The Code Cave

May 9, 2007

Delphi for PHP Update 1 Hits the streets

Filed under: Delphi for PHP — Brian @ 12:57 pm

OK folks, the long awaited update has been released from beta testing.

You can get it yourself right here: http://dn.codegear.com/article/36406

There are some good fixes in this.  The big one for most folks will be the input filter fix.  For many the UTF-8 cleanup will be a god send.  Deployment tweaks are included too.

In fact here’s the complete list:

  • Fix to the IDE to ensure correct storage of UTF-8 strings in the .xml.php
  • Fix to VCL for PHP to parse .xml.php in UTF-8 mode
  • Save Project As… fixed (QC 43580)
  • Updated sourcecode documentation for the VCL
  • Fixed problem with PHP 5.2.1. The Input Filter extension is out of beta and function for filter data was changed to a new name, so Input object now takes that into account (QC 43607)
  • Fixed problem with vcl-bin folder. The alias is set to be a root alias, making it easier to configure on deployment
  • Added global var to specify if properties are html_decoded when read from the .xml.php
  • Corrected support phone list .txt file

Enjoy!

April 3, 2007

How to have a central VCL for PHP location for all your websites

Filed under: Delphi for PHP, PHP — Brian @ 12:52 am

I have a number of sites that on which I want to use the VCL for PHP library components with Delphi for PHP creations.  I don’t want to waste uneeded space for a bazillion copies of the VCL.  As far as that goes, I don’t want to have to sit through the deployment wizard every time either.

You could edit PHP.ini and add the location to your include path, but the VCL for PHP is MORE than just a textual code libary.  It includes image files as well, for things like the dropdown arrow in the combo boxes.

 So what’s a person to do?  Well, it’s simple.  Create some symbolic links!

Just put the VCL in your root directory or at least one that can be accessed with a common path from the your website directories.  I use the root since I can use ~ to get at it easily on linux.  It could just as easily be /usr/local/lib/vcl or d:\VCL.  Then in your directories you just put two symbolic links, one named vcl and the other named vcl-bin. Both pointing to the vcl directory you made.

Here’s the step by step for *nix systems:

  1. Upload the whole VCL folder to the root web directory
  2. Telnet/ssh into the account
  3. Change to the directory for your website
  4. Run these two commands
    1. ln ~/vcl
    2. ln ~/vcl vcl-bin
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all of your sites.
  6. When you deploy, just grab the files in your project directory and upload them.  No worrying about the VCL any more.  You should be able to make a batch file that does that step!

That’s it (oh and just in case your font makes “ln” hard to readand that is a lower case “LN” as in link.)

 On Windows, you should be able to do the same thing.  If you have Vista you have native support for symbolic links.  And in XP, you can use NTFS links.  But I’ll leave it up to you to look up those technologies.  With that sort of thing, if you aren’t able to find and digest how to do it, you’re probably better off just using the deploy tool.

 Hope this helps someone!  It’s made my life a little easier.

Windows Implementation

Kevin Berry came up with this windows implementation:

For my Windows 2000 webserver, which I have total acces to, below is how I followed Brian Layman’s advice to made this work.

1. Downloaded linkmagic.exe from
http://users.pandora.be/jbranders/linkmagic.exe

2. Ran linkmagic.exe (setup program) on my webserver.

3. Launched Junction Link Magic program.

4. Created empty “vcl” folder in my clock project folder in my webserver root (c:\web\htdocs\clock\vcl) and selected this vcl folder as my junction folder.

5. Selected my true vcl folder loaded with vcl files as my destination folder (c:\web\vcl)

6. Clicked “create” button

Now my D4PHP clock sample program runs just fine in c:\web\htdocs\clock with only one main vcl installation on my webserver.

I suppose I could use the Junction Link Magic program to create new vcl junction folders in other vcl project subfolders on my webserver, but I discovered that once the first vcl junction folder is created, I can create more of these just by copying an existing vcl junction folder into a new project folder and choosing cancel when the file overwrite prompt appears. If I delete a vcl junction point folder, the real folder and its files don’t get deleted.

I for one don’t want different versions of my vcl all over my webserver in different folders (assuming I’ll have lots of web projects someday). For me it’s just simplest knowing the latest and greatest vcl library is always in one spot on my web server.

