Delphi XE5 FAQ

Embarcadero® Delphi® XE5 is easy-to-learn app development for teams building true native apps for Android and iOS, and getting them to app stores and enterprises fast. Build apps using the same source codebase without sacrificing app quality, connectivity or performance. With native Android and iOS support, reach the largest addressable mobile markets in the world.

Delphi XE5 is available in five editions – Starter, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate and Architect. See the Delphi product editions page and feature matrix for details on the differences between the editions.

Delphi XE5 is filled with hundreds of new features and enhancements to help you build ultra-rich iOS, Windows and Mac applications ultra-fast. New features include:

New features include:

• Create native Android apps with the new Delphi ARM compiler and visual tools
• New support for cloud-based RESTful web services
• Integrated FireDAC database access components and library

…and much more.

For more detailed information on what's new, see the What's New in Delphi XE5 page.

Delphi XE5 – Delphi XE5 is easy-to-learn app development for teams building true native apps for Android and iOS, and getting them to app stores and enterprises fast.

DB PowerStudio XE3.5 Dev edition (in Ultimate edition only) – DB PowerStudio provides fast SQL database development, database change management, SQL profiling, and SQL tuning

ER/Studio 9.5 Developer Edition (in Architect edition only) – ER/Studio helps data architects discover, document, and re-use data assets and gives you the power to easily reverse-engineer, analyze, and optimize existing databases.

InterBase XE3 Developer Edition and InterBase XE3 ToGo (in Professional edition and above) – InterBase Developer Edition provides developers with the best cross-platform database to build and test database applications for embedded and SME applications.

IBLite database for Android and iOS with free deployment license (in Professional with Mobile Add-On, Enterprise, Ultimate and Architect editions) – Use this new edition of InterBase in your mobile apps and deploy free. InterBase ToGo for Android and iOS are also available (sold separately) for developers who want a more feature rich database to embed in their apps.

Additional Tools – Delphi includes a comprehensive set of additional tools to help you do more than ever before. These are generally special editions of the tools created to be bundled with Delphi and the feature sets may differ from the full commercial versions.

• FastReport VCL 4-RAD edition and FastReport FMX Embarcadero Edition from Fast Reports so you can quickly design and generate reports
• Documentation Insight Express from DevJET Software helps you visually read and write XML documentation in the Delphi IDE
• TeeChart Standard from Steema provides quick and easy-to-use charting components
• CodeSite Express logging tools for building quality applications
• AQtime Standard from SmartBear for performance profiling
• Beyond Compare Text Compare lets you view differences between source files
• IntraWeb from Atozed for building web applications in the same way you build Delphi applications

Partner Software – Delphi users have access to a variety of free and trial editions of tools and components from Embarcadero Technology Partners accessible online from the Embarcadero developer network.

Mobile development features for Android and iOS are available in the following editions of Delphi XE5:

• Professional + Mobile Add-On Pack
• Enterprise
• Ultimate
• Architect

Professional edition without the Mobile Add-On Pack and Starter edition do not support mobile development.

Mobile development features are also included in all editions of Embarcadero RAD Studio XE5.

DataSnap Mobile Connectors are available in Enterprise edition and above.

When developing for iOS, you will also need a Mac computer for development and running in the simulator. You will need an Apple Developer account to test and deploy to iOS devices. Additional details are available in the online and product documentation.

FireDAC provides easy-to-use, high performance, multi-device enterprise database connectivity for Delphi, C++Builder and RAD Studio. With its powerful universal architecture FireDAC enables direct access from your Windows and Mac applications to Oracle, SQL Server, InterBase, DB2, Firebird, SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Anywhere, Advantage DB, Access, Informix, DataSnap and more. And now, access to IBLite, InterBase ToGo and SQLite databases from your Delphi Android and iOS apps. In addition to blazing speed and universal access, FireDAC also supports vendor specific database features as well as deployment across multiple client operating systems and device platforms.

FireDAC is included as part of the install. Features vary by edition with local/embedded database connectivity to select databases in Professional edition and local/embedded plus enterprise database connectivity in Enterprise edition or higher, or with purchase of the Client/Server Add-On Pack for Professional. More information is available at http://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/firedac.

Yes. With Delphi XE5, you also get access to licenses for earlier versions – Delphi 2007-XE4, and Delphi 7. See the Delphi Previous Versions web page for further details.

No. They are considered part of your XE5 license and are tied to your user account. They cannot be given away or sold.

Your earlier version license, and the XE5 version you upgrade to, are considered one named user license that covers both versions. If you already own an earlier version and go to the web page and request the same version license, you will just get a re-send of your existing serial number.

Some of those earlier products are only available as Professional and Enterprise editions.

Version 2006 included some third party licensed code that we are no longer able to ship. Delphi 6 and earlier were discontinued years ago and we don't have plans to bring them back.

Those versions used an earlier version of our licensing technology.

