Delphi Does C++

Borland's popular RAD tool finally leaves its Pascal beginnings behind.

Rick Grehan

Borland's client/server rapid application development (RAD) system, Delphi, is in the process of mutating. Not that what it is becoming is wholly unrelated to the original, but Borland has replaced a large section of Delphi's DNA. Specifically, Borland took Delphi, turned its foundation language from object-oriented Pascal to C++, and called the result first Ebony (a code name) and now C++ Builder .

Even a moderately attentive passerby would mistake C++ Builder for Delphi. There's the speedbar, the tabbed component palette; below is the Object Inspector window, form window, and code window. The function of each is unchanged. One of Delphi's example programs -- Fishfind, which demonstrates the use of a d atabase grid control, image, and memo fields -- is replicated in its entirety as a C++ Builder demo. Additionally, Delphi's tool entourage, including ReportSmith and the Database Explorer, also accompanies C++ Builder. The InterBase server for NT has been replaced with the Local InterBase serv er that runs on NT or Windows 95. (For those who may be porting from Delphi to C++ Builder, C++ Builder's Local InterBase server running on Win 95 appears compatible with Delphi's InterBase NT server. I successfully ran a couple of simple Delphi applications using the C++ Builder InterBase server.)

The similarities reach deeper. The preliminary C++ Builder manuals Borland gave me -- Component Writer's Guide and Database Application Developer's Guide -- are chapter-for-chapter equivalents to the corresponding Delphi manuals. Actually, they are section-for-section equivalents. The code example snippet given in the Delphi manual for using the DataSets and DataSetCount properties of the TDatabase component (written in OO Pascal) is reincarnated in the C++ Builder manual in C++. Understand, this is a good thing: It's a testimony to the compatibility of the two systems.

Not that there's any need to abandon Object Pascal; C++ Builder's DCC32 compiler can handle Object Pascal code generated in Delphi. I experimented with mixing C++ and Object Pascal code in a sample project and encountered no difficulties doing so.

The foundation atop which C++ Builder stands is Borland's 32-bit 5.0x C++ compiler. (Strictly speaking, the documentation says you must recompile object code and library modules for programs built with C++ 5.01 or earlier.) However, to support such things as C++ Builder components, Borland has had to extend the compiler with several keywords, all of which should be familiar to Delphi developers. For example, the __property keyword precedes the declaration of a property field within a class definition. This allows the compiler and linker t o generate all the information necessary to provide the property inspector what it needs to correctly display properties associated with a component.

These are the days of the morphing integrated development environment, when the same development system that builds C++ code also builds Java code (or even Pascal code, as in the case of Metrowerks CodeWarrior). In that sense, C++ Builder, though perhaps unexpected, is at least logical.

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Where to Find

C++ Builder 1.0........................Price to be determined

Borland International
Scotts Valley, CA
Phone:    (408) 431-1000
Internet: 
http://www.borland.com

Circle 991 on Inquiry Card.

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Ratings

Technology        *****
Implementation    *****


Key

***** Outstanding
**** Very Good
*** Good
** Fair
* Poor

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Multiple Views in Builder

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C++ Builder retains Delphi's multiwindowed view of code, objects, and application GUI.

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Rick Grehan is a BYTE senior technical editor. He is coauthor of The Client/Server Toolkit for C/C++ Programmers (NobleNet, 1996). You can reach him at rick_g@bix.com .