I got the upgrade packet yesterday, and the brochure indicates "support"
for OCX's.  I have learned to assume this means we can call OCX's.

It also claims that we can inherit from OCX's, and thus build on them.

But it does NOT claim we can actually write OCX's in Object Pascal.

Visual Basic 4.0 missed the boat on this, although rumor implies that
Visual Basic 5.0 may allow creation of certain kinds of OCX's.

Has Delphi 2.0 also missed this boat?

Must we revert to the object-oriented assembly language, known as C++,
to create application business objects as OCX's?

-- Rick
--

(Rick Rutt is a system architect living and working in Midland, Michigan.)

YES, you will be able to in Delphi 2
And when will it ship? Or is this just a rumor to hurt sales of
Delphi.
No you will be able to create OLE Automation Servers and the whole
works.

Eric Miles
mil...@usafe14.ramstein.af.mil
.............................................
My opinions and comments are my own and ONLY
my own and reflect in no way the Air Force's.
.............................................

OLE Automation Servers does not imply OCX's.

Visual Basic 4.0 allows creation of automation servers, but not OCX's.

I still want to know if Delphi 2.0 can explicitly create OCX's.
If it cannot, I do not plan on spending another $250.

-- Rick
--

(Rick Rutt is a system architect living and working in Midland, Michigan.)

OK I have been looking and all I have read that I have on Delphi 2
says that it is provides full OCX support.  I read that it you will be
able to 'add custom made OCX's to the palette' (does that mean my
custom made OCX's or what???)  and I also read that you will be able
to modify OCX's thru inheritance.  OK I know that this info is not a
for sure anwer to your question.  If I hear more or see something else
more definitive I will let you know.

Eric Miles
mil...@usafe14.ramstein.af.mil
.............................................
My opinions and comments are my own and ONLY
my own and reflect in no way the Air Force's.
.............................................

Today I found an article, it is in Federal Computer Week January 8,
1996 written by S. Ryan under the title "Visual Basic 4.0 vs Delphi
2.0:Which platform is right for you?".  It states this:

"Delphi also supports OLE2 functionality.  With its Explorer tool, you
can produce OCX's and OLE Automation Servers.  Depending on the
complexity of the application, Delphi's superior speed can make a
positive difference in OLE performance."

Hope this helps.

Eric Miles
mil...@usafe14.ramstein.af.mil
.............................................
My opinions and comments are my own and ONLY
my own and reflect in no way the Air Force's.
.............................................

I have also heard tell of a tool that will turn a VCL component into an
OCX. That would be nice.

--
Nick Hodges
nhod...@apci.net
http://www.apci.net/~nhodges

Apiary will release an OCX Expert for Delphi within 30 days of Delphi32 (i
got this from them over the fone.) I wasnt able to pry any other info out
of them - no specs, no brochures, no nothing. i guess we'll have to wait
again....

You will be able to create OCXs and also USE 3rd party OCXs just        
as if they were native Delphi VCLs. Sounds wild! I got this info from
some documents posted to the Delphi Super Page web site, from
Borland Int'l:

 d2_comp.zip (260,314 bytes) An Overview of the Delphi 2.0 Optimizing
Native Code Compiler for Windows 95 and NT ( in rtf ) by Borland Intl

d2_db.zip (385,314 bytes) Delphi Client / Server Suite 2.0 Client /
Server Database Architecture ( in rtf ) by Borland Intl

d2_qa.zip (11,680 bytes) Delphi 2.0 Questions & Answers ( in rtf ) by
Borland Intl

These are found on the Documents section of Delphi Super Page:
   http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/~robert/delphi/docs.html

and also somewhere at Borland, I guess, but I couldn't find these
there...

IT comes closer to creating one than VB 4.0.  You may need to get an
OCX SDK(or whatever the hell MS's thing is called), but, with time
and skill, someone with Delphi 2.0 can create an OCX.

