Delphi 7 Release Notes ======================================================= This file contains important supplementary and late- breaking information that may not appear in the main product documentation. We recommend that you read this file in its entirety. For information on new features in this release, choose "What's New" in the online Help contents. ======================================================= CONTENTS * OTHER RELEASE NOTES INCLUDED WITH THIS PRODUCT * NOTES AND ISSUES: * ABOUT EDITING THE REGISTRY * PRODUCT INFORMATION ON THE WEB ======================================================= OTHER RELEASE NOTES INCLUDED WITH THIS PRODUCT * INSTALL contains system requirements and product installation information. * DEPLOY contains information about redistributing your applications. * LICENSE contains information on licensing allowances and limitations for this product and other Borland software that is bundled with it. The three files listed above, along with this file, are installed in your main product directory (default: C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi7). ======================================================= NOTES AND ISSUES Deprecated Components Borland is deprecating the use of TSQLClientDataSet and TBDEClientDataSet. Borland recommends that you use TSimpleDataSet for simple, two-tier applications. TSQLClientDataSet and TBDEClientDataSet are no longer displayed on the Component palette. If you require backward compatibility, you can still access TSQLClientDataSet and TBDEClientDataSet in the Demos directory (by default, C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi7\Demos). Borland is deprecating the use of the TServerSocket and TClientSocket from the unit ScktComp. It is recommended that you use the Indy components for socket operations. The TServerSocket and TClientSocket will no longer be installed on the component palette by default. If you require the use of these components then you can install the design time package named dclsockets70.bpl, found in your bin directory. For deployment with runtime packages, you will need to deploy rtl70.bpl and any other required packages. Changes in StrUtils ------------------- The StrUtils unit contains three sets of changes, all relating to multi-byte character set (MBCS) support. * Previously, LeftStr, RightStr, and MidStr each took and returned AnsiString values, and did not support MBCS strings. Each of these functions has been replaced by a pair of overloaded functions, one that takes and returns AnsiString, and one that takes and returns WideString. The new functions correctly handle MBCS strings. This change breaks code that uses these functions to store and retrieve byte values in AnsiStrings. Such code should use the new byte-level functions described below. * New functions LeftBStr, RightBStr, and MidBStr provide the byte-level manipulation previously provided by LeftStr, RightStr, and MidStr. * New functions AnsiLeftStr, AnsiRightStr, and AnsiMidStr are the same as the new AnsiStr LeftStr, RightStr, and MidStr functions, except that they are not overloaded with equivalent WideString functions. XP Themes --------- This build does not include a manifest for your projects. To tell your applications to use version 6.0 of comctl32.dll you need to create and edit the manifest yourself. There are two ways to do this: 1. With a stand-alone manifest file added to the same directory of the executable. 2. With a manifest included in the executable as a resource. For the stand-alone manifest follow these steps: I) Using Notepad create a file called "Project1.exe.manifest" and add the following lines: Project1 Description II) Save the file and place it in the same directory as the application executable. If you don't like the idea of having the manifest as a separated file you can include it into your executable as a resource. I) Create a resource file (again using Notepad) containing the following line: 1 24 "Project1.exe.Manifest" II) Compile the resource file with brcc32.exe with the following command: C:\Project1> brcc32 WindowsXP.RC III) Now add the following line to your project's main form: {$R WindowsXP.RES} NOTE: To automatically configure XP Themes in your project you can use the XP Application Wizard demo. For more information see the readme file in Demos\ToolsAPI\XPAppWiz .NET compiler warnings ---------------------- The Delphi 7 dcc32 compiler now supports three additional compiler warnings: Unsafe_Type, Unsafe_Code, and Unsafe_Cast. These warnings are disabled by default, but can be enabled with source code compiler directives {$WARN UNSAFE_CODE ON}, compiler command line switches (dcc32 -W+UNSAFE_CODE), and in Project|Options. NOTE: There is no space before or after the "+" in the command line switch) "Unsafe" in all three messages refers to types or operations which static code analysis cannot prove to not overwrite memory. For example, data types that carry bounds information at runtime such as Delphi Strings or dynamic arrays can be bounds-checked