What's New in XE8

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The XE8, XE8 Subscription Update 1, and XE8 General Update 1 releases contain the following new and improved features.

Contents

What's New in XE8 Update 1

Check the lists below to see the different features included in XE8 Subscription Update 1, and XE8 General Update 1.

  • Subscription Update 1 is provided to active update subscription customers.
  • General Update 1 is provided to XE8 customers without an update subscription.

See more information about update subscriptions.

What's New in XE8 Subscription Update 1

The Subscription Update 1 is provided to active update subscription customers.

  • New features:
  • Specific fixes:

What's New in XE8 General Update 1

The General Update 1 is provided to XE8 customers without an update subscription.

  • New features:
  • Community Toolbar
  • iOS 8 Simulator fix
  • Added missing files from the initial XE8 delivery

XE8 Update 1 Features

GetIt Package Manager

The name of the GetIt window, as well as the name of GetIt Package Manager in the Tools Menu has been updated to GetIt Package Manager.

GetIt now counts with three new filter options: Free, Buy and Purchased. See more about these options in the GetIt Package Manager Window.

FireDAC Improvements

In XE8, the Unidirectional property is synchronized to the read-only IsUniDirectional property.

Change the value of the Unidirectional property of your TFDQuery or TFDTable to convert your FireDAC datasets to unidirectional.

New Embarcadero Community Toolbar

The new Embarcadero Community toolbar allows you to easily connect to the Embarcadero Social Community. You can see the toolbar on the right up corner on the IDE.

Go to View > Toolbars > Embarcadero Community to show or hide the toolbar.

See the Embarcadero Community Toolbar toolbar for more information.

Favorite Projects in Welcome Page

The Welcome Page includes a Favorite Projects section. You can add favorite projects to this section. Visit Favorite Projects in Welcome Page to see how to add and remove your favorite projects.

FireMonkey Changes for XE8

FireMonkey is our proprietary library of object-oriented programming (classes, methods, properties and so forth).

Native Presentation of TListView, TSwitch, TMemo, TCalendar, TMultiView, and TEdit on iOS

On the iOS target platform, FireMonkey now supports both styled and native presentations for the TListView, TSwitch, TMemo, TCalendar, TMultiView, and TEdit controls.

  • By default, when you add any of these components to the Form Designer, RAD Studio uses the Styled presentation.
  • To use the native presentation on the iOS target platform, set the new ControlType property to Platform.

For more information, see TPresentedControl.ControlType, TListViewBase.ControlType, and FireMonkey Native iOS Controls.

Improved Interoperability Between Platform and Styled Controls

The ControlType property is now available for several controls that do not yet have a native iOS presentation.

Desktop Web Browsers

FireMonkey now supports the use of the TWebBrowser component on desktop platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). Previously, TWebBrowser supported only the mobile platforms (Android and iOS). All the basic functions of the Web browser are available (such as navigate to URL, go back, go forward, and so on). For more information, see Mobile Tutorial: Using the Web Browser Component (iOS and Android).

Interactive Maps

On mobile platforms (Android and iOS), FireMonkey supports the TMapView component that adds interactive maps to your mobile applications. The basic features of this component are as follows:

  • Four Types of Maps: Normal, Satellite, Hybrid, and (for Android only) Terrain.
  • Gesture Control: Intuitive tilt, rotate, and zoom gesture controls.
  • Control the Map View: Ability to control the map properties such as the map center coordinates, the map orientation, and so on.
  • Custom markers: Ability to add markers to the maps.

IMPORTANT: Using TMapView in an Android app requires that you obtain a Google Maps API key. Without a valid API key, a run-time error occurs. For details on obtaining the Google Maps API key, see Configuring Android Applications to Use Google Maps.

For more information and examples, see Mobile Tutorial: Using a Map Component to Work with Maps (iOS and Android).

