Presented by: David Intersimone and John Kaster

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jkaster:Erasmus: "What about Europe ?" - we now have a special offer for EMEA as well

jkaster:iplayfast: "the video shows you guys using delphi , what app should I use to see the webbroadcast of the same? I'm currently at chatjet.borland.com/chat" - Use Windows Media player to watch us live
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jkaster: CFHelpBuilder screen shots

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jkaster: Delphi Roadmap discusses CF plans

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jkaster: Excellent BDN article on CF development

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jkaster: CFBuildHelper install download

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jkaster: CFBuildHelper videos

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jkaster: MakeCFCompatible preprocessor

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jkaster: BDNTV on CF development

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jkaster: OpenNetCF.org

jkaster:iplayfast: "what is the executable size?" - 28K, IL code

jkaster:Erasmus: "Why the pause in the batch file ?" - david: so we can see the results of the compile

jkaster:bitlab: "can I use XML and HTML with CF?" - yes
jkaster: skype: "Does the CFBuilderHelper work with Borland C++ .Net ?" CFBuildHelper works with Delphi for .NET 2006

jkaster:LizR: "Will this work with the turbo pro?" - For Turbo Delphi.NET Professional, yes

jkaster:iplayfast: "will this work on the palm? or on the new linux/palm os?" - david: You need a compact framework compatible device, so if those are CF compatible, yes

jkaster:markh: "in the demo, were VCL.NET components used or are just .NET components supported?" - david: In the demo, we were just using .NET WinForm components, and some of the Delphi base classes

(Editor's note: Some of VCL.NET have already been ported to CF in Delphi 2006. Look into %ProgramFiles%\Borland\BDS\4.0\lib\cf to see the precompiled units, especially the Borland.Vcl.CFUtils and Borland.VclCF.Windows units look promising!)

jkaster:iplayfast: " regarding palm, I guess that would be mono from Novel to handle that on the palm/linux" - yes, that's what we expect as well

jkaster:Eneko: "Are the class helpers available on Delphi32 VCL?" - david: class helpers as a language construct is available in the compiler.

jkaster:Erasmus: "Class Helpers since which version of D ?" - john: pretty sure it was with Delphi 8, the first .NET release

jkaster:cprog: "Is the compact framework compiler available for delphi 2005 architech??? I see in the screen shot of jed-software that they use delphi 2005...:)" - david: we had a preview compiler that has expired. john: You must have the Delphi 2006, Turbo Delphi.NET 2006 compiler for CF development

jkaster:MarcoZ: "John and David, there is a Pocket PC for the blind available too that has the CF on it. WinForms applications do run on it, and are supported by the PDA screen reader. One important thing is that there is still a useful tab order. The TabIndex property is not supported, but the Z Order determins the order in which the TAB key moves through controls. Could you mention that?" - thanks, Marco!

jkaster:cprog: "jkaster, david: The preview for 2005 was expired:)" - yes, thanks for confirmation

jkaster:asisson: "can you demo database connections on CF?" - we will get one posted

(Editor's notes:

PocketCaddy uses the System.Data.DataSet class to persist data to local XML files. This data can either be entered on the PPC device, or on a PC based ECO admin app, with the device downloading the data from the PC via an ECO web service.

http://cc.borland.com/Item/23610

Yes you can. The easiest way to do this is use WebServices for remote DB access.

For native access there are a few solutions.

As soon as NDataStore is available, you can access a very fast database that can be hosted anywhere .NET runs, including compact devices.

There is SQL Server CE, but it usually is a pain synchronizing.

Sybase has iAnywhere with a very small footprint.

VistaDB has a fully managed .NET database that works in CF.

Of course there is always XML (one of the Class Helper demos shows you how to do this).

Note that for remote access, the device must have a permanent network connection (even for WebServices this comes in very handy) which (even in a wireless world) is not always the case.

There are more tips. Expect a BDN article on this in the future.)

jkaster:Karl-Otto: "Can I use SQL Mobile in a CF app built with BDS2006? Can I connect to a SQL Mobile database on the PC? MS have released SQL Mobile free on Windows so you can from VS 2005 apps connect to SQL Mobile dbs (.sdf)" - yes, you can do that with BDS 2006/Delphi.NET

jkaster:cprog: "Is delphi being ported to windows mobile? : - )" - david: You won't be able to use the IDE there, but applications already work

jkaster:cprog: "Couldn't the delphi detect the errors of the compact framework compiler and fix them automaticly?" - david: there's some things the compiler already does that makes it work better for CF, but this sounds more like the role of the preprocessor

jkaster:ilse: "on ppc toolbar defaults to bottom, on wince to top how do i get it on bottom too in wince?" - david: good question. We'll try to get the answer in the chat log

(Editor's notes:

This depends on the kind of Smart Device you are working on. Some have it on the top, others have it on the bottom. We have not yet found a way to move it.