at runtime, and tracked in static analysis, to ensure that memory accesses are within the limits of the allocated data. Data types that do not carry bounds information at compile time or runtime (such as PChar) cannot be proven safe. Unsafe doesn't necessarily mean the code is broken or flawed, it simply means that it uses programming techniques that cannot be verified as safe by static code analysis. In a secured execution environment such as .NET, such code is assumed to be unsafe and a potential security risk. Delphi 7 developers can use these new warnings to identify data types, code or programming techniques that may be difficult to port to a managed code environment such as .NET. These messages are not specific to the .NET platform. The warnings are conservative - some things we warn about in D7 we might actually be able to support in Delphi for .NET, but we're not sure yet. The warnings are not complete - there may be problematic types or code situations for which the Delphi 7 compiler does not issue an unsafe warning. Unsafe_Type: Types such as PChar, untyped pointer, untyped var and out parameters, file of , 6 byte reals (Real48), variant records (records containing overlapping fields) and old-style objects ("TMyObject = object"). * "old" object type c = object i: Integer; procedure p; end; Unsafe_Code: absolute variables, Addr(), Ptr(), Hi(), Lo(), Swap() standard procedures, BlockRead and BlockWrite, the Fail() standard procedure, GetMem(), FreeMem(), and ReallocMem() * inline assembler blocks (asm end) * @ operator * modifying string index elements, e.g s := 'Hoho'; s[2] := 'a'; // <-- "Unsafe code 'String index to var param'" Unsafe_Cast: Casting an object instance to a type that is not an ancestor or descendent of the instance type, casting a record type to anything else Change to VCL SubComponents streaming ------------------------------------- In Delphi 7, we corrected a problem where the csLoading flag was never set for subcomponents, nor was the subcomponent's Loaded method called. When a component that has subcomponents is streamed, the subcomponents will have their csLoading flag set and their Loaded method called. This change creates a complication for any subcomponent properties that are writable. If you allow your subcomponent property to be assigned to an external component reference then you cannot free your subcomponent until it's owner's Loaded method is called otherwise the streaming system will attempt to call the subcomponent's Loaded method after the subcomponent has been freed. Apache ------ Support for Apache 2 is for the 2.0.39 version. It will work with later versions as long as they are binary compatible. NOTE: Due to a known bug with Apache 1.3.22, do not develop CGI programs or shared objects for this version. See http://bugs.apache.org/index.cgi/full/8538 UDDI Registry entries --------------------- Some UDDI Registry entries contain an Accesspoint URL with a bookmark tag at the end. When accessed these services often generate the error message 'Method not allowed (405)'. Workaround: Remove the tag from url in the global function that returns the Interface: const // defURL = 'http://someservice/somewhere#tag'; // is changed to defURL = 'http://someservice/somewhere'; Japanese Input system on Windows XP ----------------------------------- The MS IME2002 Japanese input system included with Windows XP can cause the Debugger in the IDE to stall. Workaround: Remove Microsoft IME Character Code Dictionary from your system dictionaries list. Simply un-checking this option from the dictionary list will not solve the problem. To remove this dictionary: 1) Open the IME Toolbar. 2) Select Tools|Properties and click on the Dictionary tab. 3) Select "Microsoft IME Character Code Dictionary" from the System dictionaries listbox 4) Click Remove. Database -------- * The provided DB2 driver is certified for DB2 version 7 only. The client version and server version must match. BDE also supports DB2 version 7 only. * The Oracle driver provided for dbExpress components is certified for Oracle 9i. BDE and ADO have been certified with Oracle 8.1.7 and 8.1.6. In all cases, the client version and server version must be the same. * Oracle 9i types - ORACLE 9i types TIMESTAMP (introduced for JDK 1.3.1 compliance) and other types like XMLType, Temp tables, etc. are not yet supported. Use "DATE" instead. * The Borland Database Engine CAB file (BDEINST.CAB) is no longer digitally signed. This CAB file is provided for backward compatibility. For new applications, we recommend deploying BDE with the BDE merge modules. InterBase version support, Dialect 3 features --------------------------------------------- Delphi 7 supports InterBase 6.5. The client version and server version must be the same. Currently, the driver does not support the ARRAY type. To use the new InterBase 6.5 Dialect 3 features in BDE, add an entry to your Windows registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Borland\Database Engine \Settings\Drivers\Intrbase\Db Open\SQLDIALECT