New Options for Media Library

FireMonkey now provides an option to save the pictures taken by a device camera to the device Photo Library.
If your application handles pictures by using either the FireMonkey Actions or the IFMXCameraService interface, you can use the TCustomTakePhotoAction.NeedSaveToAlbum property or a parameter of the TParamsPhotoQuery type to cause your application to automatically save the pictures to the device Photo Library.
In addition, FireMonkey provides the IFMXPhotoLibrary interface that allows you to save any bitmap image to the device Photo Library.

For more information and code examples, see:

Standard Actions for TMediaPlayer

FireMonkey now provides the following standard actions that you can use to control any instance of TMediaPlayer:

Form Positioner Preview

A Form Positioner is now available in FireMonkey projects. The Form Positioner allows you to position forms in relation to each other as you design your application. Located in the lower right corner of the Designer, the Form Positioner shows the position of your form as it will appear on the screen at run time.

InputQuery now Supports Masking Input Fields

InputQuery now lets you mark fields as masked, so that input data is visually masked on the screen. To mark a field as marked, prefix the field name in an InputQuery call with:

  • Delphi: "#1". For example, instead of the field name 'Password', use field name #1'Password'.
  • C++: "\1". For example, instead of the field name "Password", use field name "\1Password".

AppAnalytics in FireMonkey

FireMonkey now supports the AppAnalytics, which allows you to track usage data of your application. You only need to drop a TAppAnalytics component into your application and set some options of the component. After TAppAnalytics is active, the usage data is available in a few minutes in the AppAnalytics Web interface.

  • AppAnalytics is totally anonymous and does not collect or transmit any private or personally identifiable information.

Customizing Local Notifications

Custom Notification Sounds

You can set a custom notification sound by setting the value of the SoundName field. For more information, see Mobile Tutorial: Using Notifications (iOS and Android).

Repeat Notifications

Repeat a scheduled notification over the time by setting the value of the RepeatInterval property. For more information, see Mobile Tutorial: Using Notifications (iOS and Android).

The Android View Used at Run time Depends on the Dimensions of the Target Device

The following two tables describe, respectively, the algorithm used to choose the matching Android view at run time, and the range of Android device sizes that match each view:

Saving Images to the Device Photo Album

FireMonkey now has the IFMXPhotoLibrary interface to save images to the system photo album:

For further information about how to save images to the device photo album, visit MediaLibrary.IFMXPhotoLibrary and IFMXPhotoLibrary.AddImageToSavedPhotosAlbum.

TImageList Introduces Image Lists as Centralized Collections of Images

FireMonkey now provides image lists through a new component, FMX.ImgList.TImageList. Image lists provide full-featured tools for using centralized collections of small images by GUI elements (controls, menus, and others) in your FireMonkey applications. The FireMonkey TImageList serves the same purposes as the VCL Vcl.Controls.TImageList, but provides more advanced features and is more convenient to use in multi-platform FireMonkey applications.

Each image in a list is formed using several multi-resolution bitmaps to ensure that images are properly displayed on devices having different screen densities and resolutions. The Image List Editor enables you to prepare and modify FireMonkey image lists.

For more information, see Using TImageList Image Lists as Centralized Collections of Images and FMX.ImageList Sample.

New and Changed FireMonkey API

New OnFilter Event

FireMonkey provides the new OnFilter event to set custom filters in a search box.

For further information about the new OnFilter event, visit TListViewBase.OnFilter and TSearchBoxModel.OnFilter.

Setting a Custom Quality Capture Setting for your Camera

TVideoCaptureQuality has the new value CaptureSettings to set custom quality capture setting for your camera.

New TBoundingBox Class

TBoundingBox is a new class, similar to TRectF but for use in 3D. It defines a record type that stores the maximum and minimum vertices which describe a box.

There are several constructors that allow you to create a TBoundingBox, by specifying an origin, a cloud of points, coordinates, or an existing TBoundingBox. Some other methods that this class provides are GetSize, Inflate, IntersectsWith, Contains, and Normalize.

