1) Delphi Parser- Raised on Friday PM, so not a negative thing as I know the Author is very responsive, so expect to get that sorted when he is back in work

Had contact with the Author over the weekend and managed to get a conversion done, which is great.  Now I need time to see how well it managed BDE -> FIREDAC conversion.

(2) JVCL / JCL -  had a strange one with the debug library paths confusing the compiler and pointing to the older version that was installed with Tokyo - not sure if something got dragged over with the upgrade, but meant I: refreshed my memory about the order that paths are used; cleaned my paths up a bit.

(3) CnWizards - strange, the compiler directive doesn't seem to be working: 

 

 

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

I've no idea what Delphi Parser is but AFAIK FIBPlus are available in more or less recent version. IBX is included in Delphi RTL so almost no need to change. BDE is of course dead.

Anyway as you're migrating from D7 the most serious problem you'll likely have is Ansi=>Unicode transfer. After that all other changes will look like  piece a cake.

[Jasonjac2 0]

1 hour ago, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

I've no idea what Delphi Parser is but AFAIK FIBPlus are available in more or less recent version. IBX is included in Delphi RTL so almost no need to change. BDE is of course dead.

Anyway as you're migrating from D7 the most serious problem you'll likely have is Ansi=>Unicode transfer. After that all other changes will look like  piece a cake.

Hi,

OK, cool, "FIBPlus are available in more or less recent version." - where is this, I could only find a reference on:  https://shareappscrack.com/fibplus/?token=75016374 which worried me a bit as it looks like a crack site.

 

BDE - I actually installed the BDE a while back, but don't think the VCL components actually exist, so I agree.... completely dead 🙂

 

" Ansi=>Unicode transfer" - in practical terms, I am not sure what this is going to mean to me.

 

Another issue is the system is still on Dialect 1 of an old version of FB.  I need to work out the migration path for that also, but I thought to get it all over to latest Delphi and then worry about that.

 

So Devrace aren't operating anymore, so would you stick with FIbPlus or migrate away?  I don't see many dev's using it or a lot of recent hits regarding it, so worry that the ongoing maintenance for me might be high - but I would be keen to know if there is a group of dev's still using it.   I loved FIB & FIBPlus by the way and have excellent memories of meeting up with Serge (sp) and Marina at the FB Conference.

 

Regards & keen to get your input. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

 

"The Delphi Parser" is a 3rd party tool that has scripts for converting Delphi code, so the classic is BDE -> FireDAC, it is more than refind and it understands context and the author can tweak the system to add new types of conversion for the .pas and .dfm.   It is interesting stuff and I think much needed.  Historically it has been out of my price range, but recently there have been promotions and the author is doing a webinar with EMBT this week I think.

 

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

1 hour ago, Jasonjac2 said:

OK, cool, "FIBPlus are available in more or less recent version." - where is this, I could only find a reference on:  https://shareappscrack.com/fibplus/?token=75016374 which worried me a bit as it looks like a crack site.

I found this https://github.com/madorin/fibplus

1 hour ago, Jasonjac2 said:

" Ansi=>Unicode transfer" - in practical terms, I am not sure what this is going to mean to me.

Starting from D2009, string contains 2-byte widechars. Depending on code, transition could take from minutes to months (if many code relies on assumption that Char is 1-byte sized).

1 hour ago, Jasonjac2 said:

Another issue is the system is still on Dialect 1 of an old version of FB.  I need to work out the migration path for that also, but I thought to get it all over to latest Delphi and then worry about that.

There was no critical compatibility breaks in dialect 3. Again, depending on code and complexity of queries, it could take from simple structure clone and data pumping to long and hard process.

1 hour ago, Jasonjac2 said:

So Devrace aren't operating anymore, so would you stick with FIbPlus or migrate away?  I don't see many dev's using it or a lot of recent hits regarding it, so worry that the ongoing maintenance for me might be high - but I would be keen to know if there is a group of dev's still using it.   I loved FIB & FIBPlus by the way and have excellent memories of meeting up with Serge (sp) and Marina at the FB Conference.

Again it depends on how hard your code is tied to data access components. In theory, changing them is a matter of several hours. Nowadays I'd advice to use a maintained library like *DAC or Zeos

Edited August 24, 2020 by Fr0sT.Brutal

[Jasonjac2 0]

On 8/24/2020 at 1:00 PM, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

I found this https://github.com/madorin/fibplus

Starting from D2009, string contains 2-byte widechars. Depending on code, transition could take from minutes to months (if many code relies on assumption that Char is 1-byte sized).

