Introducing the REST Debugger....

- or How I helped a friend make his first REST client.

A good friend of mine, had finally decided to do some REAL programming :-D - and had for that purpose purchased a Delphi XE6 - and being relative new to the environment and hadn't looked into Delphi since version 7 - it is my privilege to help him getting started.

I had hoped for a "hello world" scenario, but he actually wanted to try to start off with a REST client against something like Google Translate.

Using Google Chromecast from Delphi desktop application

I have done a small example of a desktop application, starting the YouTube app on the Chromecast device and playing a video on your TV. Using some Indy components and a couple of the new REST components that came with XE6. Not bothering with the API's from Google.

This example does not really have any real life usage - since installing Google cast in your Chrome browser or using the YouTube app on your phone would make more sense. So unless you for some reason don't use Chrome as a browser or do not have an iOS or Android phone, this example is not that useful - but it shows the concept.

And I think that the Chromecast is a nice $30 device, that like "almost" anything else can be accessed from Delphi :-D (Update: I might end up using Mozilla's cast device, if the rumors are true - see update at the end of post).

Back'n'Front App - dual camera "fun"

Two weeks ago there was an App mentioned in a local newspaper - which, apparently, had done pretty well and which now is available also on Android. The app was described as taking 2 photos - one with the front camera and one with the back camera of your phone - and then enabling you to share the result with the rest of the world. How hard could it be to build one yourself?

Fun with Delphi XE6 App tethering and barcodes

Updated: Removed broken GDrive links, now linking to old GitHub repo.

One of the new key features in XE6 is what Embarcadero has chosen to call App Tethering components - the only problem I initially had with the name was that it implied that mobile had to be involved in some way - which is not the case. You can make a windows service that is a "receiver" from a desktop application running on the same sub-net.

An example could be POS systems, running on various devices talking to the same receiver - without bothering about implementing multiple communications protocols - these components all wraps this up nicely.

I wanted to give these new component a try, by making a very simple barcode scanner using my phone as the barcode scanner and then have the receiver send the barcode to whatever application was active.

A word of warning: this is a prof of concept - not ready for production or deployment - you need to do some work yourself to make it fit your needs. I have tried to use as little code as possible - leaving out all exception handling :-).