PullRefreshWait property for iOS Native List View

The new PullRefreshWait property allows setting whether the animated spinning indicator, displayed when PullToRefresh is True, disappears automatically.

If you set PullRefreshWait to True, you need to call the StopPullRefresh method to hide the animated spinning indicator when required.

The PullRefreshWait property is for native iOS controls only.

Run-Time Library (RTL) Changes for XE8

New HTTP Client API

The RTL provides several new network units with members that let you create an HTTP client, send requests to HTTP servers and handle their responses.

Using an HTTP Client explains how to use the two new HTTP components, TNetHTTPClient and TNetHTTPRequest, to handle HTTP requests. See also the main HTTP client classes:

  • THTTPClient, that represents an HTTP client.
  • THTTPRequest, that represents a request from your client to a server.
  • THTTPResponse, that represents the server response to a request from your client.

Beacon Support

The RTL now supports the use of beacons. A beacon is a Bluetooth Low Energy device that includes some Manufacturer Specific Data in its advertising data, allowing any device that receives that information to identify the beacon device and calculate the distance to it without being paired or connected to it.

We support two available beacon formats:

  • iBeacon - the format defined by Apple
  • AltBeacon - an open format, known as Alternative beacon, that supports both Android and iOS

Using Beacons shows how to implement a beacon application.

New Classic Bluetooth Component

The System.Bluetooth.Components unit now provides a new component: TBluetooth. This new component lets you use Classic Bluetooth on your applications using a component-based approach.

See Using Classic Bluetooth to learn how to use this new component.

New Hash API

The RTL has a new unit, System.Hash. This unit includes classes and methods that allow you to use the following hash functions in your applications:

New Delphi Data Types FixedInt and FixedUInt

Two new platform independent 32-bit integer types are introduced in XE8:

FixedInt and FixedUInt ensure portability, better integration and interoperability with 32-bit and 64-bit platforms. These two new types ensure cross-language support between Delphi and C++ for your applications.

The size of FixedInt and FixedUInt is 32 bits across all 64-bit and 32-bit platforms (64-bit iOS, 64-bit Windows, 32-bit Windows, OSX32, 32-bit iOS, and Android). The following table shows the equivalent types between the different platforms.

Equivalent types in other platforms
Windows platforms
(32-bit and 64-bit Windows) 		OSX32, Android platforms, and
iOS platforms (32-bit and 64-bit iOS)
FixedInt LongInt Integer

FixedUInt

LongWord Cardinal

For further information, see:

Changes in LongInt and LongWord Size for 64-bit iOS Platforms

LongInt and LongWord are now platform-dependent integer types.

On 64-bit iOS platforms, LongInt and LongWord are double the size that is supported on 32-bit platforms (32-bit Windows, OSX32, 32-bit iOS, and Android) and on 64-bit Windows platforms, as follows:

Size
32-bit platforms and 64-bit Windows platforms 64-bit iOS platforms
LongInt 32-bits (4 bytes) 64-bits (8 bytes)

LongWord

32-bits (4 bytes) 64-bits (8 bytes)

For more information, see Platform-Dependent Integer Types.

Asynchronous Programming Library

The RTL provides support for asynchronous programming within TComponent.

For more information, see Using the Asynchronous Programming Library.

VCL Changes for XE8

SetApplicationMainFormOnTaskBar Has Been Removed from Vcl.Forms.hpp

In your existing C++ VCL applications, you should replace the following line: 

 SetApplicationMainFormOnTaskBar(Application, true);

with this line: 

  Application->MainFormOnTaskBar = true;

For more information, see:

AppAnalytics in VCL

VCL now supports the TAppAnalytics component. AppAnalytics allows you to track usage data of your application. You only need to drop a TAppAnalytics component into your application and set some options of the component. After AppAnalytics is active, the usage data is available in a few minutes in the AppAnalytics Web interface. AppAnalytics does not collect or transmit any private or personally identifiable information. It is totally anonymous.