There was no critical compatibility breaks in dialect 3. Again, depending on code and complexity of queries, it could take from simple structure clone and data pumping to long and hard process.

Again it depends on how hard your code is tied to data access components. In theory, changing them is a matter of several hours. Nowadays I'd advice to use a maintained library like *DAC or Zeos

You star - I don't know how I missed the FibPlus Repo.  See "Later section"

 

Update - I started this a couple of days ago and forgot to post: While I have a hiccup with The Delphi Parser (1), I thought I would try and split the problem into:

• JVCL / JCL - Just get that installed (2)
• CnWizards - Just get that installed (3)
• BDE & IBX (as I am hoping the Delphi Parser will sort almost all of that for me)
• FibPlus - Hoping to use the Delphi Parser, but need to know what needs translating
• Everything else

 

 

 

(1) - Raised on Friday PM, so not a negative thing as I know the Author is very responsive, so expect to get that sorted when he is back in work

(2) JVCL / JCL -  had a strange one with the debug library paths confusing the compiler and pointing to the older version that was installed with Tokyo - not sure if something got dragged over with the upgrade, but meant I: refreshed my memory about the order that paths are used; cleaned my paths up a bit.

(3) CnWizards - strange, the compiler directive doesn't seem to be working in 10.4

 

.... Some time later....... 27th August...

 

I actually installed the BDE & BDE components in D10.4 and forked the FibPlus Repo.  This isn't to continue with either in 10.4, but means I can move all migration effort to the 10.4 machine and not worry.  To this end I have brought the project up in the IDE and realised I also use : 2 components I wrote, a TVersionControl and WPTools from WPCubed.

 

Still planning on the scripted migration.  Thanks for your time and hope this might help someone else some day.

 

I'll try and do another update over the weekend.

 

Regards, JAC

 

[Zentori 0]

Sorry for necroposting this thread, but I'm interested in knowing if you finally went through automated migration from BDE/IBX and FibPlus to FireDAC. Thanks.,

[Jasonjac2 0]

"necroposting" love it!

No I didn't.  I didn't get the the tool I was looking at to work had to put the project down.  It is back on the agenda, but now moving from 7 -> 12.x!   

Are you doing the same and how are you getting on?

Another entry into the marketplace is GDK who advertise specialising in such migrations.  I had a quick chat with them, but haven't progressed it further.

 

I could really do with moving to a later version as there are lots of things I want our app to do that would leverage modern libraries / components that use modern language features.

[corneliusdavid 213]

I used (or tried to use) Delphi Parser about three years ago. I don't have FIBPlus and I was using their VCL->UniGUI migration tool, so my experience may not be as relevant but I did work with their script quite a bit, fixing several missing standard VCL controls, adding support for RaizeControls, and several other things.

 

My attempt was to take a working Delphi XE desktop (VCL) application and migrate it to UniGUI to turn it into a web app. I never got it completed and don't remember all the reasons why but I do remember being frustrated at Delphi Parser's interface, where each time you run it, you basically have to start the program over and go through several steps. It was a slow, iterative process and while suggestions for improvement were sent to the author (who seemed to appreciate them), none of them ever made it into an update.

 

Have you looked at reFind? I'm using that in a major migration from Delphi 5 and the BDE to Delphi 12 and FireDAC. Perhaps between these two tools, you'll find a solution.

[Jasonjac2 0]

@corneliusdavid potentially collaborate on this?  FIBPLus is  a bit more complicated than the BDE IMO as there are some advanced properties and also I think the developer had less defaults or whatever it is that ensures the DFM doesn't bloat with a gazilion properties that are just default values.  How far are you through?

[corneliusdavid 213]

2 hours ago, Jasonjac2 said:

How far are you through?

Are you asking about my progress with reFind? I've got a pretty long list of regular expressions but it's heavily concentrated on the specific libraries in use at the company for which I work. We have base forms and much of the script deals with commenting out code or adding TODOs to instruct the programmer on how to change a program to work with the updated libraries and base forms. But some of them might be useful as examples, like the conversion from TPageControl to TRzPageControl or TToolbar to TRzToolbar.

 

Your Delphi installation comes with ReFind and several example rule files you can use as a starting point; there's one to migrate from BDE to FireDAC which would be quite relevant to your task. I have never used FIBPlus so I wouldn't be very helpful on that end.