Release Notes for XE2 Update 4

Go Up to What's New in Delphi and C++Builder XE2

1 Obtaining this Update
- 1.1 Using the Automatic Upgrade Mechanism or Manually Checking for Updates
- 1.2 Downloading from the Registered Users Web Page
2 Additional Installation Steps
- 2.1 1. Install the Platform Assistant Update
- 2.2 2. Reinstall FireMonkey iOS Tools
3 Uninstalling this Update
4 General Notes
- 4.1 Bug List
- 4.2 Changes and New Functionality in XE2 Update 4
5 Known Issues in XE2 Update 4
6 See Also

This file contains important supplementary information that might not appear in the main product documentation. Embarcadero Technologies recommends that you read this file in its entirety.

This document refers to "the product" when the information applies to RAD Studio XE2 or to either or both of the two personalities: Delphi XE2 and C++Builder XE2.

For general information about installation, deployment, and licensing, see the Install, Deploy, and License HTML files located, by default, at C:\Program Files\Embarcadero\RAD Studio\9.0. On a 64-bit Windows system, the directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\RAD Studio\9.0.

Obtaining this Update

Delphi and C++Builder XE2 Update 4 is a full inline update that requires uninstalling your existing RAD Studio product before installing the update.

You can obtain this update in any of the following three ways:

Upgrading via the Automatic Upgrade Mechanism
Manually Checking for Updates
Downloading from the Registered Users Web Page

Using the Automatic Upgrade Mechanism or Manually Checking for Updates

If you selected Check for Updates Automatically when you installed the product, you should automatically be notified when an update is available for download.
1. Click the notification to start the update installer.
2. Follow the instructions given in the installer.
3. After product installation completes, perform the additional steps described in #Additional Installation Steps.
If you do not receive an automatic notification about the update (or at any time), you can check for updates manually:
1. Select Start | Programs | Embarcadero RAD Studio XE2 | Check for updates.
2. In the list of available updates, select Update 4. This starts the installer.
3. Follow the instructions given in the installer.
4. After the product installation completes, perform the additional steps described in #Additional Installation Steps.

Downloading from the Registered Users Web Page

Update 4 is also available for download from the registered users download pages as follows:

Delphi XE2: http://cc.embarcadero.com/reg/delphi
C++Builder XE2: http://cc.embarcadero.com/reg/c_builder
RAD Studio XE2: http://cc.embarcadero.com/reg/rad_studio

Download the update to your computer and extract the zip file.
Uninstall the product. For instructions, see Installation Notes for XE2#Uninstalling the Product.
Install the update by double-clicking the installer.

Then follow the #Additional Installation Steps to install the update.

Additional Installation Steps

After you obtain and install the update, as described in the preceding sections, you should update the Platform Assistant and FireMonkey iOS tools (using the steps described here) if you are using doing cross-platform development or using FireMonkey for iOS:

1. Install the Platform Assistant Update

If you are using the Platform Assistant for cross-platform application development, after you install Update 4, you should uninstall the Platform Assistant and then install the updated Platform Assistant, as described here:

To uninstall the Platform Assistant:
- On Windows, use the existing Uninstall PAServer.exe to uninstall the Platform Assistant.
- On the Mac, use the existing Uninstall command to uninstall the Platform Assistant.
  Note: The Uninstall programs are located in the installation directory for the Platform Assistant on the PC and on the Mac.
To install the updated Platform Assistant on your target platforms:
- On Windows, double-click PAServer.exe.
- On the Mac, move the PAServer.zip file to the Mac and double-click PAServer.zip.

For more information, see Installing and Running the Platform Assistant (paserver) on the Target Platform.

2. Reinstall FireMonkey iOS Tools

If you are using FireMonkey iOS tools on the Mac, you also need to reinstall the FireMonkey-iOS-XE2.pkg, as follows:

Transfer the FireMonkey-iOS.dmg disk image file to the Mac. (FireMonkey-iOS.dmg is located inside the top-level "FireMonkey-iOS" folder in your product installation directory.)
On the Mac, double-click FireMonkey-iOS.dmg.
Run the installer inside each package.

There is no uninstall required for the FireMonkey iOS tools. If you previously installed the FireMonkey iOS tools, you can run the new installer (FireMonkey-iOS.dmg) that is part of this update without doing any uninstall.

Notes:

The FireMonkey-iOS installer is compatible with Xcode 4.2.
Although Xcode 4.2 includes the iOS 5.0 SDK, the new features of iOS 5 are not supported. FireMonkey applications can, however, be deployed to devices running iOS 5.
The FireMonkey-iOS installer fails if Xcode 4.3/iOS 5.1 (beta) is installed on the Mac.

For more information about FireMonkey iOS, see:

Uninstalling this Update

If you need to uninstall the update, you must uninstall the entire product and reinstall a full build. It is not possible to uninstall only the update.