See AppAnalytics Overview for more information.

New VCL Styles

Three new VCL styles included on XE8: Glow, Sky, and Tablet Light.

Access the VCL Styles by going to Project > Options > Application > Appearance.

Delphi Changes for XE8

DCCIOSARM64.EXE: New Compiler for 64-bit iOS Device

The DCCIOSARM64.EXE compiler is a new NEXTGEN compiler that supports development of 64-bit iOS apps.

Note that the App Store now requires that your 32-bit iOS apps must also support 64-bit iOS devices. For more information, see New Compiler Option to Build iOS Binaries that Support Both 32-bit and 64-bit iOS.

Universal iOS Apps: DCCIOSARM64 supports a new option on the Compiling page of Project Options: Generate iOS universal binary file (armv7 + arm64).
Setting this option to True generates a universal iOS app that runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit iOS devices. This option is only available when the target platform is iOS Device 64-bit.

Also see Conditional compilation (Delphi).

Two New Data Types: FixedInt and FixedUInt

For details, see New Delphi Data Types FixedInt and FixedUInt.

C++ Changes for XE8

BCCIOSARM64.EXE: New Clang-enhanced Compiler for 64-bit iOS Device

We have added a new compiler that produces 64-bit iOS applications: BCCIOSARM64.EXE, the C++ Compiler for the 64-bit iOS Device.

Note that the App Store now requires that your 32-bit iOS apps must also support 64-bit iOS devices. RAD Studio offers an option to create a universal 32-bit/64-bit iOS app. For more information, see New Compiler Option to Build iOS Binaries that Support Both 32-bit and 64-bit iOS.

BCCIOSARM64 supports the new __arm64__ predefined macro. To write code that is specific to the 64-bit iOS target platform, you can use: 

#if defined (__arm64__)
 ...
#endif

To write code that is specific to x64 (iOS and Windows), you can use: 

#if defined(__clang__) && (__POINTER_WIDTH__ == 64)
...
#endif

For more information, see Predefined Macros.

Fully Qualified Names Are Now Required When Including Run-time Packages

When building a VCL or FireMonkey C++ application, the IDE performs package analysis -- that is, the IDE calculates the packages required/used by the application from the included headers. Before XE8, the IDE used the base name when matching headers to packages. For example, upon seeing that an application includes SysUtils.hpp, the IDE would infer that the application is using the rtl package. Similarly, #include ActnCtrls.hpp meant that the application used the vcl package.

Using the base name, however, has drawbacks. An application including a header named About.h|hpp might incorrectly be assumed to require the FireDac UI package, because the latter contains a unit named FireDAC.VCLUI.About.hpp. Similarly, including assert.h might trigger the IDE to link to the DUnitXRuntime package (it contains a unit named DUnitX.Assert).

Qualified Name Matching Only

Starting with XE8, the IDE now considers a package to be required only when there is a #include statement for the qualified/full name of a unit in that package. That is, upon seeing #include <XMLDoc.hpp>, the IDE does not conclude that the Xml package is required. The IDE only includes the xmlrtl package if you specify the fully qualified name: #include <Xml.XMLDoc.hpp>.

This Change Affects New Projects Only

The change applies to new projects, or when an existing project starts to use a package it had never used before. This change does not affect existing projects, as their Package requirements have already been calculated and saved in the project file (<project_name>.cbproj).

