<!-- This page was automatically created by a TRIAL VERSION of elitedevelopments preHTML. for more information, see http://www.prehtml.com -->
<html>
<head>
<title>Data Abstract - README - RemObjects Software</title>
<meta name="description" content="Place site description here." />
<meta name="keywords" content="Place site keywords here." />
<meta name="date" content="2009-11-27T13:45:37-01:00" />
<meta name="robots" content="all" />
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html" />
<meta name="language" content="English, en" />
<meta name="generator" content="elitedevelopments preHTML 1.1.1.171 [http://www.prehtml.com]" />
<style type="text/css">
body, table, tr, td
{
margin: 15px;
font-family: Segoe UI, Lucida Grande, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif;
font-size: 10.5pt;
background-color: #f7f7f7;
}
p { margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0; }
p.h1, p.h2, p.h3
{
margin-top: 1em;
margin-bottom: 0;
padding-bottom: 0;
color: #202080;
}
p.h1
{
border-top: 1px solid #c0c0c0;
font-weight: normal;
color: #202080;
margin-top: 0.2em;
padding-top: 1em;
}
.h1 { font-size: 15pt; }
.h2 { font-size: 12pt; }
.h3 { font-size: 10pt; }
a, a:visited { text-decoration: underline; color: #808080; }
a:hover { text-decoration: none; }
ul, ol { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0.75em; }
pre { margin: 0 }
.spaced
{
letter-spacing: 1px;
color: #000060;
}
table
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.column1, .column2
{
border-top: 1px solid #c0c0c0;
padding-top: 10px;
width: 50%;
vertical-align: top;
}
.column1
{
padding-right: 10;
}
.column2
{
float: right;
border-left: 1px solid #c0c0c0;
padding-left: 15px;
}
.column1 p, .column2 p
{
margin-top: 0;
}
.column1 img, .column2 img
{
padding-left: 10px;
}
.clear
{
margin-top: 50px;
margin-bottom: 10px;
clear: both;
}
.box p
{
margin-top: 5px;
}
.sig
{
border-top: 1px solid #c0c0c0;
padding-top: 5px;
margin-top: 25px;
}
.links
{
margin-top: 50px;
border-top: 1px solid #e0e0e0;
padding-top: 3px;
text-align: center;
color: #c0c0c0;
font-size: 9pt;
}
.links a
{
text-decoration: none;
color: #404040;
margin-left: 10px;
margin-right: 10px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<img src="Help/dadelphi.png" />
<p class="h1">
Thank You for Your Interest in our Products and for Choosing <b>Data Abstract</b> for <b>Delphi</b>.
</p>
<p>
Our goal with Data Abstract (or “DA” as we call it for short) is to provide you with a powerful and
flexible framework to build your application solutions upon.
</p>
<p>
Data Abstract is not standing still. We will continue to improve the product over time and these improvements
will be available to you as part of your subscription. To ensure continued access to the latest release and to
stay up to date with the most recent fixes and new features, please make sure that your subscription stays active.
</p>
<p>
Please check <a href="http://www.remobjects.com">our website</a> regularly, to keep your product up to date with the latest additions.
</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td class="column1">
<img src="Help/changelog.png" align="right"/>
<p class="h2">
Find Out What's New
</p>
<p>
The Winter 2009 releases of
both Data Abstract and the underlying RemObjects SDK
continue to focus mainly on quality and bugfixing, but also contain a few new features, such as the new Local Data Adapter, and a tech preview of our
standalone Relativity Server application. (formerly knows as DAServer6).
Check out our <a href="http://remobjects.com/whatsnew">What's New</a> page for a detailed overview look of all what's new.
Or visit the <a href="http://remobjects.com/changelogs">Change Logs</a> to get a more detailed list
of all changes, including features, minor enhanceents and bug-fixes.
</p>
<p class="h2" style="clear: both;">
<span style="color: red">New</span>: Build Native Mac and iPhone apps with <nobr><b>Data Abstract</b> for <b>OS X</b></nobr>
</p>
<p>
The Data Abstract product family is growing, as we're adding a third fully native edition to the product suite, designed specifically
for building native client applications for Macintosh computers and iPhone and iPod touch devices using Cocoa and Xcode.
</p>
<img src="Help/iphone-xcode.png" align="right"/>
<p>
Leverage your existing investment into Data Abstract by exposing your existing servers to new clients written for these two exciting
platforms, for example to deliver a first-class mobile front-end for your DA based enterprise application.
</p>
<p>
<b>Data Abstract</b> for <nobr><b>OS X</b></nobr> is now shipping, and includes <i>RemObjects SDK for <nobr>OS X</nobr></i>.
Please check our <a href="http://shop.remobjects.com">Shop</a> for purchasing options, or contact our
<a href="mailto:sales@remobjects.com">sales team</a> if you have any further questions.