I don’t know if one could duplicate the directory structure of a windows hosted web from a remote server on one’s own computer to create the junction folder and then ftp that junction folder out to the remote server and preserve the redirection. If so, that would be great.

For my webserver, this is pretty nifty, Thanks again to Brian for the workaround until Codegear/Qadram figure out what I hope to be a better vcl deployment method.

Alternative Solution

David Plock also suggested another methot that uses a VCL-BIN alias. Jose Leon Serna provided the final fix to get this working. Kevin has done a great job of writing up these steps as well:

c:\web\htdocs and I wanted my VCL folder outside the root, so I made c:\web\vcl.

2. In my Apache httpd.conf file, I added the following alias line and directory permissions. For now, I just copied the permissions the icon
folder uses a few lines up. Anyone more enlightened is welcome to suggest a more appropriate permission set for the vcl folder. And of course, if you
put your vcl folder inside your web server’s root directory, you can skip the directory permissions.

Alias /vcl-bin “c:/web/vcl”


Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

3. In my php.ini file I added the following so that php will know in which folder to find the vcl folder.

include_path = “.;c:\web”

If I had dropped my vcl folder into my root directory on my webserver, the entry would have been:

include_path = “.;c:\web\htdocs”

4. Jose added the final piece to make this work. In my vcl.inc.php file I modified a line so that the alias name gets passed properly to my webserver. The line that mentions vcl-bin needs a forward slash in front of vcl-bin so the final line appears like this:

if (!array_key_exists(’FOR_PREVIEW’,$_SERVER)) $http_path=’/vcl-bin’;

5. Make sure all configuration file changes above are saved and then restart the webserver.

Now you can drop D4PHP projects in any subfolders or even subfolders of subfolders of your root directory on your webserver and they work.

The nice thing about this solution in addition to it being a single vcl deployment is that it seems to me any web hoster can implement it once for
the entire web server and any subscribers can simply ftp D4PHP web files to their own folders on the server and they’ll work.

Thanks Brian, David, and Jose for two ways to make a single vcl deployment work!!!

If you want to see this solution in action, you can visit these links (on my slow webserver) for as long as my internet service provider leaves my ip address alone. The vcl folder is outside the web root and only clock.php, clock.xml.php, and background.gif are in each of these folders.

http://24.2.90.16/clock.php
http://24.2.90.16/clock/clock.php
http://24.2.90.16/clock/clock/clock.php
http://24.2.90.16/clock/clock/clock/clock.php

There you are. Two different methods proven successful in the field! Enjoy!

April 2, 2007

VCL 4 PHP source code has been checked into SourceForge

Filed under: Delphi for PHP — Brian @ 4:56 pm

Here you go:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=189419

 Anyone care to do a check out and file compare to see what changes there are?

April 1, 2007

Wahoo! I did it! The last part of a WP-DB.PHP for Interbase/Firebird

Filed under: Delphi for PHP, Firebird, Interbase — Brian @ 9:10 pm

I knew 9 years of IB/FB experience would come in handy.

wp-db is the mini database abstraction layer for WordPress. It allows you to run WordPress on various database. Right now MySQL is pretty much it, but some folks have been doing a PostgreSQL version as well. 

Well, I wanted it to connect to an Interbase db for the .TEXT blog conversion I’ve been doing.  I’m not going to run WordPress off of Interbase yet, but it simplified the import for me to use WP-DB for my database import connection.

It’s interesting to note that I’ve come to the point where the other editors that I’ve been using for PHP code just don’t feel right anymore. Delphi for PHP just feels better now for editing.  I wasn’t doing any visual designing in it, but it was still a nice quick editor with the additional help of hints and parameters.  Maybe if I had Zend, I would stick with that for non visual stuff, if I were used to it, I don’t know.  I don’t have it.  I tried it once and found it too bulky for my needs.  D4PHP with all of the design boxes closed, still feels light and has a quick open time.

