What are the highlights of Delphi 10 Seattle?

Windows 10, support for the WinRT API. Microsoft decided to name the Windows 10 specific API WinRT, which is confusing as its not Windows RT, but we are talking about the API that is similar to Win32 and Win64 that you can now use to access Windows 10 functionality from Windows Desktop applications on Intel. With components for sending Notifications to the Windows Action Center and Contracts for sharing data with other applications the basics are covered. The entire WinRT API is now available to you in Delphi 10.

Large memory support in the IDE is a relief to have. The IDE itself is now Large Address Aware, and can use up to 4GB of memory when run under a Win64 system. This means less crashes due to memory hungry addons, or when compiling very large projects. Keep in mind that this does not change anything in the application you create. If you compile to 64-bit Windows you can still use all the memory that is installed.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#memory_limits

Android Services and Intents are now very easy to build indeed. This allows you to create background apps for Android that can for instance monitor Bluetooth Beacons or GPS locations. (If you are on iOS, it is now easy to edit the required info.plist entry.) Intents are the launching mechanism for Android. If you’ve got an Email app, it probably registered the email intent with the system, so that Android will automatically start this app if you want to send an email. And now you can easily plug into this mechanism with Delphi 10.

Some smaller improvements that are very nice to have; you can now hide non-visual components in the IDE when working on a form. Datasnap now also uses the platform specific HTTP and HTTPS libraries (System.NET), so you no longer need to deploy OpenSSL which also means that the underlying operating system updated SSL libraries are used, and you should remain safe from issues such as heartbleed. Also the IDE will now automagically restore your files if it crashes, although Delphi 10 stability is much improved. Another nice-to-have is that we can now use Hints on MouseOver in Firemonkey.

For the full list of new things take a look at the What’s New In Delphi 10 or go to the BIG Delphi event on September 15th where Pawel Glowacki will show you how to use all these new goodies.

The picture in this post was kindly designed by kantanna. If you like it, you can order it here, or have one made especially for you.