Elpack now needs Delphi XE2+ ???

Arthur Hoornweg

Hello LMD Team,

I am using LMD tools since an eternity already. I believe since 2003.  

The reason I bought into the LMD ecosystem is Elpack, because Elpack brought unicode support to Delphi in the early 2000's.  

My application suite has grown and grown over the past 20 years, is currently using the Delphi XE compiler, and I am using Elpack in many hundreds of forms. I renew my LMD license each year.  

The Elpack website still says "If you need to add Unicode support to your Delphi, C++Builder applications (based on pre-unicode IDEs), .... then LMD ElPack is the right tool package for you.".     Only ... That isn't correct anymore. 

The latest 2021 version of LMD needs at least Delphi XE2 to install. So the product won't work on the IDE's that it was meant for.

Migrating my own application suite from Delphi XE to the latest version (Sydney) would would take me many months, which is very hard to justify to our management right now, given the financial hardships that the Corona pandemic imposes on all of us.

So what am I to do? 

Stick with the 2020 version of LMD tools forever, and no longer renew the license?  Spend precious time migrating everything to Delphi Sydney? Or spend time migrating to a different component library?

I wish this choice weren't imposed on me, I'd be much happier if LMD tools would still support Delphi XE.

Rafael Maricca (LMD)

Hi,

many thanks for your comment.

>>The Elpack website still says "If you need to add Unicode support to your Delphi, C++Builder applications (based on pre-unicode IDEs), .... then LMD ElPack is the right tool package for you.".     Only ... That isn't correct anymore. <<

Yes, this is true. But in your case: XE is already unicode enabled, and if you don't explicitely switch ANSI support on, you are already using the Unicode features of Delphi/C++Builder. 

Like mentioned in your quote the special unicode support (based on WideStrings) was especially designed for pre-unicode IDEs like Delphi 7, but exactly this support had cost too much time to implement new features in recent releases. 

With the focus on latest IDEs and VCL versions (whereby XE2 is already "old" with release year 2011) you can expect new (modern) features at a faster pace, because we don't have to replicate existing VCL/IDE features of newer IDEs in older IDEs/VCL versions. 

XE for example does not support 64bit and VCL styles - those features were introduced with XE2. 

>>The latest 2021 version of LMD needs at least Delphi XE2 to install. So the product won't work on the IDE's that it was meant for.<<

The 2020 release won't stop working after the final 2021 release. 

With the 2021 release announcement we will also announce that 2020 release will receive hotfix releases till end of 2021 - and subscription customers will receive them even after that via GIT repository or sources. 

This is similar to the last time we stopped supporting some IDEs (more than 10 years ago) - and really early customers know we re-added Delphi 6/C++Builder 6 support after high demand from customers. 

So history could repeat if there is a high number of XE users demanding LMD 2021 support. This is also valid for other unicode based IDEs (drop us a note if you want to see support for your IDE in LMD 2021). 

Only re-support of non-unicode VCL versions is definitely unlikely: Beta users who reviewed the sources might have noticed the massive code changes to get rid of old and redundant features.

>>Migrating my own application suite from Delphi XE to the latest version (Sydney) would would take me many months, which is very hard to justify to our management right now, given the financial hardships that the Corona pandemic imposes on all of us.<<

Just for the case you didn't know: if you purchase a new EMBT license, you can request access to previous versions:

https://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/previous-versions

This way you could migrate your apps first to XE2 which should definitely not cause many problems. 

Sooner or later you might need to update either, because some features (like high dpi support in VCL) are available only in later EMBT releases. 

But like I said before: LMD 2020 packages do not stop working with the final LMD 2021 release and will be still supported for the near future.