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21 – RemObjects


Data Abstract

RemObjects SDK

AnyDAC

Hydra
RemObjects Product Line

In this episode I talk to RemObjects’ marc hoffman (Chief Architect) and Mike Orriss (General Project Manager) about their product offerings.  You can follow them in the RemObjects Blog, or marc and Mike are both on Twitter.  You may recognize marc as a fairly regular guest on the podcast, and Mike is actually the keeper of the RemObjects Wiki’s, so you may know him from there.

I was surprised to learn that most all of their products are for both .NET and Delphi native, with some also being available for the Mac (Objective-C).  So if you are looking for some cross platform solutions then they appear to be the guys to talk to.  In fact, their Hydra is specifically for combining Delphi native and .NET into a single solution.

At the end of the podcast marc wanted to come up with some sort of deal for our listeners.  I think the end result is pretty cool, and gives any listener a chance to win their choice of products.  All you need to do is download one of their trials and check it out.  Then write about your experiences in your blog or on your website and leave a comment here linking to it by the end of February.

Then one entry will be selected at random to receive a free copy of whatever they reviewed.  This is a great opportunity to try out their products and possibly get one for free.  You can choose from Data Abstract, the RemObjects SDK, AnyDAC and Hydra.

Your experiences should be honest.  A positive or negative review will not influence your chances of winning.

On a side note I just love all of RemObjects product icons and art work.  I should have asked them who does their art work.  Check out their product wallpapers.  My favorite is the Delphi Prism one that looks like the Pink Floyd album cover.

Update: RemObjects just published their Software ROadmap 2009 v1.

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The Delphi Tour Groupie

I guess you could say I am a bit of a Delphi groupie, especially for tours and events . . . . The new Delphi 2009 Productivity Tour reminds me of the Delphi 6 Release Tour.

The nearest tour stop for the Delphi 6 tour was in Salt Lake City, Utah and I lived in Boise, Idaho (I live on the northern Washington coast now.)  So a friend of mine and I took the day off of work and left really early to drive down to Salt Lake City (about 5 hours away).  We made it in by 10 AM for the start of the presentation.

Anders Ohlsson

This was the first time I met Anders Ohlsson.  It was extra memorable because the airlines lost his luggage and presentation laptop so he was in sweat pants, a T-shirt and on a laptop that didn’t work right with the projector (couldn’t show on the projector and the screen at the same time, so he had to keep looking over his shoulder.)  It was still a great presentation. Of course we couldn’t get enough so we took Anders to lunch and grilled him with some more questions.  He ended up helping us with some tough problems we had with our current development and saved us a lot of headaches.  As far as I know that company still uses the framework he helped us develop over lunch.  It was a good investment.  Maybe I should have expensesed it. . . .

We found out Anders was presenting at the users group that night too, so we stuck around for that in hopes we would win a copy of Delphi 6.  We didn’t win Delphi, but I was glad I we stuck around anyway since I won a cool Delphi hat that I still own.  It says “Delphi does it all, especially Windows.”   We decided not to stick around for the after meeting party since we had to work the next day.

My friend was going to trade off on the drive home so I could get some sleep too, but that was when he discovered he couldn’t drive a stick.  That ended up being OK because we discovered Mountain Dew Code Red (a new flavor at the time) for the trip home.  I believe my friend said it tasted like “Manna from Heaven.”  Not sure he had a reliable frame of reference, but it was amusing none the less.

Hopefully the Delphi 2009 Productivity Tour is stoping in a city near you.  If not, then it sounds like a good chance for a road trip!  Be sure to register for all the events you plan on attending.  Remember, the price of airfare is actually down right now, and flying across the country is a great way to support the economy!

Who knows, maybe I will see you there . . . .

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Refactor My Delphi Code

I recently discovered the fascinating site Refactor My Code where software developers can collaborate on the evolution of a piece of code. Well, thanks to the work of Marc-André Cournoyer it now has a section for Delphi code refactorings.

