Upcoming content in 2024¶
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break! After releasing my latest book "Modern Software Development with Delphi" (see below) just in time for the holiday and relaxing a bit, I also used the time to consider my upcoming video and book activities.
- Please have a look at my other publications. For example, I have done a pretty poor job of marketing the second edition of my book for Web development with Delphi. TMS WEB Core is a solution from TMS that allows you to efficiently create Web applications with Delphi. Starting with component-based VCL-like applications, you will dive deep into Web technologies, and will be able to create complex Web solutions that do no longer resemble Web applications. Best of all, you will be able to use the source code from your existing desktop versions. I created a new page that allows you to navigate to all my books easily and provides links to each store for all editions.
- In the next days, I will release a hands-on video project under the How it Works with Holger moniker. The new book pages on this web page are generated using a Delphi application. I will show you how I created this database-driven application that creates Markdown and JSON to open up my book information to the world. The will be a free tutorial being released over the next weeks. In the meantime, have a look at more free videos that have been released this year already. You might have missed one.
- I will create a video course for Modern Software Development with Delphi. The book will serve as a reference and outline for the course. Some developers have uttered the wish for a video course in addition to the written material. Expect the first content for this to be released around January. I will choose a new distribution technique. The course will be available before it is complete and more and more lessons will be added. If you decide to purchase before it is complete, you can safe money with a discount. As soon as it is complete, it will only be available for the full price.
This is already a great todo list for 2024, but be assured that more content will be coming your way. Go Delphi!
Learn more about my latest book¶
The following table allows you to pick your favorite store and edition quickly. If your country is not listed (e.g. Belgium), pick the store that is closest.
| Store | color | black & white | Store | color | black & white |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US |  | | IT |  | |
| DE |  | | ES |  | |
| UK |  | | NL |  | |
| FR |  | | SE |  | |
| CA |  | | JP |  | |
| PL |  | | AU |  |
A book for Delphi developers!¶
This year, finally, has been different! Presenting in person was possible again and TMS celebrated their TMS Days in Bruges, Belgium! The event took place in May, coinciding with the release of the second edition of my book about TMS Web Core. Obviously, this was no coincidence and a planned surprise. None of the participants knew that they would be handed a fresh copy of the new edition as part of the event. I was honored that everybody decided to have me sign their copy with a personal remark. I did my best to make out each one a bit different from the other. I will never forget one developer asking me to make out the dedication to Darth Vader. You might guess which famous quote was included inmy sentences that I wrote into the book... Not only was it great to meet fellow developers in person again to socialize with a good meal and lots of – maybe too many – drinks, it was also a great opportunity to collect their thoughts and get input for future projects. It is one thing to write books, but guessing which topics the community is looking for makes it even tougher. Over Zoom, Teams, Skype, or any of the remote communication technologies, you cannot have a colloquial talk about Delphi in a relaxed atmosphere. That’s what made the TMS Days the ideal event to not only speak in person again, but mostly listen to the interests and concerns of Delphi developers. Here are three things that were communicated as essential by the majority of the attendees at the beginning of the event:
- Web applications are key in the future of Delphi! TMS Web Core delivers on this front and during the TMS Days a lot of fundamentals were communicated. Also, a lot of insights were given into the labs what is coming in the next months from TMS. Handing out the book on the second day of the event put a smile on everybody’s face. Web development is literally on the mind of every Delphi developer these days. If you are interested to take on theWeb, the book is available on Amazon and listed in the bibliography. Just make sure to order the second edition.
- Installation of all products should be possible with one click! This statement makes you realize that I really list the things that were mentioned and did not make edits for this book. Indeed, TMS has many great products that sometimes even have dependencies that you need to install in a specific order. Nearly everybody asked for a utility that would allow them to install and update a list of products with a script or configurable tool. To their surprise, Wagner Landgraf was able to show an alpha version of TMS Smart Setup, which was subsequently released in November to the public.
- More examples of how to build applications with modern tools. Many developers said that it was great that a lot of examples are shown, but they never know how to start from scratch, or how to structure their code to integrate these new technologies. Well, this is what this book will be about!
As the first two items were already covered, I pondered on the flight back to the United States how to deliver on the third. This book is the result of that thought process. In the introduction, I will give a precise list of features and technologies that will be used. However, the book title already gives you a good idea what the core technologies will be. You will build an application from scratch that uses ORM technology with a non-trivial entity model. Then, a VCLWindows desktop application will be built. You will learn how to define a database-independent data model, and how to connect the data layer with the user interface. This is a struggle that has caused high blood pressure for many developers. With ORM, and TMS Aurelius to name the product that is used, it will become no different from using TDataSet as if it were any other database application. The modern approach will be to have the user interface loosely coupled to the data model, and the data layer is also not fixed on one database technology. In order to not violate the first desire of Delphi developers to be able to take everything to the Web, TMS Aurelius prepares your data model in a way that you can add a web service API easily. Even this will be covered in the book using TMS XData.
This book will guide you from project (group) creation to the finish. This is not a reference for any of the TMS products. The documentation does a pretty good job in that regard. Here, you will learn to solve problems using the tools from our tool belt that are given to us as Delphi developers. Having some additional pockets in that belt filled with TMS goodies gets us there even faster! To sum it up, this book is one of the code-heaviest books in the Delphi community with lengthy explanations what this code does. Alternative approaches are presented most of the time. And most important: The aim is to make you a more efficient developer! Time is precious and we have none to waste! Let’s get started! Enjoy!
Dive into the World of Modern Software Development with Delphi!¶
Unlock the potential of Delphi programming and embark on a journey into the core of software development. This comprehensive guide is your key to crafting a non-trivial application using Delphi, equipped with TMS Aurelius Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) technology, TMS FlexCel for report generation, TMS XData for web service integration, and an exploration of modern techniques for robust application development.
Discover the seamless fusion of traditional development and modern methodologies as you build an entity class model for your application first. Through step-by-step tutorials, delve into the intricacies of leveraging TMS Aurelius to harness the power of ORM, enabling compatibility with any database supported by Delphi, granting flexibility in your data management without writing SQL queries.
- Comprehensive guidance on building a non-trivial application with Delphi using TMS Aurelius for ORM
- Creating an entity class model for flexible data management across various databases
- Leveraging TMS FlexCel for dynamic report generation, including a preview, and exporting to PDF
- Utilizing TMS XData for secure web services with token-based access control
- Lightning-fast data reorganization and presentation with an in-memory database
- Exploring modern language features of Delphi such as generics, interfaces, custom attributes, record helpers, and more
Suitable for everyone interested in building software with Delphi using modern technologies. Dive into the concepts with downloadable source code, enabling you to accelerate your learning and implementation process. Whether you’re a seasoned developer seeking to expand your toolkit or a newcomer to the world of Delphi, this book is your gateway to mastering modern software development. Elevate your projects, streamline your workflows, and unleash the true potential of Delphi.
This book extensively covers the use of TMS Aurelius, TMS FlexCel, and TMS XData. These are commercial products that require a license. However, fully functional trial versions of these tools are available, enabling you to follow the examples in the book and explore the functionalities.