The easiest way to start learning about the other parts of the IDE is to open an existing Delphi demo project and take a scary look at the IDE - how it transforms to the development beast ;)
Where are those Demo Projects Delphi is proud of?
Ok, you might think I'll now show you how to create the good, old "Hello World" type of program with Delphi. Well, not this time. We'll leave this for the next lesson.What I would like to show you is one Delphi application that comes as a demo project. This way the IDE will have enough to display - for you to get a better understanding of what happens with the IDE as you "activate" different parts of the program.
Here's how to open and run your first Delphi program (ok, I know, it's not yours)
- Select "File - Open Project ..." from the menu.
- The "Open Project" dialog is displayed. Navigate to "Program Files\Borland\BDS\4.0\Demos\DelphiWin32\VCLWin32\ConvertIt".
- Select "ConvertIt.bdsproj" - this is a "Borland Developer Studio Project" type of file. Click on [Open].
- Hit "F9". This is a shortcut for "Run". Yes, yes, we are running a full blown Windows application!
This is a Windows application written in Delphi - and it even does something very smart!
WARNING: IDE has just gone berserk, it turned into what programmers call "debug mode" - help the IDE return to normal state by closing the "Convert It" application - just hit the little [x] button.
I want to show ("deploy" for "geeks") this program to my friend, what more should I do?
Nothing! No really, you have just compiled and run your first Delphi project. There's an EXE file called "ConvertIt.exe" in the same folder where you have found "ConvertIt.bdsproj". Just send this executable to your friend and he/she can work with it. Nothing additional needs to be installed!Why don't you believe? Delphi is that easy: Open, F9 ... and here we have an executable ;)