General Notes

Bug List

For a complete list of the specific problems fixed in this update, see the "List of Bug Fixes in Delphi and C++Builder XE2 Update 4" at: http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/42090/

Changes and New Functionality in XE2 Update 4

This update includes the following new and changed features:

Firemonkey OS X changes:
- Printing support has been added.
- Performance improvements have been added for:
  - FMX.Edit.TEdit
  - FMX.Memo.TMemo
    - FMX.Memo.TMemo.Text now has public access (previously had published access).
    For manipulating the text in a TMemo at design time, you should now use FMX.Memo.TMemo.Lines.
  - Shaders
- Loading a form from a DLL is now supported
  For more information, see Libraries and Packages and Cross-Platform Shared Libraries.
FireMonkey iOS changes:
- Support for Free Pascal version 2.6.0 has been added.
  For more information, see:
  - FireMonkey Development Setup for iOS#Installing FireMonkey-iOS Tools on Mac
  - Reinstalling FireMonkey iOS Tools in Update 4
- DataSnap mobile connector added for Free Pascal Compler
- Scrolling behavior has been improved.
Workaround is available for accessing global variables in ASM code on OS X
For more information, see Accessing Global Variables in ASM on Windows and OS X).

Interface Changes in Update 4

FireMonkey Interface Changes: The following changes were made to FireMonkey for Update 4.

Types and Methods Added or Modified

FMX.Colors:

TColorQuad.GetIsTracking
TColorQuad.PreviewColor
TColorQuad.SetColor
TColorComboBox.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TColorListBox.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TColorListBox.SetItems
TComboColorBox.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
FillChessBoardBrush

FMX.Consts:

sCannotCreateCircularDependence
sCantEndPrintJob
sCantPrintNewPage
sCantSetNumCopies
sCantStartPrintJob
sInvalidPageFormat
sInvalidPrinterSettings
sMkcCmd
SPropertyOutOfRange
SPrinterDPIChangeError
SPrinterSettingsReadErro
SPrinterSettingsWriteError

FMX.Controls:

TAniIndicator.ApplyStyle
TAniIndicator.FreeStyle
TBitmapTrackBar.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TCustomTrack.GetThumbSize

FMX.Dialogs:

TPageSetupDialog.SetPageHeight
TPageSetupDialog.SetPageWidth

FMX.Edit:

TComboEditBase
TComboEdit.Clear
TComboEdit.MouseWheel
TComboEdit.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TComboEdit.SetText
TComboTrackBar.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TComboTrackBar.DoComboMouseDown
TCustomEdit.DoChangeTracking
TCustomEditBox

FMX.Effects:

TInnerGlowEffect.GetGlowColor
TInnerGlowEffect.SetGlowColor
TInnerGlowEffect.SetOpacity
TInnerGlowEffect.SetSoftness

FMX.ExtCtrls:

TCalendarBox.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TCalendarEdit.GetDefaultStyleLookupName
TImageViewer.GetDefaultStyleLookupName

FMX.FilterCatStyle:

TGlowFilter
TInnerGlowFilter
TReflectionFilter

FMX.Grid:

TColumn.SetVisible
TColumn.TextChangeProc
TColumn.TextTypingProc
TCustomGrid.DoSelChanged
TCustomGrid.GetVisibleColumnCount
TCustomGrid.SetTopRow

FMX.Layers3D:

TImage3D.SetBitmap

FMX.Layouts:

TScrollBox.CreateHScrollTrackAni
TScrollBox.CreateVScrollTrackAni
TScrollBox.Center

FMX.Memo:

TMemo.DefineProperties
TMemo.DoContentPaintWithCache
TMemo.HScrollChange
TMemo.ReadTextData
TMemo.ResetLineWidthCache

FMX.Menus:

TextToShortcut
TPopupMenu.DialogKey

FMX.Objects3D:

TDisk
TCone.RebuildMesh
TCone.SetSubdivisionsAxes
TCone.SetSubdivisionsCap
TCone.SetSubdivisionsHeight
TCube.RebuildMesh
TCube.SetSubdivisionsDepth
TCube.SetSubdivisionsWidth
TCube.SetSubdivisionsHeight
TCylinder.RebuildMesh
TCylinder.SetSubdivisionsAxes
TCylinder.SetSubdivisionsCap
TCylinder.SetSubdivisionsHeight
TMesh.Render
TPlane.RebuildMesh
TPlane.SetSubdivisions.Height
TPlane.SetSubdivisions.Width
TSphere.RebuildMesh
TSphere.SetSubdivisionsAxes
TSphere.SetSubdivisionsHeight

FMX.Printer:

