Some Technical Information about Delphi for PHP
Some Technical Information about Delphi for PHP
As Delphi community knows VCL (Visual Component Library) is very powerful and VCL architecture which allowed third party components created a market sector what we know as Delphi components. There are thousands of Delphi components now either freeware or very cost-friendly. How much of these VCL components can be used now? I think one of the reasons why Kylix project failed (my opinion) was lack of integration or convergence of these tremendeous components into Kylix. The same thing exists here. If Delphi for PHP project develops some easy ways to make use of these extensive libraries of component treasury by say an Object Pascal to PHP utility, that would change a lot of things. By this way, Delphi developers will have very good advantage in PHP world by their RAD skills. And it will also attract a good support from PHP and open source community.
The following is the compilation of some technical information from CodeGear’s own page together with some of my comments written in italic.
What is VCL for PHP?
VCL for PHP are the open source PHP scripts and libraries, including Qooxdoo, Adodb, DynAPI, Smarty, XAjax and JSCalendar. Inspired by VCL for Delphi, the component architecture is 100 percent written in PHP. Developers can create and integrate components into the IDE and extend the existing components to fit their needs.
(Some tools would be very useful for Delphi community to speed the conversion process of available VCL object Pascal components into VCL for PHP components)
Where is the VCL for PHP open source project hosted?
The VCL for PHP open source project will be hosted at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vcl4php
(There is nothing there yet (13th march 2007). You can check time to time)
Does Delphi for PHP include any additional software?
Delphi for PHP includes a developer edition of InterBase that enables developers to create and test their application with the InterBase database before deployment. Deploying an application that uses InterBase for its database requires the purchase of InterBase licenses.
(I think most of the Delphi developers who are using Interbase Database should have to shift to MySQL database since Interbase is not supported by majority of Webhosting companies. It is also better option since most of the LAMP/open source community are using MySQL. There must be also native support in Delphi for PHP for PostgreSQL Database)
Conclusion: I think the most critical issue for the success of new product, Delphi for PHP is the support from both Delphi and PHP communities. PHP community already created their own libraries in many subjects. To get support for Delphi for PHP, they need to see some real benefits and advantages for using VCL for PHP. Having a RAD tool cannot be the only reason to change to new environment. Delphi for PHP must give them all they need in RAD way but with extensive component support not found in PHP world.
Borland has really offered good tools to us to developers in the past. But it is difficult to say the same thing for their own business (at least my opinion).
My Comments are written in Italics and they are only my pure opinions not necessarily shared by others.
