Delphi Blog
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Important: Next Intraweb release will contain updated Indy - 12/18/2007
The next release of Intraweb will contain the latest snapshot of Indy 10, so we're back in sync with Indy. Indy contains many fixes so Intraweb will benefit from these. One of the reasons we upgraded was to fix some issues with SSL. For this reason, you now no longer need to use special modified versions of the SSL DLL's. The ones obtained from www.openssl.org will work right out of the box. You actually need to upgrade to these if you're using SSL in Standalone mode. Also, we've added the possibility for you to support SSL v2 or SSL v3.
Recently we forced SSL v3 by default since v2 has some vulnerabilities. However, certain browsers (like Internet Explorer 6 or below) come with SSL v2 enabled by default (IE 7 no longer does, nor do Mozilla Firefox or Opera). What then happens is that IE will try and connect using v2 and the server will refuse the connection because it only admits v3. This prevents from customers connecting even though the browser also has v3 activated. The recommended fix isn't for you to drop to v2, but to educate your customers to switch off v2 and use v3. The best approach is to have an intro page specifically indicating that SSL v3 is required to continue the connection and take it from there. However, in case there are some who prefer to not have to deal with customer support issues and prefer to use v2, we've added it as an option. But I must insist, we don't recommend it.
There's some other goodies coming in the next release of 9, so stay tuned.
As cool as it gets! - 11/21/2007
So I'm talking to Bruno the other day (mental note: don't start sentences with 'So') and he tells me that they are about to release their new Intraweb Grid with the Ajax support we built in. Obviously I was eager to see it, and to show it off :). So here's the demo source code. If you don't have TMS, you can download the executable from here
All the editing is done inline using Ajax. There are no postbacks. It's fast, it's simple and best of all, it's extremely easy to use, in fact you just need to set a couple of properties at design-time (copy/paste of TMS's email with "instructions"):
setting properties:
grid.AsyncEdit = true
grid.AsyncPaging = true
grid.AsyncSorting = true
Enable paging itself via grid.Controller.PagerType = ctpLink for example Enable sorting itself via grid.SortSettings.Show = true
Add one column as with Column.ColumnType = ctDataButton (to have Edit,Post,Cancel buttons) Add some more columns with editor of choice set by Column.Editor
In this sample, we've also added an event handler for OnAsyncPost to demonstrate we can server side update cell asynchronously with grid.AsyncSetCell call.
What's really cool about this though is that Bruno tells me, that because of the flexibility we provided when we designed the Ajax functionality, they can do all sorts of things and do it with ease. It's good to hear comments like this from, specially from 3rd party vendors that really squeeze the juice out of our products. For info on the grid and TMS click here
CodeRage opens up... - 11/21/2007
Well, you've no doubt heard by now that they've opened up CodeRage.
Actually it was always open, but they wanted to charge a fee if you
weren't an "active" customer. I posted my thoughts on it back then so I don't have much more to say now. It's a good move that they've made it free, whether it was for the right or wrong reasons. In any case, I think they'll probably gain more from it now since it allows potential customers and EXISTING customers to see what their new technology offers them and have the option to upgrade. Still, I yearn for a good live conference.
ConTEXT: Made in Delphi - 11/18/2007
I like to blog about utilities and small applications that I find useful. It's good to spread the word on something that can help others. In this ocassion, it's about ConTEXT, a multi-purpose file editor. Although I've been using Notepad2 for a while and I love that it's lightweight and has syntax highlighting, I don't like the fact that it's a single-file editor and also lacks some more advanced features. I know it's purpose is to be a notepad replacement and not bloatware, but still, at the end of the day, I'm trying to edit files, and I don't want to think of which editor I need to use before I use it.
Well today, while looking at ConTEXT and trying to figure out how to use the templates, I thought I'd try typing the shortcut and hitting TAB. That didn't work, so my next option was Ctrl+J. Well, go figure! It worked. Obviously this guy had experience in Delphi. I then hit the About box and what would you know, it uses Jordan Russell's components and TSyncEdit for synxtax highlighting. Turns out it's a Delphi application. Turns out, it's also for sale
Visual Studio 2008 announced - 11/5/2007
At TechEd today Soma announced the release of VS 2008 in November. Cool!
Off to TechEd 2007 - 11/4/2007
I'm off to Barcelona for TechEd tomorrow. It's going to be a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends. The guys from Finalbuilder have flown over from Australia and I haven't seen Vincent and Tate for a long time. I have booth duty at the Ask the Experts stands on Tue/Wed and Thu. I'll be at the .NET Framework booths. If you're in the area, it would be great to meet up.