They are using Ruby’s Ultraviolet syntax highlighter, which has a Pascal syntax. Based on preliminary tests it appears to work correctly.  Let me know if you encounter any thing that doesn’t get highlighted correctly and we can work to correct it.

I’ll be posting code snippits and looking to help refactor yours!

20 – Introducing Delphi Live 2009

In this episode we talk to Olaf Monien about the upcoming DelphiLive 2009 conference, just announced on Thursday the 22nd, 2009. The conference is organized by Software & Support Verlag, the usual sponsors of the German Delphi conference EKON.

  • Where: San Jose, CA, USA
  • When: May 13th – 16th 2009
  • Who: All Delphi developers, let it be Delphi Win 32, Delphi Prism or Delphi for PHP ones.

Stay tuned here and Olaf’s blog for more information as it develops.

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Lino Tadros’ Gift of Life

Previous Delphi community member Lino Tadros lives after his heart stopped and came out of a stroke induced comma on Christmas day. He is home and recovering now.

After you read his post and wish him well, tell someone who is special to you that you love them and count your blessings.  I know too many people who have lost a loved one in an instant like that before.  Count your blessings today, give thanks to God, and remember what is important.  As much fun as Delphi development is, take a break and hold your kids, hug your spouse, call your mom, etc.  Delphi will only get better why you are away.

The fact the sun rose this morning and I am still breathing is a great miracle.  The rest is beyond belief.

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More Questions for Nick Hodges

I wanted to get Nick on another episode to answer some questions about 64-bit Delphi.  I always figure a little straight talk can clear up a lot of confusion.  Unfortunately that didn’t work out again.  Instead though, you can post your questions for Nick’s interview on Friday for the 47 Hats podcast.  Questions you leave here will not be passed on, so be sure you leave them on Facebook.  If you don’t have a Facebook account you can leave your question and a request for me to post it for you and I will see what I can do.

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Now iPod Touch & iPhone Ready!

Thanks to Holger Flick for letting me know that our podcast is now iPod Touch/iPhone ready! I don’t have an iPod Touch or iPhone (yet), so I wasn’t even aware this was a problem. Since I haven’t changed anything then I assume this is a new feature of CyberEars, who provides the hosting for my podcast and feed.

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Looking for a Delphi Syntax for TextMate

I exchanged emails with Marc-André Cournoyer of RefactorMyCode.com about supporting Delphi on his site. Since his site uses Ruby’s UltraViolet to do syntax highlighting, and it uses TextMate syntaxes, he needs a Delphi syntax for TextMate. Turns out it has a Pascal syntax already, so it is 90% of the way there.

Does anyone know where I might find one that has already been updated for Delphi? A Delphi Prism / Oxygene one would be great too!

[Cross-posted to StackOverflow & CodeGear Forums]

19 – Delphi Prism Q&A

Olaf Monien, marc hoffman and I answer your questions on Delphi Prism.

I was going to make this a shorter episode, but with marc showing up late we ended up running a little long.

  • DPack for Delphi key bindings in Visual Studio (great for Delphi Prism)
  • SqlMetal command-line tool generates code and mapping for the LINQ to SQL component of the .NET Framework.
  • Visual Studio Express for C# – If you need to edit and compile some C# and don’t want to use the free command-line compiler.

Also, if you were one of the first people to download after I uploaded then you may have the wrong version. Something got skewed during the upload. Special thanks to my wife for recording the intro and outro for me on this episode!

Delphi Prism / Oxygene Questions

Monday’s podcast will feature an interview with RemObject‘s marc hoffman.  Delphi Prism has been released, and it is powered by the RemObjects Oxygene compiler.   If you have any questions about the Oxygene Compiler then this is your opportunity to ask them of marc, as he is the Chief Software Architect for RemObjects.

Please, leave your questions in the box below, and I will cover what I can with marc.  Remember, keep your questions focused on Oxygene and RemObjects as marc won’t be able to answer questions on behalf of CodeGear or Embarcadero.