</p>
</td>
<td class="column2">
<p class="h2">
Getting Started
</p>
<p>
Data Abstract provides several great sources to help you get started using the product.
</p>
<img src="Help/da-sampleserver-delphi.png" align="right"/>
<p>
For one, we have introduced a brand-new suite of sample applications built around a new <i>PCTrade</i> sample database.
A range of client applications are available to demonstrate various concepts such as DA SQL or Business Processors,
all of which work against a pre-compiled server application available from the start menu.
</p>
<p style="color: #606060; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px;">
The PCTrade samples are fully compatible between Delphi and .NET, so you can test Delphi clients against the .NET server versions, or vice versa, if you own both editions of Data Abstract.
</p>
<p>
You can read more about the PCTrade sample suite <a href="http://wiki.remobjects.com/wiki/PCTrade_Sample_Suite">here</a>.
</p>
<img src="Help/wiki.png" align="right"/>
<p class="h2">
Delve into the Documentation
</p>
<p>
Our documentation wiki at <a href="http://wiki.remobjects.com/wiki/Data Abstract_for_Delphi">wiki.remobjects.com</a> also
continues to be a rich and growing source of information, providing introductory texts about different concepts in
Data Abstract, articles and how-tos, as well as thorough class reference help.
</p>
<p>
The Wiki is community driven, allowing you and all other Data Abstract customers to participate and contribute content, as well.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="clear"></div>
<p class="h1">Some More Technical Information</p>
<p>
The remainder of the README provides some more general information and a few guidelines that you should
follow in order to install and get started with Data Abstract.
</p>
<div class="box" style="border: 1px solid #808080; background-color: #e8e8e8; padding-left:5px; padding-right:5px;">
<p class="h2">Software Requirements</p>
<p>
<b>Data Abstract</b> for <b>Delphi</b> supports versions 7, 2007, 2009 and 2010 of Delphi, for 32-bit Windows Development.
Support is also provided for current releases of Free Pascal 2.2 and later, for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and Linux development.
</p>
<p>
The Fall 2009 release drops precompiled support for Delphi 6 and Delphi 2006, although package source files are still provided, if
you need to manually install Data Abstract in these versions of Delphi. These two versions are no longer officially supported.
</p>
<p>
While Delphi 7 is still officially supported, we strognly recommend our customers to move to Delphi 2007 or later.
</p>
<p class="h2"><b>TRIAL</b> Version Requirements</p>
<p>
The following requirements must be met for the trial version:
</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Delphi 2010</B>: No Update Pack required.</li>
<li><b>Delphi 2009</B>: Update Pack 1 is not essential, but strongly recommended.</li>
<li><b>Delphi 2007</B>: Update Pack 3 is required.</li>
<li><b>Delphi 7</B>: No Update Pack required.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Using Indy-based components with the TRIAL edition requires the original version of Indy that was installed with your edition of Delphi.
If you have upgraded to a different Indy version, there should still be enough alternative channels for you to evaluate Data Abstract
without relying on Indy.
</p>
<p>
<b>Please note</b> that these requirements are for the TRIAL version only. Since the retail version comes with full source code,
you can easily rebuild it to match the version of Delphi that you are using. Simply open the
BuildPackages_Dx.bpg project group and do a 'Build All Projects'.</p>
</div>
<p class="h2">Component Installation</p>
<p>
Data Abstract comes as several individual packages, provided in precompiled versions for Delphi 7, 2007, 2009 and 2010.
Setup will install automatically install these packages with the supported IDEs</p>
<p>
The Indy packages are built to work with the default versions of Indy that come with
Delphi 7 (Indy 9), 2007 (Indy 10) or 2009 and 2010 (Indy 10.2.3). If you have a custom version,
then the RemObjects SDK Indy package will most likely fail to load when yoiu first start the Delphi IDE.
</p>
<p>
If this is the case you will need to adjust the RemObjects.inc file as described below, and then rebuild the RemObjects_Indy
package manually to match your specific version. You can accomplish this by opening the RemObjects_Indy_D7.dpk (or D10-D14) in
the IDE and then building and installing it.
</p>
<p>
Alternatively, you can of course choose to not load the RemObjects SDK Indy components, and instead rely on the other channels we provide.
</p>
<p class="h2">Free Pascal (FPC)</p>
<p>
The current release of Data Abstract for Delphi provides library support for Free Pascal 2.2.2 and above, allowing you to rebuild your
projects for the Win32 (x86), Win64 (x64), Linux (x86 and x64) platforms. Compilation against other platforms provided by FPC might be possible,
but is not currently supported; however, we are interested in your feedback if you do try to build against other platforms.
</p>
<p>
Official support for other platforms, as well as support for the Lazarus IDE, is under review for future releases.
</p>
<p>
The minimum version of FPC required is Free Pascal 2.2.2 or newer (which can be downloaded <a href="http://www.freepascal.org/download.var#beta">here</a>).
