Expert Delphi: Robust and fast cross-platform application development 2 Ed

Cover....1 Title Page....2 Copyright and Credits....3 Foreword....5 Contributors....6 Table of Contents....10 Preface....16 Part 1: Building Blocks....24 Chapter1: Fasten Your Seat Belts....26 Delphi installation....26 Delphi versions....27 Running the Delphi installer....28 Installing custom components....30 IDE options....32 Riding the IDE....33 Delphi compilers and toolchains....34 The “Hello World” app....35 Deploying to mobile devices....47 Deploying to Android....47 Deploying to iOS....51 Summary....55 Chapter 2: Mind Your Language....56 Do you speak Object Pascal?....56 Program structure....57 Console application....58 Building a forms application....61 The Object Pascal language phrasebook....71 Tokens....71 Constants....72 Types....73 Inline variables declaration....74 Sets and arrays....75 Helpers....76 Generics....78 Anonymous code....81 Operator overloading....84 Runtime type information....84 Custom attributes....85 Summary....88 Chapter 3: Packing Up Your Toolbox....90 Technical requirements....90 Working with files and streams....90 Working with JSON....96 Writing JSON....97 Reading JSON....103 Using the JSON wizard in Delphi 12....107 Working with XML....108 Summary....113 Chapter 4: Using the Parallel Programming Library....114 Technical requirements....114 Using threads....115 Access synchronization....119 Calling Synchronize....119 Atomic operations....119 Using a critical section....120 Using TMonitor....120 Exploring the Parallel Programming Library....121 Parallel loops....122 Using tasks....123 The beauty of futures....125 Summary....126 Part 2: Going Mobile....128 Chapter 5: Playing with FireMonkey....130 Technical requirements....130 Drawing in code....131 Get moving with timers....136 Precise timing....138 The power of parenting....139 Shapes....139 Animations....142 Touching the screen....143 Touch....143 Gestures....145 Multi-touch....148 Game of Memory....150 Designing the game....151 Working with images....151 Designing the user interface....153 Aligning, anchoring, and margins....153 Layouts....154 Building the main form of the game....154 Storing the game’s configuration....162 The game’s settings form....164 Summary....167 Chapter 6: FireMonkey in 3D....168 Technical requirements....168 Cross-platform 3D rendering....168 Direct use of Context3D....169 Using a cube component....172 A custom wireframe component....173 Ready-to-use 3D objects....177 The Moving Earth app....178 Building an interactive 3D scene....183 Using 3D models....189 A starfield simulation....191 Mixing 3D and 2D....194 Summary....197 Chapter 7: Building User Interfaces with Style....198 Working with built-in styles....199 Adding more controls....202 Adding the dials....203 Using custom styles....204 Embedding styles as resources....207 Customizing styles....209 Using frames....212 Working with inherited views....217 Previewing forms on devices....221 Summary....224 Chapter 8: Working with Mobile Operating Systems....226 James Bond’s toy....227 What am I running on?....227 The life of an app....231 Sensing the world....234 Using the location....235 Using the orientation and motion sensors....239 Taking photos....241 Using share sheets....245 Camera, action!....247 Notify me!....249 Navigating the web....250 Delphi language bridges....252 Vibrating on Android....253 Vibrations on iOS....254 Summary....256 Chapter 9: Desktop Apps and Mobile Bridges....258 Technical requirements....259 Single source for mobile and desktop....259 Using the MultiView control....259 Using data grids....263 Leveraging layout controls....265 Flow layout....266 Grid layout....268 Scaled layout....270 Grid panel layout....271 Building desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux....273 Creating apps for macOS....275 What about targeting Linux?....277 App tethering....279 Summary....285 Part 3: From Data to Services....286 Chapter 10: Embedding Databases....288 Technical requirements....288 Data-driven apps....289 Modeling data....290 Choosing a database....292 Accessing databases with FireDAC....294 Building a data-driven UI....304 Using visual live bindings....314 Fast UI prototyping....317 Summary....320 Chapter 11: Integrating with Web Services....322 Technical requirements....322 Understanding Web Services....323 Building a native HTTP client....324 Consuming XML SOAP Web Services....327 Integrating with REST services....330 Integrating with the cloud....334 The Delphi Cloud API....335 Moving the ToDo List app to Azure....335 Using the AWS SDK for Delphi....341 Summary....345 Chapter 12: Building Mobile Backends....346 Technical requirements....346 Delphi and multi-tier architectures....346 Working at a low level with WebBroker....348 Generating a standalone project....349 The Standalone WebBroker server....350 Adding Apache support....353 Adding a client application....354 Building the web module....355 Creating a new ToDo item....356 Reading the data and other operations....357 A client for the REST API....358 Do-it-yourself with DataSnap....362 Building the DataSnap server....363 Implementing the DataSnap server functionality....364 Building a DataSnap client....365 Summary....370 Chapter 13: Easy REST API Publishing with RAD Server....372 Technical requirements....372 RAD Server setup....373 Building RAD Server resources....377 The ToDo list in RAD Server....381 Creating a client app for RAD Server....385 Summary....389 Chapter 14: App Deployment....390 Technical requirements....390 Deploying to app stores....390 Apps artwork....392 Apps orientation....394 Publishing on the Apple iOS App Store....394 Publishing your Android apps to the Google Play Store....397 Monetizing with ads and in-app purchases....401 Automate the development process....402 App versioning....402 Practical version control....403 Sleeping well with unit testing....404 Summary....405 Chapter 15: The Road Ahead....406 Review of what we have learned....406 Trends in mobile development....407 A single screen is not your limit....408 Serverless backends and NoSQL databases....408 The AI revolution....409 Ideas for new and innovative apps for you to build....409 Summary....410 Index....412 Other Books You May Enjoy....1