and set the String Value to "3". When an InterBase alias is created, the new entry will be available in the .CFG file. To use InterBase 5.6, SQLDIALECT can be set to "1" (existing IB aliases which do not have the SQLDIALECT entry default to SQLDIALECT=1 or to the registry setting when the SQLDIALECT entry is added to the registry). InterBase 6.5 implementation note --------------------------------- If you are using a WebSnap application with InterBase 6.5, a local database connection is not recommended. Instead, use a client/server connection specified by a protocol-specific prefix to the path to the database. Examples: Local connection (not recommended): C:\PathTo\Database\DBName.gdb TCP/IP connection on Windows: saturn:C:\PathTo\Database\DBName.gdb TCP/IP connection on UNIX: jupiter:/usr/PathTo/Database/DBName.gdb NetBEUI connection: \\venus\C:\PathTo\Database\DBName.gdb IPX/SPX connection: mars@vol2:\PathTo\Database\DBName.gdb If the WebSnap application is on the same machine as the server, you can use localhost: localhost:C:\PathTo\Database\DBName.gdb INTERBASE driver behavioral difference: --------------------------------------- NUMERIC data type mapping. The dbExpress driver for INTERBASE now maps NUMERIC data types to fldBCD instead of fldINT16, fldINT32, fldFLOAT. dbExpress --------- TSQLDataSet now has DefaultRowsetSize = 20 (Oracle only). To use a different RowSetSize, add the RowSetSize property manually (e.g., "RowsetSize = 200") into dbxconnections.ini, for existing connections, or into dbxdrivers.ini to have the RowSetSize property included in new connections. RowsetSize can also be modified in code, as shown here: "SQLConnection1.Params.Values['RowsetSize'] := '200'" dbExpress now includes MySQL 3.23.49 support with a new driver (dbexpmysql.dll). To use the new driver, specify LibraryName = "dbexpmysql.dll" in the Object Inspector or in dbxdrivers.ini. dbExpress components and MySQL transactions ------------------------------------------- MySQL doesn't support more than one active statement per connection. To perform multiple SQL requests with a single TSQLConnection the dbExpress components clone connection. There is a bug in maintaining state information on the no.of active statements with respect to a TSQLConnection. This might cause serious failures in transaction as the transaction might be started on one connection and commit or rollback might be happening on another connection. Workaround: Before you start a MySQL transaction make sure TSQLConnection.ActiveStatements is 0. If it's not 0 then close the TSQLConnection and reopen it and that should clear it. All your transaction activity should then go on a single connection. DB2 notes for dbExpress ----------------------- The provided DB2 driver is certified for DB2 version 7. The client version and server version must be the same. BDE also supports DB2 version 7. Because of a known DB2 bug, the DB2 client returns only one record at a time when a request for a block fetch is made, even with RowsetSize option > 1. Timestamp issues ---------------- The dbExpress DB2 driver rounds the TIMESTAMP fractional value and there could be some precision lost depending upon the data retrieved. When you apply back changes the old value will not match the one on the server and ApplyUpdates() will fail. Workaround: Make sure DB2 TIMESTAMP is not part of indexed columns and set the DataSetProvider Update mode to WhereKey instead of WhereAll. Informix BLOB/CLOB fields (dbExpress) ------------------------------------- A new global variable, InformixLob, is available to allow you to work with Informix BLOB and CLOB fields. The variable is required because Informix BLOB (fldBLOB, fldstHBINARY) and CLOB (fldBLOB, fldstHMEMO) fields are mapped as ftOraBlob and ftOraClob, respectively, and the DataSnap resolver performs special query generation when resolving Oracle BLOB/CLOB fields, but not when resolving Informix BLOB/CLOBs. To address this issue, set InformixLob to True when using Informix BLOB/CLOBs, and switch it back to False (the default) when using Oracle BLOB/CLOBs. NOTE: The new Informix driver (dbexpinf.dll) has been tested with Informix version 9.2.1 client/server and 9.2.1 client with SE server. MSSQL driver - Known issues --------------------------- 1) Connection with a Blank Password/OS Authentication: With the current MSSQL driver you can't connect using a blank password or with OS Authentication = True. A patch will be made available soon at Borland's support download site. 2) Master detail: a) When trying to open a master-detail as a nested dataset and if the detail link field is an INTEGER type and defined NOT NULL you will get a SQL Error "SQL State:HY000, SQL Error Code: 0, Invalid Input parameter values. Check the status values for details" A patch will be made available soon at Borland's support download site. b) ApplyUpdates() on a master-detail with "poFetchDetailsOnDemand" = True causes a SQL error "Cannot create new connection because in manual or distributed transaction