Anyway, most of the conversion was pretty easy. I just had to substitute ibase_ php calls for mysql_ calls.  I had to add a little cleanup for handling of empty strings and quotes and some reserved IB words like type, role, password, and etc.  But the really problem was that WordPress relies heavily on the InsertID feature that many databases have.  It returns the last value of the autoinc field in the table referenced by the last insert command.  IB/FB has no equivelent.  PHP documentation did not indicate any solution was provided. And all of the database abstration layers out there don’t support it either.

So, I’ve done a work around.  It is possibly not 100% accurate for all databases configurations out there, but it should work for WordPress and .TEXT. 

See, the trick was to find the primary key for the table you are working on.  So, first  I had to find what table I was working.  I had the SQL INSERT statement, so all I needed to do was find the table name after the words “INSERT INTO “.  Fine.  There are a bunch of ways to do that.

Next, armed with the table name, I had to find the primary key.  How do I do that with just the commands available to PHP?  That was the tricky part. 

Luckily, IB/FB is a relational database.  That in short means the tables are all stored in bits and pieces throughout the database table and then linked back together according to the structure information stored in “hidden” tables.

The long and short of it is that this statement will give you what is needed:

PLAIN TEXT
SQL:
  1. SELECT RDB$RELATION_CONSTRAINTS.RDB$RELATION_NAME, RDB$INDEX_SEGMENTS.RDB$FIELD_NAME, RDB$INDEX_SEGMENTS.RDB$FIELD_POSITION
  2. FROM RDB$RELATION_CONSTRAINTS, RDB$INDEX_SEGMENTS
  3. WHERE
  4. RDB$RELATION_CONSTRAINTS.RDB$CONSTRAINT_TYPE = ‘PRIMARY KEY’ AND
  5. RDB$INDEX_SEGMENTS.RDB$INDEX_NAME=RDB$RELATION_CONSTRAINTS.RDB$INDEX_NAME
  6. ORDER BY RDB$RELATION_CONSTRAINTS.RDB$RELATION_NAME, RDB$INDEX_SEGMENTS.RDB$FIELD_POSITION

In WordPress and .TEXT every AutoInc field I looked at was the first field in the table.  So, now armed with the table name, and autoinc field, it is a simple query to get the highest value, which should be the most recent insert unless there’s been some kind of corruption.

So that’s just a select Max(fieldname) from tablename statment and I return the value I’ve found in field one  (handling an empty result set of course). 

 Hey - It’s not pretty, but it should work 100% of the time for my uses.  If it does, I’ll submit it to ADOdb and see what they think.  Since ADOdb is a core part of the Delphi for PHP project, I might get my little bit of code included!  Actually, I hope to contribute to the VCL for PHP long before then.

 OK, everyone’s eyes have glazed over but it’s still pretty cool honest!

Some basic PHP calls for use in Delphi for PHP or pure PHP

Filed under: Delphi for PHP — Brian @ 6:33 pm

I was doing some coding today and couldn’t find some routines I’ve used often in the past.  Since I had to search for them, obeying my rule, they get posted here.  Maybe they can be of use to others.  These are examples I’ve written and once I’ve collected and customized.  I’ve not put comments in most of these routines, sorry.

(THIS IS A LIVING POST AND WILL CHANGE PERIODICALY AS I DIG UP OTHER COMMON ROUTINES)

Clean an array of all vulnerabilities:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. function strip_and_slash_deep($value) {
  2. return is_array($value) ?
  3. array_map(’strip_and_slash_deep’, $value) :
  4. strip_tags($value);
  5. addslashes($value);
  6. }

Use:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. $protected_post_vars = array();
  2.  
  3. $protected_post_vars = strip_and_slash_deep($_POST);

My print_r replacement to print an array in full depth:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. function print_array($array)  {
  2. if (is_array($array))
  3. {
  4. reset($array);
  5. while (list($key, $val) = each($array))
  6. {
  7. if (is_array($val))
  8. {
  9. while (list($akey,$aval) = each($val))
  10. {
  11. $array[$key][$akey] = strip_tags($aval);
  12. echo “Array: “.$key . “=” . htmlspecialchars($array[$key][$akey]).“<br/>”;
  13. }
  14. }
  15. else
  16. {
  17. $array[$key] = strip_tags($val);
  18. echo “Val: “ .$key . “=” . htmlspecialchars($array[$key]).“<br/>”;
  19. }
  20. }
  21. }
  22. else print($array);
  23. }

