Rebuilding the Delphi & C++Builder Android Java files

Some while back I posted a command script (or batch file as we used to call them) that could be used by RAD Studio 10.3 users if they felt the need to change any of the few Java files underlying Delphi's (and C++Builder's) Android RTL and FireMonkey code.

The script would rebuild all the Java files into the required fmx.dex.jar and fmx.jar archives and copy them into the relevant RAD Studio installation folders to be used on subsequent builds.

When I tried to use the script with RAD Studio 10.3.3 of course it didn't work as things have changed, different files need to be involved in the process. I have updated the script now to work with RAD Studio 10.3.3 and thought I'd share it in case anyone else needs to do this.

An obvious question is: Why would anyone else want to rebuild the Java Android RTL files? Well this is normally a necessary step if you find an issue in the code as Embarcadero ships it and you want to try to fix it or enhance it. Indeed the previous post on rebuilding the 10.3 Java files was all about patching the Java code to get Android Intent support working.

If you have no interest in tweaking the Java code or fixing any issues you encounter in the Java code then you probably won't be needing this script.

If you do need the script, remember to take a backup of your original compiled archives before you proceed. These are found in:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\lib\android\debug\fmx.jar
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\lib\android\debug\fmx.dex.jar
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\lib\android\release\fmx.jar
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\20.0\lib\android\release\fmx.dex.jar

The script needs to be run from an administrative command prompt and before you run it you should double-check the various paths set up in the environment variables at the start are all valid on your system.

Solution to iOS Delphi build failure

Some Delphi users building iOS applications have been thwarted by a…, well let’s be polite and call it a bit of an annoyance, when building their applications. What should just be an informational message about a warning from the ld linker ends up becoming a build breaker. The failure message looks something like this example (taken from RSP-19759, reported in January 2018):

[DCC Error] E2597 ld: warning: unknown dwarf DW_FORM_strp (offset=0xFFFFCEE7) is
    too big in FBSDKShareKit.a(FBSDKAppInviteContent.o)
  ld: warning: unknown dwarf DW_FORM_strp (offset=0xFFFF6E38) is too big
    in C:\Dev\lib\ios\facebook\FBSDKShareKit.framework\FBSDKShareKit.a
    (FBSDKAppInviteContent.o)

The fact that ld is emitting a warning about something is neither here not there. Or rather it *should* be neither here nor there. Unfortunately when Delphi receives this warning it turns it into a fatal error.

Oh dear… (・_・、)

Delphi 10.3 Rio contains a change to address this issue…. ˚◡˚

Unfortunately, however, Embarcadero forgot to mention it to anyone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This post tries to fix that communications oversight by covering the details of the change, which is an important step as you do need to add in a new compiler / linker switch.

The iOS ld linker now supports a new option –bequiet, which stops Delphi being able to wrongly interpret the ld warnings (by silencing them).

To use the new option choose Project | Options…  (Shift+Ctrl+F11) and do one of these two things:

• select Building | Delphi Compiler | Compiling | Other Options and add --linker-option:-bequiet to Additional options to pass to the compiler, or
• select Building | Delphi Compiler | Linking and add -bequiet to Options passed to the LD linker

You should now be able to build your project successfully without this little hindrance.

Good luck!

CodeRage 2018 (redux)

This year at CodeRage 2018 I presented a session on Creative Delphi Debugging Techniques.

Other than my speaking volume being a bit quiet, it generated a number of very nice comments about the subjects covered so I thought it might be useful to mention that it is available for on-demand viewing as part of the CodeRage 2018 Replay.

There is free enrolment in the conference replay and my session, along with the session slides and sample files, can be found here.

If you watch it I hope you turn up your PC volume and get a lot out of it to hopefully help with your debugging exercises!

RAD Studio 10.3 Rio’s Android Intent support (or current lack thereof)

Sometimes when a new product is released there are a few ‘teething issues’. That certainly seems to be the case with RAD Studio 10.3 Rio. Both Delphi and C++Builder are hitting a few problems on various fronts. Now, it is true that internally in the product there has been a lot of change in the IDE, the VCL and FireMonkey, and perhaps it is therefore unsurprising a few slip-ups will have occurred.

It is, however, quite annoying when you fall foul of these slip-ups and have to wait for a fix….

The issue I want to address in this post is the breakage in the Android support for registering an interest in knowing about certain Intent objects received by the app. This is normally achieved by a call to MainActivity.registerIntentAction, as pseudo-documented here (when it was introduced in RAD Studio 10 Seattle) and here (in reference to a sample app) on Embarcadero's docwiki and illustrated here in my article on NFC usage.

