I want to use Delphi but the price has always scared me away. But I’m also put off by how weird XAML/C#/.NET is (I’ve seen entire video tutorials at the Microsoft Academy). How much does Oxygene abstract away from this weirdness. Am I just replacing C# with Delphi (and I’m stuck with all the other weirdness) if I use Oxygene?
Are there any real code samples I can look at? The only one I can find is the obligatory “Hello, world” one, which isn’t very helpful. If they’re on Github, can someone direct me to them?
To be frank, not much, but WPF isn;'t really that “weird”. It’s a bit different that Delphi’s DFM system, but not really by that much, conceptually. With Oxygene, you till work with WPF (you can also do WinForms, of course, but i’d recommend WPF, for Windows apps), be int via XAML or the QPF designer. You’ll be using the Oxuygene/Pascal language instead of C#.
The best/nicest WPF sample we ship is the “Sorter” example, you can find it under the “RemObjects Samples\Oxygene for .NET\WPF” folder.
I was in the same boat you are in. I was a long-time devotee to Delphi (since version 1.0) and was getting increasingly upset by upgrade costs year after year. Then I upgraded to the first version that introduced FireMonkey and quickly realized my huge mistake and that was enough for me. I switched to Elements and have not looked back.
Yes, there is a learning curve with both Oxygene and with WPF/XAML and also with .NET but that learning curve is well worth it and you will be happy in the end.
Feel free to message me directly if you have other questions, or use this public forum if you prefer. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Since this ‘weirdness’ is rooted in the underlying technology Oxygene can ‘just’ lower the pain and trade in modern Pascal advantages for C# shortcomings except from what Oxygene offers additionally.
Microsoft didn’t invent what is called XAML today because there was no such a demand. The influence did come from the web (Silverlight). The coder’s perspective to RAD.
Even if WPF looks pretty easy first taking a look under the hood and understanding how it works is inevitable. Nowadays new applications start far beyond where existing Windows desktop applications started once. .net especially combined with WPF is a class library framework designed for the desktop while the VCL is a class library put on top. Once you think of introducing your own widget set WPF puts a at advantage far beyond where the VCL or Winforms end. If the Windows native API would be sufficient there would not be a demand for .net. and the related class library framework .
Putting you at advantage far beyond comes at the price of having to dig deeper first. Independent from the language you get to know the technology. There is currently no more solidly designed class library framework but the .net framework & friends in summary ready to be used in a way reminding us of RAD the coder’s way.
WPF is not about apps only but if you don’t dig deep enough you benefit beyond apps.