Basic structure for using PHP to connect to an interbase or firebird database:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. function ib_execsql ($sql) {
  2. $aresult = array();
  3. $fulldbpath = “localhost:d:\blah.gdb”;
  4. $username = “sysdba”;
  5. $password = “masterkey”;
  6. $ib = ibase_connect ($fulldbpath, $username, $password,‘NONE’, ‘100′, ‘1′);
  7. if ($ib===false) echo “No Connection”;
  8. $result = @ibase_query ($ib, $sql);
  9. if ($result===false) echo “<hr/>Error ‘”.ibase_errmsg().“‘ while executing ‘”. $sql.“‘<hr/>”;
  10. while ($row = ibase_fetch_row ($result)) $aresult[] = $row;
  11. ibase_close ($ib);
  12. return $aresult;
  13. }

use:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. $array = ib_execsql(“select * from whatever”);
  2. print_array($array);

Run a single query across many databases on the same MySQL server:

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. function execdbsql ($databasename) {
  2. $link = mysql_connect(‘SERVERNAME’, “USER”, “PASS”);
  3. if (!$link) {
  4. die(‘Could not connect: ‘ . mysql_error());
  5. }
  6.  
  7. mysql_select_db ( $databasename );
  8.  
  9. $result = mysql_query(‘SELECT  desiredfield FROM tablename where field="keyvalue"’);
  10.  
  11. if (!$result) {
  12. return;  // Don’t error out just skip this database.
  13. }
  14.  
  15. echo mysql_result($result, 0).“<br/>”;
  16.  
  17. mysql_close($link);
  18. }
  19.  
  20. echo “Values:<br/>”;
  21.  
  22. execdbsql (‘firstdb’);
  23.  
  24. execdbsql (’seconddb’);
  25.  
  26. execdbsql (‘thirddb’);

March 30, 2007

Is Delphi for PHP better than Delphi 1.0?

Filed under: Delphi, Delphi for PHP — Brian @ 8:17 pm

Eric Wilms of WilmSoft.com left a comment on an ealier post.  My reply was way to long for a comment, so I’ve turned it into a post.  Then I can get other people’s feedback.  I’ve found people rarely ever read the comments here since most of my posts show in full on the front page…

Let’s catch you up on the story so far…

Eric wrote:

I’ve got the first release of Delphi 4 PHP… I have to say I’m VERY disapointed… I’m a Delphi code since Delphi 1 and PHP programer since 1998 and the thought of a Delphi for PHP was a dream come true. However, I can’t not get it to run any “app” on my Hosted server. The code runs fine on my local machine but, that’s not where my web sites are hosted. I HAD to upgrade to PHP 5.X.X.X in order to even get anywhere on a simple Hello World. I have no issue with that execpt it’s not really mentioned anywhere in the specs… Also, I was completely dumbfounded to find that there was NO FTP built in to Delphi 4 PHP… Come on guyes! You have to “delploy” you project (which puts all the files you’ll need together in one spot then open up your favorite FTP program and copy them to where you want it…. So, that means a simple change is not a click of a button away to update… you have to click deploy and about four “next” buttons to have it “deploy” THEN open your FTP and copy the files to the server…. That is a Joke.

Just calling it Delphi and hoping it will change the way things are done (Like Delphi ONE did) will not change the way things are done. I’m back to hand coding in my Favorite PHP editor. At least when I hit save, it saves it via FTP back to the server it came from….

I wish I could get my money back… :(

To which I said: 

Well, I do understand where you are coming from.

But I can’t say that either of those two things were not issues for me. I usually use PHP 4, but php 5 was always there for me to enable with a simple .htaccess change. Your past that anyway.

As for the FTP setup, I agree that would be nice too, but I don’t need it either as I use the old Novell add on util NetDrive ( abandonware publicly distributed for free to students) to make my debian webserver’s root drive X: on all of my machines, even my laptop. There are a bazillion instruction pages at colleges and elsewhere explaining how to use it, but I really don’t think you need it. Here’s one set http://www.loyola.edu/5555/netdrive/installingnetdrive/

I know lots of people use similar solutions so that their FTP account is just a drive letter on their windows sever.   Maybe it will help the transition for you… The public goal for Delphi for PHP v1.0 was always a Delphi 1 level of ability. It’s surpassed Delphi 1 in MANY, MANY ways, but I can’t deny there are some rough spots that require attention.

