My "Expert Delphi" book has been published by PACKT Publishing and is currently available for a limited time for just $10 at https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/expert-delphi. The book is about how to become developer super hero and gain amazing productivity powers to develop stunning, native cross-platform mobile apps from the same codebase for Android and iOS! The foreword was written by David Intersimone and I'm very proud about it, because I have the deepest respect to David I!

I have always wanted to write a Delphi book and never thought it takes so much work. More then 500 pages about Delphi technology. This book is designed for Delphi developers that want to learn about latest Delphi technologies including cross-platform mobile development from the same source code for Android and iOS. The main focus of "Expert Delphi" is mobile development with Delphi.

What "Expert Delphi" book covers

Chapter 1, Fasten Your Seat Belts, where we learn how to install Delphi and prepare it for mobile cross-platform development. We build a “Hello World” FireMonkey app and natively compile it from the same source code to Android and iOS.

Chapter 2, Mind Your Language, where we review basic constructs of Object Pascal programming language used in Delphi. After covering fundamentals we quickly move on to the discussion of more advanced language concepts used in FireMonkey programming, including class helpers, generics, anonymous code and Runtime Type Information.

Chapter 3, Packing Up Your Toolbox, where we cover some of the most useful, every day programmer skills like writing multithreaded code with Parallel Programming Library and working with JSON and XML.

Chapter 4, Playing with FireMonkey, where we learn basics of building cross-platform, mobile Graphical User Interfaces with FireMonkey. We learn how to use shapes, effects and animation components. We cover working with touch, multi-touch and gestures. At the end of this chapter we write the complete mobile “Game of Memory” game.

Chapter 5, FireMonkey in 3D, where we learn how to build stunning, interactive 3D graphical user interfaces, including working with wireframes, 3D controls and importing 3D models into your Delphi apps.

Chapter 6, Building User Interfaces with Style, where we learn about FireMonkey styling. We look into using built-in styles, custom styles with “TStyleBook” component and customizing styles with embedded Style Editor. We also cover working with frames and using inherited views for specific mobile form factors.

Chapter 7, Working with Mobile Operating System, where we are accessing mobile hardware and operating systems with high-level components abstracting away underlying mobile APIs. We look into working with sensors, camera, address book, embedding web browsers, using maps, creating and consuming Android services and working with language bridges for accessing APIs and frameworks not surfaced through FireMonkey library.

Chapter 8, Extending to the Internet of Things where we learn how to build cross-platform mobile apps that communicate with IoT sensors and devices using Bluetooth LE communication protocol. We look into working with “TBluetoothLE” components, but also using specialized IoT components available via GetIt Package Manager. We also cover building proximity enabled apps that work with beacons, using “TBeacon” components and BeaconFence. The App Tethering framework is discussed as well for easy communication between mobile apps.

Chapter 9, Embedding Databases, we build “To-Do List” mobile app that illustrates best practices for architecting data-driven solutions with clear separation between user interface and data access layers. We use FireDAC database access framework for communicating with embedded SQLite mobile database and build user interface with “TListView” component with dynamic appearance.

Chapter 10, Integrating with Web Services, where we look at different Delphi frameworks and components for integrating with web services. We start from low-level native HTTP client library, consuming XML SOAP Web services, and moving on to REST and BaaS client components. In the last part we are looking into Cloud API for integrating with Amazon and Azure clouds. We also replace the “To-Do List” app data access tier with logic to store JSON data in the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).

Chapter 11, Building Mobile Backends, where we look at building scalable, multi-tier systems with Delphi. We learn how to build mobile backends with different Delphi frameworks including WebBroker, DataSnap and RAD Server. During the course of this chapter we will split the “To-Do List” app into separate client and server parts.

Chapter 12, App Deployment, where we look into practical steps of deploying Delphi mobile apps to Google PlayStore and Apple iOS App Store. We also look into best agile practices for continuous enhancement of your apps with using version control, refactorings and unit testing.

The Road Ahead, where we review what we have learnt in this book and look into emerging technologies including serverless backends, trends in mobile app development and new IoT communication protocols. We also discuss best places for getting more information and inspiration for your next, great, cross-platform Delphi app.

Hopefully Delphi developers will enjoy reading this book as much as I did writing it:-)