New Macros Defined

To help you monitor your use of fully qualified package names, the following two new macros are defined:

  • WARN_LEGACY_HEADER_USAGE - Generates a warning when a non-qualified header is included
  • ERROR_LEGACY_HEADER_USAGE - Generates an error when a non-qualified header is included

If you add #define WARN_LEGACY_HEADER_USAGE and then you enter #include <SysUtils.hpp>, the following warning appears after your next build: 

 Include <System.SysUtils.hpp> instead

If you add #define ERROR_LEGACY_HEADER_USAGE and then you enter #include <SysUtils.hpp>, the following error message appears after your next build: 

 Fatal F1003 $BDS\include\windows\rtl\SysUtils.hpp 8: Error directive: Include 'System.SysUtils.hpp' instead
  *** 1 errors in Compile ***

DynamicArrays: Construction and Initialization Are Now More User-Friendly

Previously, you would have to set up the length of a DynamicArray and then add the elements, like this: 

  DynamicArray<int> test;
  test.Length = 3;
  test[0] = 1;
  test[1] = 2;
  test[2] = 3;

Now you can simultaneously initialize and construct a dynamic array when you are using any of the Clang-enhanced C++ Compilers: 

  DynamicArray<int> test = {0, 1, 2};

For BCC32, you can initialize and construct the array as follows: 

 DynamicArray<int> test(0, 1, 2);

The new syntax was implemented using C++11 std::initializer_list.

New Forms

For All Our C++ Compilers

Using a plain C++ array: 

    // template <size_t SIZE> System::DynamicArray(T(&array)[SIZE]);
    int values[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
    System::DynamicArray<int> h(values);

For Clang-enhanced C++ Compilers

C++11 initializer list: 

    // System::DynamicArray(std::initializer_list<T> il);
    System::DynamicArray<char> ArrayOfChars('a', 'b', 'c');
    System::DynamicArray<int> ArrayOfInts(0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,
                                        10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18);

C++11 variadic templated constructor: 

    // template <class... Types> System::DynamicArray(const T &t, Types && ...values);
    System::DynamicArray<char> c('a'); // t='a', ...values=<>
    System::DynamicArray<char> d('a', 'b', 'c'); // t='a', ...values=<'b', 'c'>

For BCC32

Since BCC32 does not support C++11 Uniform Initialization, we have added constructor overloads for 2 to up to 19 parameters: 

    // System::DynamicArray(const T &t0,  const T &t1,  const T &t2);
    System::DynamicArray<char> f('a', 'b', 'c');
    // System::DynamicArray(const T &t0,  const T &t1,  const T &t2,  const T &t3,
    //                      const T &t4,  const T &t5,  const T &t6,  const T &t7,
    //                      const T &t8,  const T &t9,  const T &t10, const T &t11,
    //                      const T &t12, const T &t13, const T &t14, const T &t15,
    //                      const T &t16, const T &t17, const T &t18);
    System::DynamicArray<int> g( 0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,
                                10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18);

For more information, see Structured Types.

SetApplicationMainFormOnTaskBar Has Been Removed from Vcl.Forms.hpp

For details, see VCL Changes for XE8.

Boost Now Available Outside Installer

The Boost Libraries are no longer part of the product installer. You can easily obtain Boost by selecting Tools > GetIt to open the GetIt main window, and then choosing to install Boost from GetIt.

For other ways of installing (or uninstalling) Boost, see Boost.

New Ways to Handle Delphi Anonymous Methods

We have updated the recommended way to handle Delphi anonymous methods in your C++ applications. The revised description, in How to Handle Delphi Anonymous Methods in C++, uses either a Functor (function object) or a Lambda expression. See the code examples on the page.

C++ Assignment Operator as the Delphi Implicit Operator

In C++ it is possible to use the operator= for assignment to the result type, the same as the implicit operator is used in Delphi.

For instance, given the variable myVar with TValue type, in Delphi, it is possible to assign different types to this variable as follows: 

a := 'assigning a string';
a := 123;
a := 3.14;

Previously in C++, without the assignment operator, you had to write it like this: 

a = TValue::_op_Implicit(UnicodeString(L"assigning a string"));
a = TValue::_op_Implicit(123);
a = TValue::_op_Implicit(3.14L);

Now in C++, with the assignment operator, you can write it as: 

a = UnicodeString(L"assigning a string");
a = 123;
a = 3.14L;

For further details, see C++ Assignment Operator as the Delphi Implicit Operator.