This new Intent support worked nicely in RAD Studio 10 Seattle, 10.1 Berlin and 10.2 Tokyo. Not so in RAD Studio 10.3 Rio. You get a crash when trying to register a new Intent that you want to act upon.

CodeRage 2018

Just when I thought conference season was over, CodeRage 2018 came rapidly into view!

I like CodeRage – there’s always a good range of session subjects to choose from, and alwyas a range of good speakers to listen to.

I’ve had sessions at a few CodeRage conferences over the years, CodeRage 7, CodeRage 8, CodeRage XI and CodeRage XII. I’m pleased to continue that trend with a session at CodeRage 2018 – the official web page is at https://www.embarcadero.com/coderage-2018 and the registration page is at http://forms.embarcadero.com/CodeRageRegistration18.

This year I’m presenting my session on Creative Delphi Debugging Techniques. This session has been received positively when I’ve presented a trimmed down version of it to audiences at various conferences around Europe so I thought it would be an ideal session to present in full at CodeRage 2018 and have it available online ongoing.

I’ll be online on Wednesday 5th December at 5pm CST (UTC-6), which is 11pm GMT and the session will last 90 minutes (an hour and a half!). If you can stop by my session I’d really appreciate it, and hopefully you’ll pick up a few tips about some of the Delphi debugger features and possibly lose some of the fear of the CPU window… (yes, we’ll be spending some time in the CPU window!).

Have a fantastic CodeRage 2018!

RAD Studio 10.3 Rio supports Android runtime permissions

RAD Studio 10.3 Rio has just been released for General Availability, as you’ll have doubtless learned from the spree of blog posts on the subject. This is a great new release with a lot of bug fixes and some nice updates to product behaviour and features.

One feature that seems to have not received its fair share of attention in the documentation is the support for the Android 6.0 (and later) runtime permissions model. This caused a bit of frustration earlier in the year when Google changed the Play Store submission rules so that from August 2018 new apps have to follow this new permissions model and from November 2018 app updates also new apps have to.

RAD Studio 10.3 enhances the basic Android support to ensure that Android apps built with Delphi or C++ now understand and can support this new model, which may require a bit of change to your application logic.

In essence, instead of all permissions being granted on application installation, so-called dangerous permissions now need to be requested at runtime where the user can grant or deny them as they see fit. Additionally the user can change their mind in the app settings and toggle the permissions at any time.

The Android RTL has been enhanced with a framework to support requesting permissions at runtime and being notified of the user’s decision, and potentially offering a little explanation for the need for the permission.

As mentioned the documentation for this framework falls a little short right now (at product launch), but hopefully will improve over time. To try and plug the gap I’ve written an article showing how the permission framework can be used, both in Delphi and in C++. If interested in learning more about the Android runtime permission framework introduced in RAD Studio 10.3 Rio, please follow one of these links:

• Runtime permissions in Android (new in Delphi 10.3)
• Runtime permissions in Android (new in C++ 10.3)

Finally, while I have your attention on things Android, I would like to draw your attention to the Android-specific release notes for RAD Studio 10.3. You should read these to be sure of getting on with your first Android project with the new product release. It needs and uses a later Android SDK and NDK and you mat encounter some teething niggles on installation. These notes should help you!

Conferences in Europe

Exciting times – conference season is upon us again and I’m excited to be heading off to a couple of them to talk to Delphi developers around Europe about subjects I’m passionate about.

First off, and it’s nearly here, is the Barnsten Delphi Conference 2018 in Utrecht in the Netherlands on Tuesday, September 18th. This is a one day event with a busy agenda. After the opening keynote from Delphi Product Manager Marco Cantú, I’ll be doing a plenary session on creating debugging techniques before the sessions split into 2 parallel tracks. In among these parallel sessions I’ll talk about Android API access and you can also choose from sessions by (among others) Bruno Fierens, Bob Swart, Danny Wind and Marco Cantú (again). These sessions are mostly in English, though a couple are not. This looks to be a great value day of Delphi expertise.

Later in the Autumn (or maybe it’s Winter by then…?) EKON 22 takes place from November 5th to 7th (Monday to Wednesday, with Wednesday being Workshop day). Again Marco Cantú will be doing the keynote and then we have lots of sessions in 3 parallel tracks, many in German, many in English. I’m presenting my Creative Debugging Techniques session first thing on the Tuesday. Other speakers include Stefan Glienke, Bruno Fierens, Marco Cantú (again), Andrea Magni, Ray Konopka and Cary Jensen (among others). You can peruse the full agenda here.
If you are thinking of going to EKON 22 you can get Early Bird discounted pricing until September 27th (see the registration page). Unfortunately I didn’t get to post about this before the Very Early Bird pricing ended, but Early Bird discount pricing is a good deal!

I hope to see some of you in Utrecht or Dusseldorf!