And Eric wrote back (OK this is the last quote):

I’m curious (and a die hard Borland….er ahem… Code Gear fan) what do you see as: “It’s surpassed Delphi 1 in MANY, MANY ways, ”

Because for me and Delphi one (coming from VB) was I Dropped down a button, a label and pressed F9. Bam! done… And every thing from “hello world” to middle-ware client server app doing OLE (or what ever) was just as hard (or simple).

I Dropped down a Calendar in D4PHP, do the deploy, copy the files to my server and I get: “Warning: require_once(vcl/jscalendar/calendar.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/wilmsoft/public_html/delphi/vcl/vcl.inc.php on line 127″

Is that a rough spot? Do I really have to dig in to the source code to figure out what’s missing the vcl.inc.php file?

I hear what your saying about the FTP and figured that would be the general response. But, I’m a contract programmer. I never am “on the server”. I almost always am on someones remote server where I don’t have access to a simple .ini file. I can’t use this tool and make money as it is today. I made money DAY ONE with Delphi One. No telling the customer oh, I’m glad you hired me to fix such and such but, I need you to now use change your infrastructure so my tools work.

I thought (or hoped) that the code gear spin off would start to focus (again) on the little guy writing code not the corporations… and I do see that trend and felt like I need to preorder D4PHP. But, Code Gear bought Delphi 4 php and I think it’s going to take a few releases to get it where they want it. Version one is not there yet. I wish I would have waited for the demo before I put down my money….

And this may not be the place for this conversation but, I couldn’t find any place on Code Gear’s site to vent. I am interested in other peoples view on this potentially awesome product.

So there we are.  This is my reply… 

Well, first off, “How does Delphi for PHP surpass the Delphi 1.0 feature set?”  I’m not going to be able to give you a exhaustive list in without giving it more serious thought, but I can rattle off a quick ten ways Delphi for PHP is improved over Delphi 1.0:

  1. Code completion springs instantly to mind.  Delphi for PHP’s use of code completion is hindered compared to current Delphi versions because PHP is not a strongly typed language.  But, there was nothing to compare to it in Delphi 1 AFAIR.
  2. Datamodules are another addition.  They were introduced in d3, I believe, and take the clutter off of your design forms and allow you to share the database structure across various forms.
  3. If you deployed BDE apps in D1, you should remember that the end user had , until the setup programs caught up. That’s handled for you, though here too there are technical difficulties on the D4PHP side.  So perhaps this one is  a wash…
  4. The Code explorer didn’t exist in Delphi 1.  You couldn’t easily go between unit and unit.  As far as that goes I don’t think Ctrl-Enter worked to open the unit from the uses list either.
  5. Project Groups have been added allowing you to have several projects on a single website.
  6. There are numerous more advanced controls in the tool pallette AND a way for the community to have input and an affect on the behavior of these controls.
  7. The applications you produce are themed, that certainly wasn’t the case in Delphi 1.  Delphi 1 apps didn’t even minimize in quite the same fashion as other Windows Apps.  Because of TApplication IIRC, your main form wasn’t REALLY your main form and you had this double minimize thing going on.
  8. The Data Explorer and all of its numerous features certainly didn’t exist.
  9. Internationalization (I18N) was in its infancy in Delphi 1 days.
  10. Pinning, expansion and restoring of the debug & development “windows” in the IDE allow you to have a much more dynamic IDE than was ever possible in D1.

I’m sure there are plenty of other things to add and the list can be debated, but if you install Delphi 1 again, you might be surprised at the feel of it compared to what we have in today’s delphi.  I was when I did just that last year.

Now I do agree that saying that Delphi for PHP had “Rough Spots” might be a bit rosey.  I also agree that Delphi for PHP could have baked for another month in the oven.  If it would leave a better taste in everyone’s mouth after the first bite.  But if you have more than a day to look at this stuff, you find that there really is some worth here, but it is a paradigm shift that takes some getting used to.   Somethings work really well and somethings… not so much.  D1 was not much different if you got in early enough.  The whole concept of design time libaries and run time libraries and deploying artificially thin EXEs had everyone pulling their hair out for a while. 

