Delphi for Win32 - Part 6 (24 Hours with Delphi)

Well, the following are just a few initial notes that I've been keeping on a text file as I go: I'll probably update this post later to better reformat it and maybe add some explanation, but right now is baby bath time... :)

Please note that the following are mostly the "nuisances" that I come across. There's plenty good things and I'll be blogging about those later!

Minor issues:

1) One of the steps in the registration dialog show incorrectly at 120 DPI (my laptop's default setting);

2) Some standard toolbars, sometimes, show a bit taller than the other toolbars (when Windows XP is set to use Themes and not sure if it has something to do with using Large Icons);

3) The Personality toolbar shows by default, even though it's empty;

4) They could have changed the BDS File and BDS Folder icons in BDS.EXE (not to speak of the main .EXE icon!); changing BDS.EXE to something else would probably break something, but they could have done it anyway and simply add a BDS.EXE stub to load the main new RAD...

5) BDSUSERDIR is set to "RAD Studio\5.0" inside My Documents but there's no such folder: there's a "RAD Studio\Projects" and "RAD Studio\code_templates".

6) Why does it insist in cluttering "My Documents" with a "Visual Studio 2005" folder *each* time I run BDS?? [EDIT: It's not every time I run the BDS, only every time I use the Help.]

7) Why not ship a more recent GDIPLUS.DLL with the product? Since I don't know which one it's being used by the integrated browser, it's better safe than sorry... (I did replace the supplied "5.1.3102.1360 (xpsp2.040109-1800)" with a newer "6.0.3275.0" and it appears to be working ok).

8) "Help make Visual Studio Better" prompt. Why? It kind of detracts (regardless of the actual reason), when a RAD selling company advertises another, even if indirectly. Should I make the move to Microsoft and stop using CodeGear products, is that the message that you're trying to convey here? Does not look good...

9) The number of different project files! Which one do I open? Minor nuisance as I simply add my "work" projects to the favorites and open from there...

Important issues:

1) Non-breaking release: well, sort of. Since they changed install folder and reg keys, any IDE/3rd party component that does not recognize the new paths/keys will not install.

2) Less choices: defaults to installing Office XP automation components and since only XP or 2000 can be registered at any one time, and I use some tools that require version 2000, I had to manually unregister one and register the other.

3) More stable: hmmm. Is it? How come I got an "Access Violation" when trying to add a new package (having only remove and installed the previously mentioned one)? And how come it doesn't show on TaskManager's Application List and only on Process list? (Yes, you're guessing it right: I had to *forcefully* terminate it! And mind you that I had previously cleaned my PC of BDS 2006 and even manually removed some registry/folder left overs, plus the mandatory reboot, so it was pretty much clean of any leftovers...)
Update: No such error after installing on a "clean" Windows XP + Office 2003 only installation.

4) Even more stable? How come I got *another* different exception after restarting the IDE and trying to load my current project? :( Again, not anymore on a "clean" system.

5) The "shiny brand new MSBUILD": What about some examples instead of simply describing the options? Being a new feature would not hurt to have some examples! Also, the help mentions "pre-build", "pre-link" and "post-build" stages: only the 1st and last are available in Delphi...

[Edit: and a few more...]
6) When making my first build event, I came upon the following, which I consider wrong, behaviour:
- Added a command;
- Made a Build;
- There is a message in the output pane saying something like: "[Exec Error] The command "...." exited with code 1.
- In the post-build events, the option to "cancel build on error" is set to true.
So, how come it considers the build sucessfull?

7) When exploring with the post build events, I managed to get to a point where I was consistently locking the IDE! Had to end-task it. Then, after changing the events it started building, and I was no longer able to reproduce that behavior...

Stay tunned for some positive feedback after the baby's bath... :)