mode". Workaround: poFetchDetailsOnDemand = False (default) dbExpress MSSQL driver BLOB access ----------------------------------- dbExpress MSSQL uses ISequentialStream (OLEDB interface) to access blobs from SQL Server. MS OLEDB provider (SQLOLEDB) doesn't support accessing more than one in a SELECT using ISequentialStream. So, if you are projecting more than one blob column in your queries the dbExpress driver will not use the ISequentialStream to access blobs. Instead, it will bind huge buffers to get the blob data. The buffer size is determined by the BlobSize entry in dbxconnections.ini. Make sure to set it to an appropriate size to improve performance when more than one blob column is projected. MySQL limitation (dbExpress) ---------------------------- MySQL can't filter with FLOAT fields in the WHERE clause. Since this limitation prevents updates with TClientDataset and TDataSetProvider, use DOUBLE instead. For more information, see the MySQL documentation. Huge Text in MySQL (dbExpress) ------------------------------ MySQL Server has a startup parameter called max- allowed-packet that, by default, is set to 1 megabyte for most MySQL servers. Increase the value of max- allowed-packet if you encounter difficulty writing large amounts of data (such as large strings) to MySQL. Oracle notes for dbExpress -------------------------- When qualifying a table name with a user name, you must use quotes around the table name when CommandType is set to ctTable. Oracle LONG and LONG RAW fields (dbExpress) ------------------------------------------- When using Oracle, the size of LONG and LONG RAW fields cannot be determined without fetching the whole field. So if BLOB SIZE is set to -1, LONG and LONG RAW fields are truncated to 64K. Recommendation: Set BLOB SIZE to your best estimate of the blob size. Configuring driver files (dbExpress) ------------------------------------- The Oracle driver now supports Trim Char, Multiple Transaction and OS Authentication. You need to add these settings to your dbxdrivers for new aliases and/or update dbxconnections in order to include these settings for old aliases. Please append the following at the end of dbxdrivers file if you are using a driver file from an earlier version of Delphi: [Multiple Transaction] False=0 True=1 [Trim Char] False=0 True=1 [OS Authentication] False=0 True=1 Add the following under the [Oracle] section in dbxdrivers and under your existent Oracle alias. OS Authentication=False Multiple Transaction=False Trim Char=False Oracle OS authentication (dbExpress) ------------------------------------- To get the correct list of tables and other schema objects in the dbExpress components, set the User_Name to OPS$XXX, where XXX is the OS Authenticated user. ======================================================= ABOUT EDITING THE WINDOWS REGISTRY Warning: Registry edits are performed at your own risk. Several items in this document and in other parts of the documentation that accompany this product describe how to edit your Windows registry. In most cases, we recommend that you use the Microsoft Regedit tool to perform your editing. Whatever tool you use, however, you should, before making any edits, make backups of your registry and thoroughly familiarize yourself with the editing tool and the registry editing process. The registry is a critical component of your operating system, and any mistakes made while editing it can cause your machine to stop functioning. ======================================================= PRODUCT INFORMATION ON THE WEB In addition to numerous private sites that offer information, instruction, and samples, the following Borland Web-based resources provide a continuous stream of news, product information, updates, code, and other materials. You can connect to many of these resources directly from the Help menu. Delphi Direct [Help|Delphi Direct] ---------------------------------- This IDE add-in resource provides an automatically updated list of links to the latest news, downloads, and other information about Delphi and Borland. Code Central ------------ The CodeCentral Repository is a free, searchable database of code, tips, and other materials of interest to developers. For details and registration information, visit http://codecentral.borland.com/ The Borland Web site -------------------- Borland Software Corporation home page: http://www.borland.com [IDE: Help|Borland Home Page] Delphi home page: http://www.borland.com/delphi/ [IDE: Help|Delphi Home Page] Delphi developer support: http://www.borland.com/devsupport/delphi/ [IDE: Help|Delphi Developer Support] Delphi updates and other downloads: http://www.borland.com/devsupport/delphi/downloads/ Delphi documentation site: http://www.borland.com/techpubs/delphi Newsgroups: http://www.borland.com/newsgroups/ Worldwide offices and distributors: http://www.borland.com/bww/ FTP site (anonymous access): ftp.borland.com ======================================================= Copyright (c) 2002 Borland Software Corporation. All rights reserved.