Delphi Stuff

I’ve been rather quiet on here lately. But I’ve kept my eyes open on what things have been appearing on the ARPANET relating to Delphi. I kept a list of things that piqued my interest.

On the off-chance you’ve missed any of these and might find them of interest, here’s a list of Delphi stuff.

Open source code bases:

• Delphi IDE shortcut finder by Nicholas Ring on github (Delphi XE onwards should work)
• RAD-Split by Simon Stuart on github – dockable split-screen editors (XE2, XE5 and XE7 packages supplied, should work in others)
• Parnassus Bookmarks by David Millington, a new IDE bookmarks replacement plugin (Delphi XE and later)
• LaKraven Studios Standard Library by Simon Stuart on github (Delphi XE3-XE8 packages supplied at time of writing)
• FMX Enhancements Library by Simon Stuart on github (relies on LaKraven Studios Standard Library, above)
• AGE Open Source multi-platform gaming engine, a 2.5D video game engine (based on FMX core) by Simon Stuart (Delphi XE5 and later)
• GLScene on SourceForge, an OpenGL based 3D library – read more here (unclear which Delphi versions are supported)
• SynEdit on Sourceforge, a syntax highlighting edit control, not based on Windows common controls (packages supplied for Delphi 5 through to Delphi XE6 at the time of writing)
• Multithreading – The Delphi Way, by Martin Harvey, an online guide/eBook, hosted on Nick Hodges’ site (written in the era of Delphi 6)
• Turbo Pascal compiler in JavaScript by Lawrence Kesteloot – read about it here, source on github here
• Selective Debug DCUs by Uwe Raabe (supports Delphi XE to XE8 at the time of writing)
• Enabling Windows 10 Aero Glass (aka Blur Behind) in Delphi by Victor Alberto Gil (applicable to Delphi XE and later)
• DelphiDoom on Sourceforge by Jim Valavanis. This is a port of the Doom code base to Delphi (it is unclear which Delphi versions are supported)
• DelphiQuake on SourceForge by Jim Valavanis. This is a port of the Quake code base to Delphi and supersedes this older version (it is unclear which Delphi versions are supported)
• Doom 3 Delphi conversion project on Sourceforge (it is unclear which Delphi versions are supported)
• Delphi GLQuake
• Quake 2 Delphi conversion project on Sourceforge (it is unclear which Delphi versions are supported)

WinSoft XE has released their commercial NFC Library for Android 2.0 for Delphi/C++Builder XE7 and XE8 – see FMX Express mention here. This is a ready made approach to NFC, which might be preferable to the do-it-yourself approach previously (and still) freely available:

• My article on NFC in Delphi XE7 – see FMX Express mention here
• Daniel Magin’s article on NFC in Delphi XE6 and XE7 – see FMX Express mention here

One of the stalwarts of the old Delphi team, Charles Jazdzewski, aka Chuck J (also aka DJ Jazzy Chuck aka The Chuckinator aka Chuck-a-luck-a-high-chuck-a-hiney-ho), has been posting some nostalgic memories about the origins of the Delphi project:

• Properties on Purpose
• First-class Class
• The Delphi Event
• A Component of The Story
• Will The True Component Please Stand Up
• The Biggest Bang
• Simplicity Isn't Simple

Old Borland videos:

• The Adventures of Turboman – Part 1
• Delphi Transformer
• Delphi Oktoberfest
• Developer Tool Time
• Paul Gross and The Temple of Doom from BorCon 1996 – unfortunately this has been blocked from YouTue thanks to a copyright infringement claim :( If you’ve got a copy of this one, do let me know!
• Software Wars from BorCon 1997

Borland Old Testament Histories by Verity Stob

1. Book of Anders (1996)
2. Yocam hokum (1998)
3. Book of Yoc-am (contd.) (1999)
4. Borland Revelations (2004)
5. Borland's Delphi Goodbye (2006)
6. A reading from the second book of Codh (2008)
7. Sons of Kahn: The Apocrypha (2010)
8. The Sons of Khan and the Pascal Spring (2012)
9. The Sons of Kahn and the assembly language of the internet (2012)

Not quite Delphi stuff:

• How to build the Wolfenstein 3D source code with Borland C++ 3.1
• Android ports of Doom3, Quake I, Quake II, Quake III

Unlikely to actually be interesting to anyone other than myself, but I was following a chain of posts on the old Windows Error Reporting tool, Dr Watson:

• Why is Windows Error Reporting nicknamed "Dr. Watson"?
• What did the Ignore button do in Windows 3.1 when an application encountered a general protection fault?

This led me back to a post by Matt Pietrek (who worked for Borland and wrote TDump and WinSpector) from his awesome Under The Hood column:

• Follow on to Raymond's post on Dr. Watson

and right at the end he included a link to one of my various Undocumented Easter Eggs pages :o) That made me smile!