Switching tasks w/o the fluff - 11/4/2007
I never used Aero when I had Vista installed. I found it too flashy and not "agile". I also had a problem due to the limitations of my graphic card, not having enough memory when plugging in my external monitor, which is a 22" LCD. Since Aero uses the graphic card memory, it has limitations. In any case I think the whole Aero thing is just for show. I've used a couple of taskswitchers during XP times and wasn't too fond of any. I also purchased the StarDock pack but to be honest, it messes up your system. At least it did for me everytime I installed it. I have everything working right now and don't want to install crapware.
Yesterday I found TaskSwitchXP. It's awesome. It's lightweight (1MB memory footprint), is not bloatware and has just enough functionality. On top of that, it actually works and it's fast to work with. It has a sticky mode where you can show the list of windows and switch. Obviously it doesn't have live windows support, i.e. video showing while switching, but then again, who cares, it's a useless feature anyway. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like.
CodeRage Registration Fee? - 11/4/2007
I just saw that there's a registration fee for attending CodeRage II. I didn't attend CodeRage last year and I sure won't this year. One of the main advantages of a conference is to meet people and interact with your peers, apart from obviously attending any sessions that interest you. The whole concept of a virtual conference is not my peice of cake. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm sure it has many advantages, but it just doesn't excite me.
Most conferences that you speak at don't offer stipends. The deal is that they basically cover you travel expenses and give you free entrace (it works out more expensive to have to escort you to and from your session) so it works out great. If you like to speak and travel, it's a wonderful opportunity since you get to see new places and meet faces. With a virtual conference you don't get these advantages as a speaker. However, you also miss out on something more improtant: audience interaction. I personally love to interact with the audience. I like to see those I'm speaking to. I like to make sure nobody has fallen asleep and of course, I like to make a joke now and again and hear people cry in anguish (I publicly apologize to anyone ever having attended one of my sessions and have had to put up with my lame jokes). So, speaking at a virtual conference doesn't excite me. And I'm sure I'm not the only speaker that thinks alike. In fact talking to several of the speakers at the last EKON, they all came to the same conclusion.
This leaves me with the option of attending as a delegate. Last year, as I mentioned, I didn't attend, but I heard some good things about it. People said the sessions were good, the quality of the event was ok after some minor glitches they had the first few hours and overall it seemed it was a success. According to the reports, there were over 2.500 attendees (I assume not all at the same time). I decided to check out a few sessions this year and see how it worked. That won't be happening. Why? Because they want to charge a fee for the entrance of $150. Alternatively, if you are a registered user of one of their latest products, then you get to go for free.
Conferences that are primarily promoted or sponsored by one company, where the primary topics are the company's products, have to be viewed as a marketing expense. A conference that CodeGear puts on should not be about making a profit. It's about marketing, about promoting your product. It's about saying "hey look, we're here". During the BorCon years, Atozed used to be an exhibitor at the conferences. Other third-party vendors can attest to the expenses associated with that, specially in California, where rolling a carpet on the floor has to be done by specialized people at specialized rates. It was very expensive. However, it was an expense that although indirectly produced sales (we never sold enough copies on site to make up for the cost, not even close), it was a necessary one. It was about showing the community that Atozed was there, strong and would be there for a long time (and we still are, it's just that BorCon vanished). We never saw it as making a profit.
I think that one of the biggest mistakes Borland/CodeGear did was to stop doing the conferences. Putting on this virtual conference IMHO doesn't cut it. It doesn't cost them anything (except the bandwidth and the employee hours) and it's a no-risk deal. On top of that, now they want to charge entrance. This could mean one of two things: they still don't understand that a conference is a marketing expense, or it's a real cheap-shot at trying to get people to upgrade their product. Either way, it's wrong.
Despite having a registered and current product (we build Intraweb with a legal copy of Delphi and C++ Builder), I personally am not going to attend because I don't agree with their policy.
Updated RSS Feed to Feedburner - 11/2/2007
I've updated my RSS feeds to use FeedBurner. Here are the new links:
Back to the XP Part II - 10/28/2007
I feel liberated. I've moved back to XP and I'm a happy camper. Although I virtually pulled an all-nighter, which turned out even longer since the clock went back due to daylight saving, it was worth it.
I tried Vista with the first betas and the then RC's. I eventually installed it on my Fujitsu that shipped natively with XPSP2. I hated it. Gave me a lot of problems. I then purchased a new laptop that shipped with Vista Home Premium. I upgraded it to Ultimate (only thing I needed that home didn't come with was Remote Desktop). I still had a lot of problems, despite being a laptop "designed for Vista".
I've now moved back to XP and it runs SO MUCH FASTER, despite having the same setup, all the same startups, applications etc. And to be honest, I don't miss anything about Vista so far. Aero I never used so I'm not going to miss it at all. The only thing I did like was the fast search for starting apps, but Launchy replaced that. UAC is a relief to be without! And for search, nothing beats Google Desktop.
So unless something drastic happens I hopefully will be staying on XP for a long time.
A OS that has a 6GB footprint just on install...something is seriously wrong with it.