What we need to learn as we migrate from Delphi 2007 to Delphi 2012

As we prepare to move from Delphi 2007 to the Delphi of next 
summer/fall, and 64bit some day, we are looking for a list of 
improvements to Delphi (from IDE to the language) that have been done 
from Delphi 2007 to Delphi XE, as well as any planned ones for the next 
version.

We understand the daunting migration to Unicode that awaits us but know 
that we have missed some "new and improved" items where we have to get 
all our developers up to speed on that may not be related to Unicode. 
So, we will need to plan some training before we jump in.

Is there such a list out there?  There used to be one on what has been 
done since Delphi 7 to D2007 <?> or so.  Maybe there is one to XE.

Thanks!

-Eduardo

> {quote:title=Eduardo A. Salgado wrote:}{quote}
> As we prepare to move from Delphi 2007 to the Delphi of next 
> summer/fall, and 64bit some day, we are looking for a list of 
> improvements to Delphi (from IDE to the language) that have been done 
> from Delphi 2007 to Delphi XE, as well as any planned ones for the next 
> version.
> 
> We understand the daunting migration to Unicode that awaits us but know 
> that we have missed some "new and improved" items where we have to get 
> all our developers up to speed on that may not be related to Unicode. 
> So, we will need to plan some training before we jump in.
> 
> Is there such a list out there?  There used to be one on what has been 
> done since Delphi 7 to D2007 <?> or so.  Maybe there is one to XE.

You can check out the "what's new" pages on the Embarcadero DocWiki:

http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/What%27s_New_in_Delphi_and_C%2B%2BBuilder_2009
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/What%27s_New_in_Delphi_and_C%2B%2BBuilder_2010
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/What%27s_New

Marco Cantu and Bob Swart have both published books on the subject.  PDF versions of Marco's books are available on Embarcadero's registered user site, and Bob has beaten everyone to the punch by publishing the first XE book.

--
Regards
Bruce McGee
Glooscap Software

> {quote:title=Eduardo A. Salgado wrote:}{quote}
> As we prepare to move from Delphi 2007 to the Delphi of next 
> summer/fall, and 64bit some day, we are looking for a list of 
> improvements to Delphi (from IDE to the language) that have been done 
> from Delphi 2007 to Delphi XE, as well as any planned ones for the next 
> version.
> 
> We understand the daunting migration to Unicode that awaits us but know 
> that we have missed some "new and improved" items where we have to get 
> all our developers up to speed on that may not be related to Unicode. 
> So, we will need to plan some training before we jump in.
> 
> Is there such a list out there?  There used to be one on what has been 
> done since Delphi 7 to D2007 <?> or so.  Maybe there is one to XE.

The only real technical hurdle is the Unicode.  Once you get that working right, you can use the rest of your code mostly unchanged, with the exception of a few syntax issues that will cause compile errors and can be fixed trivially.  For example, in D2010 they fixed a bug where you could use *with* and a read-only property of a record type to try to modify the record, with weird results.  That will no longer compile, but it's not hard to fix.

Once you update, you'll get all the bugfixes and new functionality added into the VCL and RTL, and your existing code should still work fine.  The other differences are new language and library features added in the last three releases.  Those are completely optional.  You don't +need+ to learn them, but they can definitely be helpful for certain situations, and your team would do well to pick them up over the next few months.  Bruce's links give you some examples of the new features that are available an
d what they can be used for.

<Mason Wheeler> wrote in message news:303936@forums.embarcadero.com...

> Once you get that working right, you can use the rest of your
> code mostly unchanged, with the exception of a few syntax
> issues that will cause compile errors and can be fixed trivially.

Like stuffing pointers into Integers.  Hopefully they will be wise enough to 
update TComponent.Tag, callback parameters, etc to use a more suitable data 
type under 64-bit, like IntPtr, instead of Integer.

-- 
Remy Lebeau (TeamB)

"Remy Lebeau (TeamB)" <no.spam@no.spam.com> wrote in message >
>
> Like stuffing pointers into Integers.  Hopefully they will be wise enough 
> to update TComponent.Tag, callback parameters, etc to use a more suitable 
> data type under 64-bit, like IntPtr, instead of Integer.
>
I think that it has already been mentioned that the Tag property will become 
a NativeInt type for the next release of Delphi.

Mike

On 09.11.2010 00:36, Mason Wheeler wrote:
>> {quote:title=Eduardo A. Salgado wrote:}{quote}
>> As we prepare to move from Delphi 2007 to the Delphi of next
>> summer/fall, and 64bit some day, we are looking for a list of
>> improvements to Delphi (from IDE to the language) that have been done
>> from Delphi 2007 to Delphi XE, as well as any planned ones for the next
>> version.
>>
>> We understand the daunting migration to Unicode that awaits us but know
>> that we have missed some "new and improved" items where we have to get
>> all our developers up to speed on that may not be related to Unicode.
>> So, we will need to plan some training before we jump in.
>>
>> Is there such a list out there?  There used to be one on what has been
>> done since Delphi 7 to D2007<?>  or so.  Maybe there is one to XE.
>
> The only real technical hurdle is the Unicode.  Once you get that working right, you can use the rest of your code mostly unchanged, with the exception of a few syntax issues that will cause compile errors and can be fixed trivially.  For example, in D2010 they fixed a bug where you could use *with* and a read-only property of a record type to try to modify the record, with weird results.  That will no longer compile, but it's not hard to fix.
>
> Once you update, you'll get all the bugfixes and new functionality added into the VCL and RTL, and your existing code should still work fine.  The other differences are new language and library features added in the last three releases.  Those are completely optional.  You don't +need+ to learn them, but they can definitely be helpful for certain situations, and your team would do well to pick them up over the next few months.  Bruce's links give you some examples of the new features that are available 
an
> d what they can be used for.

As I understood  it from another thread, also Readln/Writeln don't work 
at all with Unicode so you need to use a stringlist instead, if I 
haven't misunderstood completely

https://forums.embarcadero.com/message.jspa?messageID=241386

https://forums.codegear.com/thread.jspa?threadID=35085&tstart=44

Remy Lebeau (TeamB) wrote:

> Hopefully they will be wise enough to update TComponent.Tag

IIRC, Allen's already mentioned this has been done.

-- 
John Kaster http://blogs.embarcadero.com/johnk
Embarcadero Developer Network: http://edn.embarcadero.com
Features and bugs: http://qc.embarcadero.com
Got source?  http://cc.embarcadero.com

[snip]
> 
> As I understood  it from another thread, also Readln/Writeln don't work 
> at all with Unicode so you need to use a stringlist instead, if I 
> haven't misunderstood completely

Afaik you're right on this.

Greetings

Markus

Eduardo A. Salgado wrote:
> As we prepare to move from Delphi 2007 to the Delphi of next
> summer/fall, and 64bit some day, we are looking for a list of
> improvements to Delphi (from IDE to the language) that have been done
> from Delphi 2007 to Delphi XE, as well as any planned ones for the next
> version.

Thanks for all your answers.

Today, Embarcadero put out a White Paper on just what we may all have 
missed in the various versions of Delphi from 7 to XE.

See White Paper: Reasons to Migrate to Delphi XE – What you might have 
missed since Delphi 7
(http://www.andreanolanusse.com/blogen/white-paper-reasons-to-migrate-to-delphi-xe-what-you-might-have-missed-since-delphi-7/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=white-paper-reasons-to-migrate-to-delphi-xe-what-you-might-have-missed-since-delphi-7)

http://tinyurl.com/38ug8vt

Just what we were looking for!

Thanks!

-Eduardo