It could be a little confusing for some customers when they purchase Delphi XE5 and receive seven different serial numbers and download links. We tried to keep it simple by just delivering the XE5 license and allowing them to request the other licenses as needed.

We can't guarantee that the older versions will be available indefinitely so you should be sure to download your earlier version software and licenses within 180 days.

The earlier versions are available in English, French, German and Japanese. For versions 2007 and later, there is a single download and you choose the language at install time. For version 7, there is a separate download for each localized version.

You can view pricing and purchase Delphi from Embarcadero Sales, one of our valuable partners, or our online Embarcadero Shop site.

Support and Maintenance can be purchased at the time you purchase your Delphi product or upgrade. The support and maintenance agreement gives you a year of upgrades (including major and minor upgrades) and a specified number of support incidents. See the Support dropdown menu item of our web site for additional information.

With Support and Maintenance, you get the latest feature updates and upgrades as they are released. The mobile functionality in Delphi may have frequent upgrades and feature updates. Support and Maintenance is generally the most cost effective way to stay up-to-date with the latest versions.

Updates and additional software for Delphi users are available on the registered users download page at http://cc.embarcadero.com/reg/delphi. More major new feature upgrades are available only to users with current Maintenance agreements. Notifications for those upgrades are delivered via email and the upgrades can be downloaded via the Maintenance Portal web site by following the instructions in the email.

Delphi is available in English, French, German and Japanese. The installer lets you choose any combination of languages and it's easy to switch between languages in the IDE.

Delphi is available with multiple licensing options including:

• Individual named user licenses delivered via electronic software delivery (ESD) as a download an serial number. Discounted 5-packs and 10-packs are also available.
• Network Named and Concurrent user licenses managed using Embarcadero AppWave and provide the additional flexibility of managing licenses on a license server plus software provisioning
• Network licenses managed by Flexera FlexNet are available on a special request basis
• Academic individual licenses for students and educators as well as volume licenses for classroom use

The Academic edition can be used only for learning in an academic or classroom environment. Educational institutions cannot use the academic version to produce software for use within their institution to commercial licenses.

• Special discounted upgrades are available for a limited time. Delphi XE4 users to upgrade to Delphi XE5 at the same edition level (i.e. Enterprise to Enterprise, Ultimate to Ultimate)
• Professional edition upgrade eligibility – Upgrade pricing is available to registered owners of 2010-XE4 versions of Delphi or RAD Studio.
• Enterprise edition upgrade eligibility – Upgrade pricing is available to registered owners of 2010-XE4 versions of Delphi or RAD Studio; Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate or Architect editions.
• Ultimate edition upgrade eligibility – Upgrade pricing is available to registered owners of 2010-XE4 versions of Delphi or RAD Studio; Enterprise or Architect editions. Architect edition upgrade eligibility – Upgrade pricing is available to registered owners of 2010-XE2 versions of Delphi or RAD Studio; Enterprise or Architect editions.

Upgrade pricing is not available from Academic editions. Upgrade eligibility for 2010 users and special upgrade prices for XE4 users end December 31, 2013.

InterBase XE3 Developer Edition is InterBase XE3 Server licensed for up to 20 users (80 database connections). The InterBase software is automatically installed with a default install of Delphi XE5 and licensed with your Delphi XE5 serial number. An InterBase ToGo developer license is also included in your Delphi XE5 license. You can deploy InterBase ToGo for testing purposes using the ToGo Test Deployment serial number included as part of your Delphi order delivery email. This is not available for AppWave Network license users.

When you're ready to deploy applications using InterBase, Embarcadero offers a variety of editions (Desktop, Server and To-Go) and a variety of licensing options (flexible server licensing, multi-packs and OEM licensing). Contact Embarcadero Sales or partners for more information. See the license terms in the Delphi license.rtf file for additional licensing details.

To obtain your free IBLite deployment license, use the IBLite serial number in your order delivery email and follow the instructions to generate a license file that you will use to distribute IBLite with your Android and iOS applications.

The open source project is http://sourceforge.net/projects/radstudioverins/. The repository for the open source code is available from the "Code" tab when you're logged in to SourceForge web site or at https://radstudioverins.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/radstudioverins/trunk/.

See the Supported Versions List for the latest information by version.

Yes. You develop applications on the Windows OS that is most productive for you, so you can develop applications on your choice of operating systems (Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Server 2012 or Server 2008). Applications built with Delphi will run on Windows XP or later.

The DataSnap Mobile Connector feature generates connectivity code that you can incorporate into mobile applications for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. You develop your mobile applications using the standard development tools and languages for each platform such as Objective C with the Xcode IDE for iOS, Java for Android and Blackberry, or Silverlight for Windows Phone 7. You then use the DataSnap Mobile Connector code to provide connectivity to your native C++Builder or Delphi DataSnap server.