I want to thank Jeroen Pluimers (who wrote the class helpers included with Jeremy's CFBuildHelper) for providing and/or verifying answers for this chat log. Jeroen does consulting for Delphi and Compact Framework development. You can reach Jeroen via http://www.pluimers.com.)

jkaster:cprog: "Is there documentation of how to write plugins like the one of jed's, for delphi available? thanks" - john: That's open tools API information

jkaster:iplayfast: "how do you change the icon for pocket pc apps. I've found I can change the icon looking from windows, but once it's on the pocket pc it's at the default" - more research for us. Thanks!

(Editor's notes:

Just do Project-Options-Application-LoadIcon, and it works fine with me. I have tried a 48x48 pixel icon at 32-bit color depth and they both work.)

jkaster:Erasmus: "With class helpers, override or overload methods ?" - john: "last one wins"

jkaster:Karl-Otto: "Can I create an ActiveSync Service Provider with BDS 2006? If I want to handle synchronization between a device and the PC? Have tried to google but haven't found very much info at all abotu ActiveSync Service Providers." - john: I'd look at OpenNetCF.org first for suggestions

jkaster:cprog: "I would liked to see broadcasted a "how to" of how to use ECO technology for advanced users, that will show how to interact between ECO and delphi code:) I think lot of people would be interested..." - noted. That will be in our next series

jkaster:Karl-Otto: "Are there conduits for Active Sync too? I've written a couple conduits for Palm OS." - john: yes

jkaster:mini: "i saw the modelling feature in the first session and wonder if you can have classes in *one* diagram if these classes reside in seperate files. If you have a separate file for each public class, like it's commonly done in Java, the separate diagramms don't show how the classes relate." - david: you can have classes in the same namespace. We'll research this and see if we can find a more detailed answer.

jkaster: skype: "Can I install Turbo Delphi Explorer and BDS2006 Architect on the same machine for using the Turbo Version during a delphi training?"not currently

jkaster:LesK: "If someone produced a MSIL to Win32/64 compiler would this provide the framework of dotnet with the security and speed of native executables?" - david: you'd have to convert the whole .NET runtime as well

jkaster:vanners: "w/ regards to the modelling qn: how to I get Win32 dev models onto the same diagram - matching namespaces?" - david: yes, namespace

jkaster:Nigel: "What are your options on Symbian Mobile solutions? Any place on the Delphi roadmap?" - david: Symbian has native interfaces for Java and C++. For native code, we'd have to have a chipset compiler for that Symbian device. We do provide solutions for Java with JME

jkaster:rshealer: "I really appreciate these sessions. Thank you. When you talk about ECO, please describe why this is a useful tool. I haven't spent the time to get a good understanding of its usefulness." - david: high productivity, model driven development, evolvable models and databases ...

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jkaster:Karl-Otto: "There's a company that are working on a CF .NET implementation for Series 60." - thanks for the info!
jkaster:Karl-Otto: "Red Five Labs, http://www.redfivelabs.com/" - thank you very much!
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jkaster thinks you should click "I am listening"
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jkaster:Erasmus: "My major non-upgrade reason - the help system. Comments ?" - david: we continue to work on the help. You can also link in older help files as well.

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jkaster: Delphi 7 help for BDS expert

jkaster:vanners: "Last time I tried CF dev (MSVS) I ran out of resources for the mobile device - what are the limits for controls on a CF form?" - john: Here's a link I found discussing some mobile device limits

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jkaster:LizR: "will you ever be considering issuing help updates like you do ide updates?" - david: We're continuing to look at updates for the help

jkaster:vanners: "At work I am fighting with management over keeping Delphi - they fear that when the Development group is spun off the new parent company may eventually drop Delphi - what assurances can I give them that Delphi isn't disappearing any time soon?" - david: We're absolutely not dropping Delphi. If you need me to talk to your management, or Nick Hodges to talk to your management, just call or email us and we'll do it. Delphi is a key part of our revenue stream for DTG around the world.

jkaster:MagF: "Is there any paper with good arguments for convincing managers to stay put with Delphi?" - david: The product roadmap is a very good "paper" that shows Delphi for the next 3 years at least.
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jkaster: The product roadmap

jkaster:MagF: "Is there a list of companies that use Delphi, and known applications written in Delphi? That would make managers feel more safe I guess." - david: You can look for our technology partners
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jkaster: Good Quality Applications Built With Delphi

jkaster:Iaacov: "Can you commit on BCB as well?" - david: it's on the roadmap, and new features are in BCB 2006 ...
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jkaster:jfriedber: "There are a lot of great paradox apps out there that have no future; why not provide an upgrade path for them into Delphi?" - email us details and we'll see what we can do about them

jkaster:vanners: "Is there any decision about adding other languages into BDS - Python etc.?" - david: we've built the IDE to support it. john: we have interest, but no decisions on additional languages

jkaster:cprog: "As said by ismaile the products are wonderful, but I think the borland and turboexplorer websites needs a redesign..." - david: we agree. john: it will happen

jkaster: thanks, everyone. bye!

For more information on Delphi 2006 (Borland Developer Studio 2006), see the Delphi Home Page, and the Delphi community on BDN.

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