Outline "Delphi Workout" Seminar

The Delphi Workout

The One Day Delphi Workout Seminar by Bob Swart was performed on March 19th in Manchester, and on March 20th in London.

9.00-9.30 Warming up
In this section we'll discuss some generic tips to working with Delphi 32-bits including some focus on exciting new methods of working in Delphi 3

9.00-9.30 - Delphi Overview
Delphi 3, ObjectPascal, Code Insights, Components, BDE.
This session will give a very quick overview of some 32-bits Delphi features, such as Code Insights, the VCL Component Palette/Packages, Data Modules, Form Inheritance, ActiveX controls, Database-Form Wizard, etc., without going into too much detail at this time already.

9.30-10.45 The Top 10 Tips to become a better Delphi Programmer
In this section we'll focus on ObjectPascal, exception handling, performance optimisation etc., positioning most of this on Delphi 2, but highlighting new better ways to do it in Delphi 3 as well

9.30 -10.00 - ObjectPascal
ObjectPascal, Exceptions, Try-Except, Try-Finally, Raise, Assert
This session will start with new ObjectPascal features, followed by the benefits of structured exception handling as the preferred way of error detection, error handling and resource management. All Delphi 2 compatible. At the end of the session, we'll also examine a new Delphi 3 feature called assertions, to support preconditions and error detection.

10.00-10.45 - 32-bits Efficiency
Profiling, Algorithms & Datastructures, Language Features
This session will identify the steps of performance optimisation: finding bottle-necks, checking algorithms & datastructures, and new 32-bits Delphi language features. A number of examples will illustrate what difference it can make in performance to know and apply the tips and techniques from this session.

10.45-11.00 Coffee

11.00-12.30 The Top 10 Secrets to building Rapid Applications
In this section we'll focus on the developer and his building tools (components, packages and Delphi IDE experts/wizards) to help building Rapid Applications.

11.00-11.45 - Component Building
Component Wizard, Properties, Methods, Events
This session will teach the basics of component building, as we focus on the Component Wizard, followed by the creation of a component skeleton, the addition of properties, methods, events and event handlers. We'll move on by installing the component in the Component Palette, or in a Delphi 3-specific package

11.45-12.00 - Delphi 3 Packages
Design Time, Run Time, Deployment, Versioning
This session will explain what Delphi 3 packages are, how they can benefit our projects (size of executable), how to make our own custom packages with components, and how to deploy them correctly.

12.00-12.30 - Experts and Wizards
IDE, Open Tools API, Experts, Wizards
This session will show how to extend the Delphi IDE itself by using the Open Tools API to write Experts (that plug into the IDE) and Wizards, including some User Interface guidelines for writing Wizards.

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-14.45 Database Workout
This section is about Unleashing the hidden power of Databases within Delphi, including databases with helpful Questions and Answers to common problems.

13.30-14.00 - Databases
BDE, Tables, Queries, data-aware components
This session will show the database basics, including tables, queries, data-aware components and how to (re-) create your own tables with ObjectPascal source code.

14.00-14.45 - The Best of Delphi (UK-BUG)
A Borland User Group representative will highlight how to unearth the most comprehensive guide (the DIL database) where to find free Delphi Code, tools, samples and support.

14.45-17.00 Building Killer Web Applications
In this section we'll start by seeing how we can use Delphi 2 for data-aware net development, followed by some next exciting techniques and net development support in Delphi 3.

14.45-15.10 - Table to HTML
HTML, Tables, Image Map, Table-layout, Index Fields, Frames
This session will shortly introduce the basic concepts of HTML, followed by a Wizard that can be used to convert the contents (records) of a table to a set of static HTML-pages that can be uploaded to the web.

15.10-15.30 - CGI and WinCGI
CGI/WinCGI, GET/POST, State, Debugging CGI
This session will extend our HTML knowledge with the Common Gateway Interface protocol, which is a way to interact between the web client and the web server. Delphi 2 compatible.

15.30-15.45 Afternoon Tea

15.45-16.15 - Delphi 3 ActiveForms
New ActiveForm, Converting existing Forms, Deployment
This session will illustrate how to write, use and deploy ActiveForms on the web (an ActiveForm is a collection of ActiveX controls put in a "Form"-like container, and is a new Delphi 3 feature), including an example where we publish a table on an ActiveForm on the internet.

16.15-17.00 - Delphi 3 C/S WebModules
WebModule, Dispatcher, PageProducer, TableProducers
This session will demonstrate the Delphi 3 Client/Server-only capabilities of the Web Modules to create and support CGI/WinCGI and ISAPI/NSAPI web server applications, including an example where we connect a database to the web, with options to browse, query and update the database contents.

17.00-17.30 Cooling Down

17.00-17.30 - The Future of Delphi (Borland)
A Borland Product Manager will talk to the audience for half an hour on the future of Delphi... and answer questions from the audience.