IDE Changes for XE8

New Target Platform: iOS Device - 64 bit

To create an app for the new iOS Device - 64 bit platform:

Multi-Device Preview

With the new Multi-Device Preview, you can preview how your application looks on different devices. The Multi-Device Preview displays a preview of the design area on several devices at the same time. You can select the devices to preview.

MDPreviewWindow1.png

To open the Multi-Device Preview window, choose View > Multi-Device Preview.

For further information about this feature, see Multi-Device Preview.

Device Manager

The Device Manager shows a grid with the available device presets. The device presets are the list of available devices to use at design time for example in the Multi-Device Preview Window.

To open the Device Manager, choose Tools > Options > Environment Options > Form Designer > Device Manager.

DeviceManager.png

The Device Manager allows you to add, edit, and delete a device preset using the Device Settings Window.

The device presets can also be used as views of your multi-device project if the view has been registered by installing the package of such view.

The Device Manager manages the DevicePresets.xml file.

Note: In XE8, the MobileDevices.xml file has been renamed to DevicePresets.xml.

Run Your Apps on Any iOS Simulator

The Target node of the iOS Simulator platform node of the Project Manager now shows the complete list of simulators supported by the Xcode installation on your Mac. The Project Manager also shows the iOS version of each simulator, and you can run your applications on a given device model running any one of the supported iOS versions.

XE8iOSSimulatorTarget.png

Add Featured Files Opens Automatically When Necessary

When you add to the Project Manager a file that may require you to add some featured files to the deployment configuration of your project, RAD Studio now opens a filtered view of the Add Featured Files dialog box, so that you can include the required features files in the deployment configuration of your project. See Add Featured Files Filtered List for more information.

Disabling Built-in RAD Studio Java Libraries for Android Using the Project Manager

In XE8, the Project Manager lists the built-in RAD Studio Java libraries for Android, and you can disable any one of those libraries. To make your application lighter, you might choose to disable Java libraries that your application does not require. For more information, see Using the Built-in RAD Studio Java Libraries for Android.

XE8DisableJavaLibrary.png

In XE7, you could easily add custom Java libraries to your Android applications using the Project Manager. However, to remove unnecessary Java libraries that RAD Studio includes in Android applications by default, you had to manually create and deploy a custom classes.dex file.

Mercurial Version Control System Integrated in the IDE

RAD Studio supports now a new version control system integrated in the IDE, for managing and tracking changes in your projects: Mercurial distributed version control system.

The History Manager now presents integrated Mercurial version control log information from your local repository. You can find more information of the tracked changes of your project in the Contents, Information and Differences tab.

You can use Mercurial to:

  • Clone a copy of your remote Mercurial repository and start working with it.
  • Commit your changes to your local repository.
  • Show remote repository log data for your project.

In XE8, some Git features have been added in the IDE:

  • Authenticate in your remote private repository.
  • Push your changes to the remote Git repository and pull changes, updating your working copy with the latest remote changes.

For more information about the version control systems integrated in the IDE, see:

Settings Migration Tool

The new Settings Migration Tool provided with RAD Studio XE8 allows you to import and export configuration settings between RAD Studio and Appmethod as well as between different versions of the products.

The migration tool supports Borland Delphi 7 and any latter version.

With the Settings Migration Tool you can:

You can find the migrationtool.exe tool in the following path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\16.0\bin.

Visit the Settings Migration Tool page for more details.

New iOS Code Signing Application Options

You can now select the signing data that RAD Studio uses to code sign your iOS applications.

On the Provisioning page, for any of the iOS Device build types (Development, Ad hoc, Application Store), you can select:

If you leave any of these values as Auto, RAD Studio selects a suitable provisioning profile and developer certificate that match the CFBundleIdentifier and the target device. For more details, see Completing the Provisioning Page.