EPrinterSettingsError
TPrinterDevice.Destroy
TPrinterDevice.DPIChangeError
TPrinterDevice.GetActiveDPI
TPrinterDevice.GetDPI
TPrinterDevice.GetDPICount
TPrinterDevice.SelectDPI
TPrinterDeivce.SetActiveDPIIndex

FMX.Printer.Win:

TPrinterWin destructor
TPrinterWin.RefreshActivePrinter
TPrinterWin.SetCanvasDefaultSettings

FMX.Types:

CreateScaleMatrix
CreateTranslateMatrix
MergeObjectFromStream
TBrushBitmap.DoChanged
TControl.GetAcceptsControls
TControl.SetAcceptsControls
TStyleBook.LoadFromFile
PClipRects
TClipRects
TCanvas.BeginScene
TCanvas.DoBeginScene
TCanvas.DoEndScene
TFmxObject.IsChildren
TStyledControl.GetDefaultStyleLookupName

FMX.Types3D:

ColorToVector3D
CreateTranslateMatrix3D
DefaultAmbient
DefaultDiffuse
DefaultSpecular
MaxLights
TContext3D.AssignTo
TContext3D.DoBeginScene
TContext3D.DoEndScene
TContext3D.AddLight
TContext3D.CreateBuffer
TContext3D.CreateDefaultShader
TContext3D.DeleteLight
TContext3D.FreeBuffer
TContext3D.FreeDefaultShader
TContext3D.GetPixelToPixelPolygonOffset
TContext3D.SetMatrix
TContext3D.SetParams
TControl3D.GetAcceptsControls
TControl3D.SetAcceptsControls
TLight.SetAmbient
TLight.SetConstantAttenuation
TLight.SetDiffuse
TLight.SetLinearAttenuation
TLight.SetQuadradicAttenuation
TLight.SetSpecular
TLight.SetSpotCutOff
TLight.SetSpotExponent
TMaterial.SetShininess
TMeshData.Clear
TTextureFiltering
TMaterial.SetTextureFiltering

Types and Methods Removed

FMX.Dialogs:

TCommonDialog.FHelpMsg

FMX.Edit:

TComboEdit.MouseDown
TComboTrackBar.MouseDown
TNumberBox.Destroy
TNumberBox.Change
TNumberBox.GetData
TNumberBox.KeyDown
TNumberBox.Paint
TNumberBox.SetNumValueType
TNumberBox.SetData
TNumberBox.SetDecimalDigits
TNumberBox.SetMax
TNumberBox.SetMin
TSpinBox.Destroy
TSpinBox.Change
TSpinBox.GetData
TSpinBox.KeyDown
TSpinBox.SetNumValueType
TSpinBox.SetData
TSpinBox.SetDecimalDigits
TSpinBox.SetMax
TSpinBox.SetMin

FMX.ExtCtrls:

TCalendarEdit.MouseDown

FMX.Forms:

TCustomForm3D.AddLight
TCustomForm3D.ApplyLights
TCustomForm3D.DeleteLight

FMX.Objects3D:

TCone.Render
TCylinder.Render
TPlane.Render
TPlane destructor
TRoundCube.Render
TSphere destructor
TSphere render

FMX.Types3D:

TViewPort3D.AddLight
TViewPort3D.ApplyLights
TViewPort3D.DeleteLight

Other Methods Added

System.Variants.DispatchUnsignedAsSigned

For more information, see Automation Servers and Unsigned Integers.

New VCL Styles Added

This update includes eight new VCL styles:

Auric.vsf
CharcoalDarkSlate.vsf
CyanDusk.vsf
CyanNight.vsf
MetroBlack.vsf
MetroBlue.vsf
MetroGreen.vsf
TurquoiseGray.vsf

VCL Styles are typically installed in C:\Users\Public\Documents\RAD Studio\9.0\Styles.

For more information about VCL styles, see VCL Styles Overview.

TLIBIMP.EXE Can Import 64-bit Type Libraries

TLIBIMP.EXE now has both a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version, although a 64-bit application can use a 32-bit type library.

When the current target platform is 64-bit Windows, the IDE now passes "-E64" to GenTLB.exe. The result is a type library whose SYSKIND is SYS_WIN64 (compared to SYSKIND=SYS_WIN32 for a 32-bit type library).

When you are importing a 64-bit type library that depends on another type library that is registered only in the 64-bit keys of the registry, you should use the 64-bit version of TLIBIMP, which you can find in:

$(bds)\bin64\tlibimp.exe

For more information, see TLIBIMP.EXE and GenTLB.exe.

How to Access Global Variables in ASM on Windows and Mac OS X

Follow the recommended best practice, described in Accessing Global Variables in ASM on Windows and OS X.

New C++ Audits

The following new C++ Audits are added:

Known Issues in XE2 Update 4

Nested try ... finally Blocks Might Cause a Problem in DCCOSX Applications

In a Delphi OS X application, nested try ... finally blocks can cause the compiled application to crash at run time. That is, do not place a try ... finally block inside the finally part of another try ... finally block. The workaround is to move the inner try ... finally block into a local/native procedure.

