Converting an application to Unicode

Richard

unread,

Mar 14, 2007, 12:52:14 PM3/14/07

to

Hi all

Apologies for asking a (probably) common newbie question.

I maintain a largish (250 forms - c450,000 lines of code, non-database
using) Delphi 5 application. It reads and writes to MS Office
applications using COM.

I've been asked what would be involved to convert it to work with
Unicode. The app code uses standard ref-counted Strings throughout
and does large amounts of text processing. AFAICR it uses standard
VCL components or ones derived directly from them.

I don't really understand the parameters of the problem and I'd
appreciate some pointers as to how best to approach this.

Many thanks

Richard

ThanksButNo

unread,

Mar 14, 2007, 2:06:46 PM3/14/07

to

I've been doing a bit of research in this area myself, and I've come
to the conclusion that --

If you're trying to convert Delphi 5 to unicode -- STOP.

Yes, it can be done -- it's possible -- but I haven't found any EASY
way to do it.

I've downloaded components from the web that purport to have unicode
support -- and they don't compile. (They *might* compile in Delphi
*6*).

So just break down and shell out the money needed to get the latest
version of Delphi, which already has unicode support. It'll be
cheaper than expending the manhours necessary to shoehorn unicode into
Delphi 5. And you'll have an up-to-date development tool for future
use.

NOW -- I'll be very very happy if someone here can tell me I'm wrong.
Adding unicode to Delphi 5 would certainly be easier than converting
everything to Java, and save you from needing to buy the latest
version of Delphi. Note that I may use "easy" and "cheap"
interchangeably, because after all, if it takes a long time to do, it
ain't neither.

Best of luck!

<:-)

Richard

unread,

Mar 14, 2007, 7:51:24 PM3/14/07

to

> So just break down and shell out the money needed to get the latest
> version of Delphi, which already has unicode support.

Many thanks for the info.
But... DOES the latest version of Delphi actually have full Uncode
support?
I seem to be reading that neither Delphi 2006 or 2007 do that with
VCL.

ThanksButNo

unread,

Mar 15, 2007, 10:18:44 AM3/15/07

to

Hmmmm -- I didn't do *enough* research --

Apparently, the latest does *not* have native unicode support -- (and
it appears a number of people have complained about that)

BUT -- TntWare has unicode components for Delphi, and although I can
testify that they *won't* compile in Delphi 5 (even though they claim
to -- but hey, Delphi 5 is 10 years old now) -- I've seen various
references to their specific product, always positive, so it will
*probably* work with Delphi 6 on up.

http://www.tntware.com/delphicontrols/unicode/downloads.htm

Take heed -- I can not vouch for anything I haven't tried. However, I
think you ought to be able to get a free download trial version of
Delphi, then download the free Tnt stuff, and try it out.

As for myself, it appears my company is just going to switch to Java
for anything that requires international characters.

Hope that's helpful.

Richard

unread,

Mar 15, 2007, 11:35:14 AM3/15/07

to

> Hope that's helpful.
Extremely helpful. Many thanks indeed.

Dajazas

unread,

Mar 20, 2007, 6:21:07 AM3/20/07

to

well about tnt they have version which compiles with delphi 5 and it
works fine :) just don't forget to convert strings to widestrings!

good luck

ThanksButNo

unread,

Mar 22, 2007, 1:32:06 AM3/22/07

to

Well -- maybe it did for you -- for me, it kept needing components
that I didn't have and couldn't find, and it wouldn't compile without
'em. Never even got to the point where I could add strings of any
sort.

We just don't have the time to debug the documentation and/or the
setup, particularly since it appears to have been "EOL'ed" anyway.
We're just going to use Java for our unicode apps, since it's already
there.

<:-(