Yes, there is no doubt about it - Delphi 2.0 will be able to create
OCXs, but then using the hard and complicated way set up by Microsoft's
OCX SDK. It should be just as "easy" writing a OCX in Delphi as it is
writing it in "plain" C++ (disregarding any Wizard help).

Or put it another way, writing an OCX will be as hard has the combined
effort of writing a VBX and a OLE Server, all in one module. Surely,
the will be simplifications on the OLE Automation part of the OCX (using
the extended "automated"-syntax of the class definition), but that is
not the same thing as creating an OCX.

OCXes generally have to interfaces to the outside world: an automation-
based interface and a VTBL-based interface.

The automation interface can be solved easily by using the new
"automated" key word in a class definition. This interface is the most
flexible one, but it has a high performance cost, because all method-
calls must be dispatched at run-time from strings representing the
method/property to the actual implementation.

The VTBL-based interface is how most OLE2 interfaces work. The caller
must know what methods the OCX implment at compile time. At run-time,
a pointer to a VTBL (a virtual method table in Object Pascal speak)
is returned from the OCX. This interface has a much better performance
and a call can be compared with a normal virtual method call.

Now if someone (preferably Borland) could create an easy way of
creating OCX, a lot of people would be glad (to say the least).
It could be extentions to the language, or more probably an
Application Expert that will create the skeleton from existing
component definitions or something like that.

--
 Hallvard Vassbotn  | Falcon AS (a Reuters company)  | Without programmers,
 hallv...@falcon.no | Stortorget 10,0155 OSLO,Norway | the world would stop!

You wont have to wait long. A company called Apiary has promised to
release within 30 days of Delphi 2.0 a Delphi Expert to build OCX's.

Chris Brooksbank

In article <310D1177.1...@RohmHaas.Com>,
   John Lynn <mad...@RohmHaas.Com> wrote:
Thats funny, I have read these documents ten times over and saw no mention of
being able to create OCX's.. I must be blind.

On the same subject, I rang MS Australia today to enquire about an OCX SDK and
was told I would have to buy VC++ Ver 4.00 at Au$759 to get it! I guess I'll
just stick to Delphi components for now...

Regards

Vincent Parrett

Albury, NSW, Australia                   \\\\//// ||||
Email: vparr...@albury.net.au             \\\///  ||||
Web : http://www.albury.net.au/~vparrett   \\//   ||

Apiary Softtware has an OCX Expert in the works (i spoke tto them over the
fone). Unfortunately i was unable to pry any other info from them other
than the fact that it will ship about 30 days after D2. Oh well.....

Here's the relevant phrase, from the OCX section of d2_comp.zip:

Regards,
Roger
--
-- Roger Browne, 6 Bambers Walk, Wesham, PR4 3DG, UK   | Ph 01772-687525
-- Everything Eiffel: compilers/libraries/publications | +44-1772-687525

        Hi, just got back from Borland land, and I'm still wondering if I
read the Q & A part right?  It would seem that Delphi Desktop will not
contain VCL32, and that Delphi Developer will, but I don't see any
reference to VCL16 for the 16 bit version?  I guess they couldn't just
throw that in for us huh?

        I know that they cann't put out a book on specifically what is
and is not contained in each new version, but it would be nice if the
information wasn't scattered all over the Web, maybe they could stick it
all in one directory at least, with an index by topic?  And while on the
subject, I phoned Borland Canada yesterday, (I should have asked about
the 16 VCL stuff, tomorrow maybe), and I was told by the rep, that the 16
bit Delphi shipped with 2.0 will be something more along the line of a
version 1.3, (don't know if that's much of an improvement, but thought
I'd mention it).

        And while I have your attention, being a curious newbie, I
checked out the Technical Document's Catalog at Borland, and was
surprised by how many relate to issues posted here.  Don't know how many
would be condidered answer's to the problem's posted, but they are
informative.  (Even the little college student tip would have other uses.)

        I hope more people have time to check this stuff out, and that my
comment's are of interest and assistance to one or more of you.

MKT    (MAX KOR Technologies.)

m...@stu.athabascau.ca