ClixieTrax

One thing that keeps me worried when installing a web based application in my client’s computer is the browser dependency. There’s usually something going wrong when porting my web application from my stable development environment to the client’s.

Sometimes a visit to the client’s computer is like opening a birthday present. We don’t know for sure whether the inside is good, useless, or full of crap. Various clients prefer various browsers, which generally result in either my CSS isn’t supported, some plug-ins reject my script, using a very old version of Internet Explorer, the screen is less than 1024×768 and we couldn’t find the video driver, or worse, all combined.

There are some alternatives:

1. Making sure the client is using the exact same browser. This means the user cannot use their favorite browser anymore.
2. Develop compatible software to all browser types there is. Quite another troublesome way, since the development cost and time will rise significantly. Not mentioning the user might try to upgrade to a different upcoming browser.
3. Develop your own browser. TWebBrowser unit is good, but remembering it is using internet explorer engine, we cannot be certain which version is compatible.

The third option sounds valuable. But instead of TWebBrowser, we’ll be using TMozillaBrowser to develop our own browser using Mozilla ActiveX Control. The details can be found here.

How do we do that

Here’s a step by step solution: Read more »

I found a website link when crawling the web, named JEDI Visual Component Library. Somehow I believe the initiator of this project is a big fans of StarWars. Maybe it’s just me.

It’s a collection of great components for Delphi, which lead me to believe I found a treasure.

After I downloaded the ZIP file, I read the manual carefully but cannot found an instruction of installation. No, installing the DPK itself is useless.

I did spotted an install.bat file, but I can’t make it work.

After some googling events, I saw a light of hope, and managed to install it successfully. I’ll describe them in a very short steps:

1. Download the package (Duh!). I was downloading the version 3.33, but after some time, they launch the 3.34. The file should be named JVCL333CompleteJCL1101-build2725.7z with the 333 part as the version number.
2. Decompress this file (You might need a 7z unpacker for this) into {Your Delphi Directory}\Source. This is the reason why I can’t install the package. I was extracting these files into \Lib directory.
3. Run install.bat in the JCL folder. This will compile and run the installer. I guess the JEDI team does a great job huh?
4. The installer will show you all your available Delphi version.
   
5. Install the JCL.
6. Repeat step 3 for JVCL folder, this time the installer will be a little bit different, but you’ll get the grip.
   
7. Run Delphi. You should see lots of component tabs appear.

I’m still trying to figure out how to use them in my projects. Maybe I’ll add more entries after I learned some.