With Delphi for PHP, there’s another hurtle to over come.  You are switching from a Native API design environment, into a designer that IS a webrowser and javascript interpreter.  In order to have live components, the designer now has to execute all of that web code.  So there is a significant speed cost to that.  The equivelent would be writing a Delphi app that would use a TWebBrowser component to load rich web pages again and again and again. 

I’m not sure I understand the logic of the one day trial idea in this sitation.  Nothing makes people crankier than a ticking clock, working with something never seen before, things not working right, and a significant money decision on the line.  I’m not sure combining all of those issues into one program was the key to success when taking API developers and putting them in a web environment for the first time.  But…that’s the situation.

There are definately things that you can do to make your situation better.  First, I totally agree with you about the calendar thing. I logged an issue for it here:
Report No: 43501            Status: Reported
js Calendar does not deploy with the deployment wizard
<a href=”http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=43501″>http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=43501</a>
ALL of the javascripts should deploy with the rest of the application.

Now that said, there is no reason that you can’t have the full VCL directory already deployed on your site and in that directory. 

I’ve actually taken that one step further.  I have ONE copy of the VCL for PHP for all of my websites.  I hung it off of my web root.  I allow my Delphi for PHP apps to access it by creating symbolic links in the directory containing the Delphi for PHP files.  Just put the VCL up there in your root (or wherever) and then telnet/ssh into your account, change to a different directory and then run these two lines:

ln -s ~/vcl
ln -s ~/vcl vcl-bin

The vcl-bin path is required for images used in the components.  There are other ways you could do this too.  You could just link the vcl-bin for example and then have a custom PHP.INI file in your directory that adds the vcl to your include path.  This solution, though, I think is the most generic.

When you have this done, you should never need to deploy your app again, and can just create a batch file that multi sends only your stuff to the website.  I’ve not experimented much with this solution, but it seems to work fine with all I’ve done with it so far!

Well that did not take long: Delphi for PHP Warez and torrent files

Filed under: Delphi, Delphi for PHP — Brian @ 11:00 am

That didn’t take long at all!

Look at this… A simple Google search and there there are all these copies available to download at one site…

The AMAZING thing is that some of these were well within the beta period before the final product was a available. And the size of them? Greater than a single CD? If you download and install this stuff what the heck will you be putting onto your system??? If this doesn’t scare you away from random warez sites, I don’t know what will. So many of them exist SOLEY for the spreading of worms and the like. Well, of course your favorite site for downloading illegal software is an exception. They’re totally honest - as are those people hosting the torrent seeds. You could trust them with anything!

 delphi for php *DEVIANCE*

360kb/s  

158.42 MB  

2007-03-27

delphi for php [FULL-CD]

242kb/s  

4209 MB  

2007-03-27

delphi for php WinXP

122kb/s  

3738 MB  

2007-03-27

delphi for php *PAL*

359kb/s  

227.10 MB  

2007-03-27

delphi for php *PAL*

288kb/s  

958.03 MB  

2007-03-24

delphi for php WinXP

374kb/s  

101.46 MB  

2007-03-24

delphi for php (06-07)

99kb/s  

57.02 MB  

2007-03-23

delphi for php *PAL*

53kb/s  

264.41 MB  

2007-03-21

delphi for php [FULL-CD]

156kb/s  

264.41 MB  

2007-03-21

delphi for php ISO

159kb/s  

89.91 MB  

2007-03-21

delphi for php Latest version

209kb/s  

68.96 MB  

2007-03-21

delphi for php [KEYGEN]

110kb/s  

637.89 MB  

2007-03-19

delphi for php *PROPER*

75kb/s  

259.27 MB  

2007-03-19

delphi for php *DEVIANCE*

243kb/s  

700.01 MB  

2007-03-17

delphi for php [KEYGEN]

306kb/s  

75.02 MB  

2007-03-12

delphi for php WinXP

14kb/s  

75.02 MB  

2007-03-12

delphi for php CRACK

108kb/s  

44.40 MB  

2007-03-04

March 29, 2007

Hey - I am in the official Delphi for PHP Announcement!