The following mobile platforms are currently supported by the various DataSnap Connectors:

• Android 2.x, 3.x, or 4.x (Java)
• BlackBerry Java SDK 5 and 6 (Java)
• Windows Phone 7 (C# Silverlight--all devices compatible with the platform)
• iOS 4.x, 5.x, 6.x (Objective-C)

Because of the use of Unicode as the default string type, Windows 98, 95, and ME will not run applications produced with Delphi 2009 or later. These operating systems do not support Unicode strings, and Microsoft has dropped support for them. Applications built with Delphi XE2, XE, 2010 and 2009 and VCL will run on Windows 2000 or later. Applications built with Delphi XE5 (VCL and FireMonkey) and applications built with Delphi XE5 and FireMonkey will run on Windows XP and later.

• 1 GB RAM (2 GB+ recommended)
• 3-24 GB free hard disk space depending on edition and configuration
• DVD-ROM drive (if installing from a Media Kit DVD)
• Basic GPU – Any vendor DirectX 9.0 class or better (Pixel Shader Level 2)
• Intel® Pentium® or compatible, 1.6 GHz minimum (2GHz+ recommended)
• 1024x768 or higher-resolution monitor
• Mouse or other pointing device
• Microsoft® Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Microsoft® Windows 7 SP1 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Microsoft® Windows Vista™ SP2 (32-bit and 64-bit) requires administrator rights
• Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)

For developing 64-bit Windows applications (Professional edition and higher)

PC running a 64-bit version of Windows or a 32-bit development PC connected with a PC running a 64-bit version of Windows

For developing OS X applications (Professional edition and higher)

PC running Windows connected with an Intel-based Mac, with 2 GB RAM or more, running OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or 10.7 (Lion) over a local area network using a SSH, VNC or Windows file sharing solution

For developing iOS applications (Professional edition with Mobile add-on and higher)

PC running Windows connected with an Intel-based Mac, with 2 GB RAM or more, running OS X 10.8 or 10.7 over a local area network using a SSH, VNC or Windows file sharing solution with the latest version of Xcode that supports iOS 6.x. An Apple Developer account is required to deploy iOS apps to physical devices.

Supported deployment platforms

PCs and tablets with Intel/AMD processors running Windows XP or later. Macs running OS X 10.7 or later. iPhone 3GS or later, iPad, or iPod Touch 4th Generation or later running iOS 5.16.0 or later. Android phones and tablets with ARM7 processors, running Android Gingerbread (2.3.3-2.7),
Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3 and 4.0.4) or Jelly Bean (4.1.x, 4.2.x and 4.3.x).

To install, you will need to have installed on your system:

• The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher
• The Microsoft Visual J 2.0 Redistributable Package
• Windows Internet Explorer® 6.0 or higher
• MSXML 6

The installer will install the prerequisite software if you don't already have it installed.

Embarcadero is working with MacinCloud to make a free trial of their cloud hosted Mac computer service available to Embarcadero customers. When you start the IDE, a start here page web page loads with instructions on how to use your own Mac or set up a free trial account with MacinCloud. You can use MacinCloud to run OS X apps that you create with RAD Studio and you can use MacinCloud to test your iOS apps in the simulator. Access to a physical Mac machine is required for on-device testing.

Most existing code will work fine using the new default UnicodeString. Code that does byte level manipulation of string data, or that carries data in string variables probably needs to be examined and perhaps updated to account for the new character sizes inherent in Unicode string data. For more information, see the documentation and Embarcadero Developer Network for information about moving existing code to Unicode.

Yes. When you first run the product, a small application will open and ask you to register the product. Once that is done, and your product key is validated, then your product will be registered and installed.

Yes, you should be able to do so, depending on the installed components required by your projects. Delphi uses the MSBuild system for the build engine, and thus requires a new project file if you are upgrading from version 2007 or earlier. However, the IDE will seamlessly update your projects to the new format.

No. Delphi produces native Windows and Mac. You can import .NET assemblies as COM objects, but the code produced by Delphi is strictly native code.

Some of the functionality of the IDE requires these software packages.

No. Applications produced with Delphi do not require any .NET runtime support. The product produces pure native Windows applications.

The ER/Studio Developer Edition data modeling and visualization in Delphi Architect is a subset of the full ER/Studio. Delphi Architect doesn't include metadata import/export capabilities or access to ER/Studio team repository servers. It includes limited reporting functionality (HTML only). The ER/Studio functionality in Delphi Architect supports a specific set of databases in line with those supported by dbExpress, while the full ER/Studio products offer flexible configurations for those databases and more.

Yes, Delphi XE5 coexists nicely with earlier versions of RAD Studio, C++Builder and Delphi.

Yes. For Delphi XE5, COMPILERVERSION is set to 26.0, and RTLVERSION is set to 26.0.

Yes. See the Embarcadero Certification Center web page at certification for information on the Delphi developer certification program.