[2939] in comp.os.os2.announce archive
SOFTWARE: Free Delphi VCL upgrade for Virtual Pascal/2 available
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Allan Mertner)
Sat May 24 19:17:34 1997
To: os2ann.DISCUSS@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Date: 24 May 1997 23:11:06 GMT
From: mertner@ibm.net (Allan Mertner)
Reply-To: mertner@ibm.net (Allan Mertner)
Reply-to: mertner@ibm.net (Allan Mertner)
[Followups directed to comp.os.os2.programmer.tools]
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fPrint (UK) Ltd have enhanced Virtual Pascal for OS/2 to include most of the
language features found in Borland Delphi v2, and made changes to the Delphi
Visual Component Library source code to allow programs written using Delphi
under Windows to be recompiled as native 32-bit OS/2 applications. The
built-in linker automatically converts the 16- or 32-bit Windows resources to
OS/2 format, and none or very few changes are required to make Delphi programs
run in OS/2.
A freely available archive containing the required files for all existing
users of VP/2 is available on our FTP site; details are at the bottom of this
mail.
A few comments are required, however. For implementing Delphi and VCL
compatibility, we have relied on IBM's Open32/Dapie/DAX library, which
emulates a subset of the Win32 API and - according to IBM - allows developers
to quickly port their Windows applications to OS/2. Regretfully, the Open32
library as it currently stands (Warp 3 w/FP28) is unstable, limited in
functionality, and very slow. Timing tests suggest that applications using
Open32 are about 5-15 times slower than their native Windows counterparts.
For this reason, fPrint has suspended further development of the Delphi
compatible version of Virtual Pascal for OS/2, and instead release this
archive as a downloadable upgrade to all existing users of VP/2. If you can
find a use for it, at least our work has not all been wasted! The updated
compiler, linker and RTL allows you to recompile your Delphi programs to OS/2,
where they will run as native applications. Or walk, rather.
The VCL units supported are Forms, Controls, Graphics, Menus, StdCtrls,
ExtCtrls, Dialogs, FileCtrl, Grids, Tabs, Mask, Clipbrd, Printers, Outline and
Buttons. The most notable missing unit is CommCtrl, which defines all the
Win32-specific controls - alas, Open32 does not support any of these and
probably will never do so. "Close16" was suggested as a better name by a
beta tester of the package :-)
Last, we of course welcome comments, suggestions and criticism as usual. We
are most interested to hear about any (compiler) bugs you find, and whether
you actually manage to use it for something useful!
The archive, vpvcl1.zip, 800kB can be found at
ftp://ftp.fprint.co.uk/fprint/vpascal. To install it, you need the VP/2 and a
Borland Delphi v2 CD-ROM.
Yours,
Allan Mertner
fPrint Development, vpascal@ibm.net
PGP Public Key Fingerprint = 97 05 61 F4 D5 03 25 77 C1 3A 19 50 F1 6D 0F 0D
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