Filed under: Borland, Brian Layman, CodeGear, Delphi, Delphi for PHP, My Career — Brian @ 10:56 pm

I reading the news articles right on the CodeGear home page, and in the first one, “CodeGear Announced General Availability of Delphi for PHP (March 27, 2007)”,  I happened to see a name that looked somewhat familiar! ;)

Sometime after what turned out to be the mid-way point in the field test period, we are given an oportunity to submit testimonials about our experience with the Delphi for PHP field test so far. I figured it would go in the scrolling banner on the CodeGear home page or in a email to CodeGear customers, but what do you know, there it is in plain site on the home page! Nifty!

CodeGear™ Announces General Availability of Delphi® for PHP

Developers Say Delphi’s Rapid Application Development Environment Makes It Easier and Faster to Build PHP Web Applications

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – March 27, 2007 – CodeGear, a leader in developer tools, today announced that Delphi® for PHP – an integrated visual Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment for the popular PHP Web development language – is now shipping worldwide.
Delphi for PHP brings the RAD productivity benefits that Delphi users have enjoyed for years to PHP Web developers. PHP, designed to allow Web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly, is the most prominent dynamic Web language today and has become one of the top 10 programming languages overall. The new product from CodeGear can allow developers to be more productive as they write rich, database-driven Web applications in PHP.In addition to a RAD environment for PHP, key features of Delphi for PHP include: VCL for PHP, an open-source PHP 5 visual component library with more than 50 reusable components and seamless AJAX integration; out-of-the-box integration with InterBase®, MySQL, Oracle®, Microsoft SQL Server, and other popular databases; an integrated PHP debugger; drag-and-drop database application development using the Data Explorer for InterBase and MySQL; and a code editor with Code Insight, Code Explorer, and Code Templates.  Deployment options include Windows, Linux, Solaris and other platforms.Developers who have used a pre-release version of the new product said they experienced significant productivity improvements.

“Because Delphi for PHP can debug existing PHP projects as easily as it creates new ones, it instantly starts paying for itself. With contract work costing between $80-$100 per hour, if Delphi for PHP saves you just 3 hours, it’s already paid for itself.  It can do that with your first project. I’ll never use “Echo” or “Print” as a debugging tool again,” said Brian Layman, an Akron, Ohio-based software engineer.

“As a web designer, you’re judged on the quality of your work and how soon it’s completed.  When Delphi for PHP allows you to offer better products on a time scale your competition can’t touch, your services will be in great demand,” said Layman.

Delphi for PHP is part of a family of products from CodeGear that includes Delphi 2007 for Win32, Delphi for .NET, Turbo™ Delphi, C#Builder®, C++ Builder®, JBuilder® and InterBase.
U.S. Pricing
The product is available for an introductory price of $249; special academic pricing is also available. For more information on system requirements, languages and pricing, visit www.codegear.com/products/delphiforphp. About CodeGear
CodeGear from Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ: BORL) delivers innovative, high-productivity development tools for a wide spectrum of software developers ranging from individuals to enterprise teams. CodeGear products enable developers to freely develop on their platform of choice while focusing on simplifying complex technologies and tasks so they can concentrate on application design, not infrastructure, to enable on-time project delivery. To learn more about CodeGear and its products, visit www.codegear.com. CodeGear. Where Developers Matter.CodeGear, Delphi, Turbo Delphi, C#Builder, C++Builder, JBuilder, InterBase, and all other CodeGear brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland Software Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Microsoft, and Windows Vista, and all other Microsoft brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.Safe Harbor Statement:
This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities Laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements may relate to, but are not limited to, the features available in, and the potential benefits to be derived from, CodeGear products and solutions, and the release dates, plans and market acceptance of such products and solutions, including the CodeGear Delphi product line. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, among others, the following: rapid technological change that can adversely affect the demand for CodeGear products, shifts in customer demand, shifts in strategic relationships, delays in CodeGear’s ability to deliver its products and services, software errors or announcements by competitors. These and other risks may be detailed from time to time in Borland Software Corporation periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and its latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained from www.sec.gov. Borland is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information contained in our website is not incorporated by reference in, or made part of this press release.

