Delphi-PRAXiS - Playing With Fire(Monkey)

If you are like me and have been apprehensive about using FireMonkey let me offer you a renewed sense of hope. It's unfortunate that this hopefulness comes as the Delphi community morns the loss of Pawel Glowacki. However, Pawel will continue to influence at least this Delphi programmer, perhaps you, and undoubtedly many, many more.

I discovered the existence of Pawel's "Expert Delphi" book while reading one of the many R.I.P. blog posts. I sent myself a reminder to go purchase his book. And, this weekend I did purchase his book. I'm glad I did. I look forward to "Playing with Fire(Monkey)"!

In August I blogged "

Why My Next Software Product Will Be Windows VCL Only". Well, this book is not about the VCL. Makes my VCL statement kind of ironic, don't you think. This book is about using Delphi FireMonkey to create cross-platform Mobile Apps from one code base. I did not know this about his book when I wrote that post. Taking on a new coding platform is a daunting task. I'm stepping up to the plate and taking on this task with the help of Pawel's book. I welcome you to join me in discovering how to "Play with Fire(Monkey)".

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vEE0L-obd...pertDelphi.png

Purchase Link:

https://www.packtpub.com/application.../expert-delphi

Expert Delphi - Preface

The world of a mobile app developer is getting more and more complicated. The technology is not standing still. Every day, new versions of mobile operating systems are released to the market. Mobile devices are getting new capabilities. User expectations are constantly growing, and it is becoming increasingly harder to meet them.

The only way to meet and exceed all challenges in the contemporary world of mobile development is to become a developer superhero! Super heroes have super tools. In this book, we are going to embark on the journey of mastering Delphi development. We will learn how to gain amazing productivity powers and rapidly build stunning cross-platform mobile apps from one codebase.

We will start with getting comfortable with using the Delphi IDE. Then, we will review the key constructs of the Object Pascal language and everyday programmer tasks, so you can easily understand and write solid and maintainable source code. Over the course of this book, the fun levels are only going to increase. We will start our adventure with mobile development with Delphi from building small projects that will make you feel like a real Delphi developer. Having mastered simple things, you will be ready for doing more serious stuff. We will go deep into understanding the concept of FireMonkey styles, which is the cornerstone of building stunning cross-platform user interfaces that will make the difference in the end user experience of your apps. The rest of the journey is all about gaining practical knowledge of using more complex Delphi frameworks. We will get down to the metal and harness the full power of mobile hardware and operating systems. We will be working with sensors, extending to the Internet of Things, building data-driven user interfaces, embedding mobile databases, integrating with REST web services, architecting scalable, multiuser backends, and more.

This book is packed with practical code examples and best practices for you to become an excellent mobile developer!

Expert- Delphi - Table of Contents

1: FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS

Delphi installation
Delphi compilers and toolchains
Hello World app
Deploying to mobile devices
Summary

2: MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

Do you speak Object Pascal?
Object Pascal Phrase Book
Summary

3: PACKING UP YOUR TOOLBOX

Parallel Programming Library
Working with files
JSON
XML
Summary

4: PLAYING WITH FIREMONKEY

Drawing in code
Get moving with timers
The power of parenting
Touch me
Game of Memory
Summary

5: FIREMONKEY IN 3D

Cross-platform 3D rendering
Using Context3D
Custom Wireframe component
Objects 3D
Moving Earth
Building an interactive 3D scene
Using 3D models
Starfield simulation
Mixing 3D and 2D
Summary

6: BUILDING USER INTERFACES WITH STYLE

Working with built-in styles
Using custom styles
Embedding styles as resources
Customizing styles
Using frames
Working with inherited views
Previewing forms on devices
Summary

7: WORKING WITH MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM

James Bond's toy
What I'm running on?
The life of an app
Sensing the world
Taking photos
Using share sheets
Camera, light, action!
Working with address book
Notify me!
Navigating the web
Working with maps
Creating and consuming Android services
Delphi language bridges
Summary

8: EXTENDING TO THE INTERNET OF THINGS

Communication protocols
Understanding BLE
Connecting to things with ThingConnect
Getting close with beacons
Proximity solutions with BeaconFence
App tethering
Summary

9: EMBEDDING DATABASES

Architecting data-driven apps
Modeling data
Choosing a database
Accessing databases with FireDAC
Building data-driven user interface
Using visual live bindings
Fast user interface prototyping
Summary

10: INTEGRATING WITH WEB SERVICES

Understanding web services
Native HTTP client
Consuming XML SOAP web services
Integrating with REST services
Backend as a service client
Integrating with the cloud
Summary

11: BUILDING MOBILE BACKENDS

Delphi and multi-tier architectures
Getting low-level with WebBroker
Do it yourself with DataSnap
Easy REST API publishing with RAD Server
Summary

12: APP DEPLOYMENT

Deploying to App Stores
Enhancing your apps
Summary

13: THE ROAD AHEAD

What we have learned
Staying on top of everything
Your next Delphi mobile app
Summary

Expert Delphi - Prerequisites

You are expected to have a basic knowledge of Delphi and an interest in building crossplatform mobile apps for Android and iOS.

The Delphi IDE is a Windows program, so you will need a physical or virtual Windows installation. In order to develop for iOS, you will need a Mac computer. You will also need an Enterprise or Architect license for Delphi itself. In the beginning of the first chapter of this book, we cover the installation process of Delphi in a great detail.

Purchase Link:

https://www.packtpub.com/application.../expert-delphi

Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike

zilchworks.com