Photo nostalgia #DelphiWeek

#DelphiWeek fun...

Today I did receive a #DelphiWeek tweet: https://twitter.com/tndelphifan/status/564466113325826048/photo/1 - marking the start of a whole week with extra much Delphi-related stuff going on – showing numerous Delphi CD's from older versions – so I thought I would just supplement the collection by adding pictures of some of the missing ones, and some more rare ones. Warning! nostalgic pictures below :-)

Fun with codepages, unicode and encoding

...or how to survive in the encoding jungle, with some helpful tools.

I have several times stumble into encoding issues between legacy applications and modern "Unicode" capable ones.

In the following I will try to explain the basics in a simple way - and also supply the source and binary (if there are anyone out there that needs the utility - but don't need a compiler) for a small utility that takes a file containing Unicode characters and encodes it into a given code page. I was a bit surprised that I wasn't able to find such a utility at that time - so I did one to solve the problem.

XE7 - already new version of Delphi - again!!

...or why you should consider getting a software assurance license, use the recharge option or just try out the newer versions of Delphi.

This small post is just a list of reasons why you might consider to keep your RAD Studio/Delphi/C++Builder license up-to-date. So no technical topic - just a bit of reasoning and my own opinions - and unless you chose to use the "Delphi Ad" in the top right corner of this page - I have no economical interest in you keeping your licenses up-to-date. :-)

Delphi has at a point in time been rumored dead - and many abandoned ship to, at that time, more popular languages - but I guess perseverance will prevail.

But popular doesn't mean better or worse - I am more the "I know what I like" type - to use the title of an old Genesis song. Having used a variety of programming languages and IDEs - the Delphi dialect and IDE is still after almost 20 years, my favorite choice. And here is some reasons why:

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.

Redirecting or capturing output from processes

- or How to add achievements in ScummVM.

Have you ever had the need to redirect output from a console application into your application, either for monitoring, integration or "user friendliness"?

I will walk through 2 scenarios - and sprinkle them with a bit of extras.

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?