March 28, 2007

TheCodeCave.Com prepares for the D4PHP.COM launch!

Filed under: Borland, Brian Layman, CodeGear, Delphi, Delphi for PHP, Google Summer of Code™, WordPress — Brian @ 11:04 pm

Well, it’s been a Busy,  three weeks here.  Things are finally falling into place.

Sometimes that just happens. 

You swing into these intense periods where things go 90 mph.  

It all started when my wife’s latest commissions check on her book buys her a sweet tablet PC, gets me a motorcycle and now (if it ever stops raining and snowing) I’m back on two wheels after 11 years! (pics soon!!!).  (All you Delphi knitters go and buy her book please!  I know you are out there!) 

Then CodeRage goes into full swing and starts vying for my attention.   Oh, and I also signed the papers refinacing the house.  Then my yard collapses into a giant cess pool, only to be replaced by a mud bog the following week.  Then I’m approved as a Google Summer of Code WordPress mentor and suddenly I’m back to reviewing resumes and project propsals!   It’s like I’m back in my old role of Director of Software Development again.

And then I land the after-hours job of converting CodeGear’s 90 blogs over to WordPress MU.   Yes, you can pinch me, I’m working for the Borland Corporation. 

THEN on Friday the Delphi for PHP field test ends and D4P is been released!  (If you are interested in the product, you can download a 1 day trial here. )  Well, that means it’s time to announce something else I’ve had in the works for a while. 

Coinciding with the release of Delphi for PHP, I’m announing an upcoming community site called “Designed for PHP” at http://www.D4PHP.com.  The tagline for the site is:

Designed for PHP - Bringing the Delphi mindset to PHP development.

This site, created using Delphi for PHP, will not only host a VBulletin  forum but will include articles, reviews, and product announcements pertinent to the soon to be thriving Delphi for PHP community.  I’m in the process of connecting with authors, moderators and administrators who are intersted in joining me in this venture.

 Now, obviously I’ve got some things that will be taking up my free time over the next couple weeks.  But I still hope to get some feed back from you all as to what you’d like to see at the site.  Some ideas from people I’ve already discussed this with include:

  1. Community forum - Software has been purchased, the forum is up and being configured.
  2. Integration with the NewsGroups - This idea fed off of a question from Serge Dosyukov and I know just how to pull it off.  The Delphi for PHP newsgroups will be part of the Forum and if all goes well (my host sometimes has restrictions on comunication with outside servers) they will be fully integraed with the ability to post to the groups directly from the site under your own login name.
  3. Component & Component package reviews
  4. Plenty of user created demo videos - it’s easy to do and free!
  5. ???

and THAT’s why I am announcing this before it is fully up and running.  I want to know what else YOU’D like to see out of the site.  Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?  I’ll be doing work off and on with the site over the next two weeks and working with some interested parties who can get the ball rolling, but we need ideas and a goal for when, in about a month, I can give it some dedicated attention.

 So, do you want to see on D4PHP.com?  Does anyone remember “The Delphi Super Page”?  If you do, what made THAT page so great?  Pre-2000, there was no where else a Delphi programmer needed to go.   Why was that?  Any thoughts?

 Jot them down here or wander over to http://www.D4PHP.com/forum and express yourself!  Let’s see what this can turn into!

March 20, 2007

Delphi for PHP Article 3: A Brief History of Time and Delphi for PHP

Filed under: Astro, Borland, CodeGear, Delphi, Delphi for PHP, PHP — Brian @ 3:35 pm

When I was first fiddling around with the beta test stuff for Delphi for PHP, and before I’d gotten BetaBlogger status, I’d put together a post with what history I’d been able to scrounge about D4PHP from the WayBack Machine and Google.   I’d never gotten around to posting what I’d found.  Before it disappears forever into the nether regions of my harddrive, I thought I would hit Paste and Publish. 

I think I’ve gotten most of the details correct, but there are some guesses that might be inaccurate. Also, there are loads of links because I wanted to make it VERY clear that this info was gathered from the web and I was not breaking my NDA.  That’s not a concern anymore, luckily. You might find some of the links interesting. 

 So, here’s the history of Delphi for PHP as I know it:

(more…)

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