New Option to Build iOS Binaries that Support Both 32-bit and 64-bit iOS

All new iOS apps submitted to the App Store must include 64-bit support starting February 1st, 2015. That is, applications that target devices running 32-bit iOS must support 64-bit iOS as well.

The IDE provides a new compiler option for the 64-bit iOS target platform, Generate iOS universal binary file (armv7 + arm64).
When you enable this option and deploy your application, the IDE generates a fat binary that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit iOS.

You can find this option in:

  • Project > Options > Delphi Compiler > Compiling > Other options (Delphi)
  • Project > Options > C++ Compiler > Advanced > Other options (C++)

'Receive Push Notification' Entitlement No Longer Needed for iOS Applications

To enable receiving Push Notification messages in iOS applications, you do not need to set any additional Entitlement project option.
RAD Studio code signs the iOS app by using a Provisioning Profile that allows Push Notification services in the device where the app is installed. See Push Notifications for more information.

Castalia Integration

XE8 integrates Castalia with a dedicated menu in the IDE. Castalia adds functionalities to help you to perform some tasks in an easier way. Castalia functionalities are divided into 4 sections:

  • Visual Features: Visual elements added to the code editor to have a better understanding of the structure and the flow execution of your code.
  • Controls in the Code Editor: Controls added to the IDE to help you to navigate through your code.
  • Non-visual Features: Set of shortcuts which provides you with functionalities to use while you are writing code.
  • Castalia Menu: Functionalities and statistics of your code which can be accessed through the new dedicated menu.

Castalia Overview shows you how to use Castalia functionalities.

Customer Experience Program

The IDE integrates a new option to join the Customer Experience Program. You can join this program and help Embarcadero to improve RAD Studio.

The Customer Experience Program collects information about the usage of the IDE during your session (how often you launch RAD Studio, how do you navigate in the IDE, etc). This information is totally anonymous, since the program does not collect or transmit any private or personally identifiable information.

You can find this option in:

For more details, see the Customer Experience Program page.

Visual Changes and Customization

The appearance of the IDE has changed for XE8. See System Registry Keys for IDE Visual Settings for information on how you can customize the appearance of the IDE. To revert some of the changes and make the XE8 IDE look more like XE7 IDE, follow these steps:

  1. Create a new text document (you can use any text editor) and copy the following text into it:
    2. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Embarcadero\BDS\16.0\ModernTheme]
"FontName"="MS Sans Serif"
"FontSize"=dword:00000008
"MainToolBarColor"="clBtnFace"
  2. Save the file with the .reg extension.
  3. Execute the file. You will see a warning about changing the registry. You must accept in order to apply the changes.
    Note: You may need Administrator permissions to be able to execute registry script files. If the IDE was open when you set or changed registry values, you must restart the IDE for the values to take effect.

Database and Connectivity Changes for XE8

FireDAC Changes

You may need to update your existing FireDAC code to accommodate the following API changes:

Base Members* Changes

FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDAdaptedDataSet.OnError
FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDCustomCommand.OnError
FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDCustomConnection.OnError
FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDCustomConnection.OnRecover
FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDCustomSchemaAdapter.OnError
FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDCustomTableAdapter.OnError
FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDRdbmsDataSet.OnError
FireDAC.Comp.Script.TFDScript.OnError
FireDAC.Phys.TFDPhysDriverService.OnError

In XE7, AInitiator was a constant IFDStanObject object interface.

In XE8, AInitiator is the same object, but you receive it as an instance of TObject instead.

FireDAC.Comp.Client.TFDCustomConnection.OnLogin

In XE7, the second parameter was AConnectionDef, a constant IFDStanConnectionDef object interface.

In XE8, the second parameter became AParams, an instance of TFDConnectionDefParams that contains the same data that AConnectionDef.Params used to contain in XE7.