Example:

program BTS289095;
{ Nested try...finally crashes application }
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
  System.SysUtils;
var
  Expected: Integer = 0;
  Counter: Integer = 0;
 
procedure DoTest1;
{ SIMPLE CASE }
var
  s: string;
begin
  Writeln('DoTest1');
  try
    raise Exception.Create('#1');
  finally
    s := '';
  end;
end;
 
procedure DoTest3;
{ FAILURE OCCURS HERE. INVOLVES NESTED TRY..FINALLY }
var
  S: String;
begin
  Writeln('DoTest3');
  try
    raise Exception.Create('#2');
  finally
    try
      s := '';
    finally
    end;
  end;
end;
 
procedure DoTest2;
{ WORKAROUND - NESTED TRY..FINALLY PUT INTO LOCAL PROC }
var
  S: String;
 
  procedure Temp;
  begin
    try
      s := '';
    finally
    end;
  end;
begin
  Writeln('DoTest2');
  try
    raise Exception.Create('#2');
  finally
    Temp;
  end;
end;
var
  Procs: array [0..2] of TProcedure = (DoTest1, DoTest2, DoTest3);
procedure DoBTS289095;
var
  Proc: TProcedure;
begin
  for Proc in Procs do
    begin
      Inc(Expected);
     try
       Proc;
       WriteLn('FAIL - Exception Expected');
     except
       Inc(Counter);
     end;
    end;
end;
begin
  DoBTS289095;
  if Counter = Expected then
    WriteLn('PASS')
  else
    WriteLn('FAIL');    
end.

Building Mac OS X Applications on the Mac

If you are using an early version of XE2, you might encounter a few problems when you try to create an installer package using the productbuild command on the Mac:

An error message such as the following might be emitted:

productbuild: error: Can't write temporary package  to "/private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/TemporaryItems/(A Document Being Saved By   productbuild)/FireFlow.app.pkg" (Path "/Users/name/Applications/Embarcadero/PAServer/scratch-dir/name- Lion/./FireFlow.app" is not a valid bundle component (using destination path  "/Users/name/Applications/Embarcadero/PAServer/scratch-dir/name-Lion/.")).

To resolve this issue:

Open your Mac application in the IDE.
Choose View > Project > Deployment..
In the Deployment Manager, find the remote file named projectname.info.plist.
Change the file name to info.plist.
Save and deploy your Mac application to the Mac.

An incorrect icon might be displayed for your Mac OS X application.

To resolve this issue:

Choose Project > Options > Application.
Find the Application Icon Settings area, and click the Default button.

For more information about developing applications for Mac OS X, see:

C++ Framework Affinity Issue for Data Modules that are Used by DLLs Targeting OS X

If you start a C++ DLL without specifying framework affinity, and later you want to use the VCL framework, you have to add #include <vcl.h> to the project source. The ClassGroup pseudo-property of the data module also needs to be set to Vcl.Controls.TControl.

Moreover, shared libraries that are to use VCL components (or any Delphi components for that matter) should be compiled as packages, not plain DLL projects.

For more information about the platform affinity of data modules, see:

DataSnap Client Module Wizard Sets Password Field to UserName

The 'Password' property in a DataSnap REST Client (or a DataSnap Client) takes the value of the 'User Name' property when the project is generated. Any 'Password' you enter in the wizard is lost. After the client is created, you should set the 'Password' in the Object Inspector.

Automation Servers and Unsigned Integers

With XE2, Delphi introduced support for dispatching Word, LongWord and UInt64 parameters as unsigned integers (that is, VT_UI2, VT_UI4, VT_UI8 respectively). And for historical reasons, TOleEnum is a LongWord alias, and the Delphi Type Library importer declares enumerations as unsigned. The net result is that enumerations are dispatched as VT_UI4. Servers such as MS-Excel, however, do not process enumerations when dispatched as unsigned. Thus, the following might fail:

 V.Insert(TOLEEnum(xlShiftDown)); // Insert in Range

To workaround the failure without rolling back automation support for unsigned integers, Update 4 introduces a global variable, System.Variants.DispatchUnsignedAsSigned, that can be used to instruct the run time to send unsigned values as signed integers.

Here is an example of how it can be set:

{$IF CompilerVersion >= 23}
{$IF DECLARED(System.Variants.DispatchUnsignedAsSigned)}
  System.Variants.DispatchUnsignedAsSigned := True;
{$IFEND}
{$IFEND}

You can put the above in the initialization section of one of the units of your Automation Client.

NOTE: The above only affects Variant- and DispInterface-based automation. That is, automation calls via vtable/interface are unaffected by the failure and workaround described here.