Please note that we explicitly do <i>not</i> support the 2.0.x release, as it is missing crucial functionality.
</p>
<p>
More information about Free Pascal can be found on the FPC homepage at <a href="http://www.freepascal.org">http://www.freepascal.org</a>.
</p>
<p class="h2">Limitations of Free Pascal Support</p>
<p>
Not all client and server channels provided with RemObjects SDK are supported for Free Pascal or for all four platforms available through
Free Pascal.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
For obvious reasons, the WinINet HTTP Channel is not supported for Linux but will function under the Win32 and Win64 targets; the same
holds true for the Named Pipe client and server channels.
</li>
<li>
Indy support for FPC is experimental, and as such the Indy based channels are only experimentally supported for FPC.
</li>
<li>
Support for FPC requires full source, and so is not available in the TRIAL version of Data Abstract.
</li>
</ul>
<div class="box" style="border: 1px solid #800000; background-color: #ffe8e8; padding-left:5px; padding-right:5px;">
<p class="h2">License File</p>
<p>
To avoid piracy and abuse, the Data Abstract install contains a time-limited license for tools auch as Schema Modeler and Service Builder, as
well as the pre-compiled component libraries. This license file will expire after 30 days of use.
</p>
<p>
You will be prompted about this trial period and offered an option to download your personal license file when you start the tools
for the first time, or when you build your application using Data Abstract
or RemObjects SDK
components. You can
choose to either download your own license file right away, or keep working with the trial license until such a time
when the download is more convenient for you. Alternatively, it's possible to download it directly
from <a href="http://my.remobjects.com">my.remobjects.com</a>.
</p>
<p>
<b>Please note</b> that applications built with the trial license will be marked as such and display the trial notification
dialog on startup. Download your personal license when prompted, in order to build your applications without this limitation.
</p>
</div>
<p class="h2">Sample Projects</p>
<p>
A number of sample projects are included in the <i>RemObjects Samples</i> folder of your Shared Documents folder.
These sample projects will show you how to get started and how to use the various functions of Data Abstract, and are built around a
shared “PCTrade” sample server that has been newly added. Please read more about this suite of samples in our wiki,
<a href="http://wiki.remobjects.com/wiki/PCTrade_Sample_Suite">here</a>.
</p>
<p>
After the first start of your development IDE, the <a href="http://wiki.remobjects.com/wiki/Welcome_Page">Welcome Page</a>
for Data Abstract will be presented, giving you the option to directly open any of the sample client applications.
The matching server application comes pre-compiled with Data Abstract for Delphi and can be launched from the Start Menu.
</p>
<p>
<b>Please Note:</b> Samples have been moved from underneath the product install to the Shared Documents folder, to make them more
easily usable on Windows Vista and Windows 7, where the Program Files folder is read-only during normal operation.
</p>
<p class="h2">Support</p>
<p>
Support for Data Abstract is available via our newsgroups at
<a href="news://news.remobjects.com/remobjects.public.dataabstract.delphi">remobjects.public.dataabstract.delphi</a>.
</p>
<p>
You can use these newsgroups to report any problems or suggestions you might have in regards to Data Abstract, you can communicate
with fellow Data Abstract users and exchange ideas and solutions. More information about our support offerings, including the
Premium Support subscription, can be found at <a href="http://www.remobjects.com/support">remobjects.com/support</a>.
</p>
<div class="box" style="border: #000080 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: #000080 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; background-color: #e8e8ff">
<p class="h2">
Known Issues in this Release of Data Abstract
</p>
<p>
While we try our best to get all known issues fixed and addressed for each build, sometimes less important issues need to be
deferred for later releases in favor of getting a version released at all (perfect is the enemy of shipping, after all).
Please check our <a href="http://remobjects.com/knownissues">list of known issues</a> for any crucial known problems with
the current release.
</p>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<p class="h2">Thank You</p>
<p>
Let us thank you again for choosing Data Abstract. We are confident that you
will find it to be a worthwhile addition to your development toolset.
</p>
<p>
Should you, at any time, encounter a problem or need assistance using Data Abstract, please feel free to ask on the newsgroups
or contact us directly via email at <a href="mailto:support@remobjects.com">support@remobjects.com</a>.
</p>
<div class="sig" >
<p>Best Regards,
<br />
The RemObjects Team
<br />
<a href="http://www.remobjects.com">http://www.remobjects.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="links">
<a href="http://remobjects.com">remobjects.com</a> —
<a href="http://remobjects.com/whatsnew">What's New</a> —
<a href="http://remobjects.com/changelogs">Change Logs</a> —
<a href="http://remobjects.com/knownissues">Known Issues</a> —
<a href="http://remobjects.com/support">Support</a> —
<a href="http://wiki.remobjects.com">wiki.remobjects.com</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>
david
0799b9f784