FireDAC.Comp.UI.TFDGUIxScriptDialog.OnProgress

In XE7, AInfoProvider was a constant IFDGUIxScriptDialogInfoProvider object interface.

In XE8, AInfoProvider is the same object, but you receive it as an instance of TObject instead.

* Changes also affect members that inherited listed members.

Enterprise Mobility Services

EMS Management Console Application

The EMS Management Console Application is a sample application delivered with RAD Studio that you can use to manage the EMS data stored in your EMS Server and to send EMS push notification messages to your registered devices. You can customize this application as needed, using the sample source code delivered in RAD Studio.

With the EMS Management Console Application you can:

For more information on how to use the EMS Management Console Application and where to find the source code, see EMS Management Console Application.

64-bit iOS Device Database Compatibility

The 64-bit iOS Device platform has been added in XE8. The compatibility of this new platform with the Database Management System (DBMS) is the same as the compatibility offered with the 32-bit iOS Device platform:

Bitmap Style Designer Changes for XE8

  • The Bitmap Style Designer has been updated to offer new style templates for the current supported versions of iOS and Android.
  • {{The New Style button presents a selection of style templates, including iOS, Android, VCL, Windows, Mac OS X, Metropolis UI, and various blank styles.
  • You can create objects for different resolutions using the new Style Menu commands such as Add New Objects for 1.5x Resolution Graphic, Add New Objects for 2.0x Resolution Graphic and Add New Objects for 3.0x Resolution Graphic.
  • You can now add object templates using the new Add Object Template toolbar button. Using the default object structure, you only need to make adjustments to the presets, and assign properties as you want.
  • You can automatically create other appropriate resolutions of your objects by using the new Automatically Adjust Object for All Graphic Resolutions context menu command.
  • You can test your custom objects (and test them at different resolutions) using the new Test object style context menu commands.

Third-Party Software Changes for XE8

Box2D for Delphi and C++

RAD Studio now provides Box2D, an open source physics engine for games. You can use Box2D in both Delphi and C++ RAD Studio applications.

Debugger Changes for XE8

Debugging of iOS64 apps is not supported (F9 is not enabled when iOS Device 64-bit is the target platform).
Instead, you should set iOS Device 32-bit as the target platform, complete your debugging, and then rebuild your app for the iOS Device 64-bit target platform.

Testing Framework Changes for XE8

RAD Studio provides now a DUnitX support for Delphi and C++Builder. This testing framework enables you to develop and execute tests against Win32, Win64, and MacOSX. DUnitX provides its own set of methods to test a large number of conditions. These methods represent common assertions although you can also create your own custom assertions.

For further information, see DUnitX Overview.

Graphic Utility Changes for XE8

New GetIt Package Manager

RAD Studio provides a new graphic utility: GetIt. GetIt is a package manager that allows you to easily browse, download and install GetIt packages onto RAD Studio for free. GetIt packages may provides libraries, components, IDE extensions, SDK, and more.

For further information, see GetIt Package Manager.

Command-Line Utility Changes for XE8

Two new compilers for iOS 64-bit:

Application Samples Changes for XE8

Older Samples Removed at XE6 are Available on SourceForge and XE6 Docwiki

See Older Product Samples for more information about accessing the older product samples that were removed from RAD Studio at XE6.

Changes in the Help

New Offline Help System (CHM Help Replaces H2)

The offline help files delivered with RAD Studio are now in Microsoft Compiled HTML Help format, also known as CHM. For more information, see Help on Help - CHM. Previously, the offline help was delivered in H2 format and was viewed using Microsoft DExplore.

The Microsoft Compiled HTML Help viewer can only show offline help. To access the online help, you must either open the online help yourself, or click Current Wiki Page on the footer of any page of the offline help. You can no longer choose whether you want the offline help viewer to show the offline help or the online help.

You can create your own CMH help files and link them with RAD Studio; for further information, see Providing Help for Your Component.

Topics

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