I have successfully migrated my very complex Delphi XE6 database application to Delphi 11 after upgrading my 3rd party control sets such as Infopower, 1st Class, Devart’s UniDac, QuickReports and TMS Smooth controls.
Practically the only issue I had was having to change the location of VCL Styles
The files for the VCL Styles in Delphi XE6 are located at C:\Users\Public\Documents\Embarcadero\Studio\14.0\Styles, however, in Delphi 11 they are located in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Embarcadero\Studio\22.0\Styles.
The project would not compile until I changed this location – unfortunately I can’t remember where I had to change it!
Issues with the Delphi 11 IDE itself
A fantastic new feature is the ability to hide non-visual controls from your form which makes form design much easier if you have a lot of non-visual controls as I do. Just toggle the icon 4th from the left at top of the IDE under the Menu.
The main issue I have is when using a high resolution screen (mine is 3200×2000), the following are annoying:
- the non-visual controls sometimes are pushed together in top left corner region of your form such as when you open up the string list editor or when you run a compile
- the font in the Devart Unidac SQL string list editor is tiny – but this presumably is a Devart issue as the stringlist editor for BDE TQuery has more readable font size
Some of the enhancements in Delphi 11 made since Delphi XE6:
Delphi XE7 (2014):
- compile FMX projects for both desktop and mobile devices.
- IBLite embeddable database for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS
- Multi-display support
- Multi-touch support and gesture changes
- Full-screen immersive mode for Android
- Pull-to-refresh feature for TListView on iOS and Android
- FMX save state feature.
Delphi XE8 (2015):
- GetIt Package Manager
- Embarcadero Community toolbar
- Native presentation of TListView, TSwitch, TMemo, TCalendar, TMultiView, and TEdit on iOS
- Interactive maps
- New options for Media Library
- InputQuery support for masking input fields
- FireDAC improvements
Delphi 10 Seattle and update (2015):
- Android Background Services support
- TBeaconDevice class for turning a supported platform device into a “beacon”
- FireDAC support for NoSQL MongoDB database
- FireMonkey controls zOrder support for Windows
- Support for calling WinRT APIs
- StyleViewer for Windows 10 Style in Bitmap Style Designer
- High-DPI awareness and 4k monitor support
- FMX Grid control for iOS
- iOS native UI styling
- New FMX feature demos
- Platform support for iOS 10 and macOS Sierra
Delphi 10.1 Berlin and updates (2016):
- Windows Desktop Bridge support
- Android 6.0 support
- EMS Apache Server support
- Hint property changes
- Address book for iOS and Android
- CalendarView control
- TGrid support for iOS
- ControlType toggle for Platform or Render
- FMX ListView Items Designer
- FMX Search Filter
- Deployment of iOS apps to macOS Sierra
- 50+ Internet of Things packages
- Windows 10 App Store deployment
- Quick Edit feature for VCL Form Designer
- VCL calendar controls that mimic Window RT and provide backwards compatibility
- Windows 10 styles for VCL and FMX
Delphi 10.2 Tokyo and updates (2017-2018):
- 64-bit Linux support, limited to console and non-visual applications.
- FireDAC Linux support for Linux-capable DBMS
- MariaDB, MySQL, and SQL Server support, InterBase 2017 included in main installation
- Firebird support for Direct I/O
- New VCL controls for Windows 10
- Improved QPS (Quality, Performance, Stability)
- Over 140 fixes to customer reported Quality Portal issues
- BPL package loading for Windows Creators Update
- Improved support for latest versions of iOS and XCode
- TEdit improvements on latest Android, faster controls rendering
- Parse API for other providers
- FireDAC improvements for SQL Server, InterBase 2017, ODBC
- New VCL Controls and Layouts (Panels)
- Dataset to JSON
- Mobile platforms QPS
- RAD Server licensing
- User Experience improvements (manage platforms, progress bar on loading etc.)
- FMX QuickEdits
- Dark IDE Theme
- Expanded RAD Server/ExtJS support
- InterBase 2017 included in main installation
- Mobile Support included in basic package
- FMX UI Templates
Delphi 10.3 Rio and updates (2018-2019):
- New Delphi language features – inline block-local variable declarations and type inference
- FireMonkey Android zOrder, native controls, and API Level 26
- Windows 10 VCL and High DPI improvements
- RAD Server architecture extension and Docker support
- Android push notification
- Expanded support for iOS 12 and iPhone X series devices
- RAD Server Console UI redesign and migration to the Ext JS framework
- Improved FireDAC support for Firebird 3.0.4 and Firebird embedded
- New VCL and FMX Multi-Device Styles
- IDE Productivity Components
- Quality improvements to over 150 customer reported issues
- Delphi macOS 64-bit
- RAD Server Wizards and Deployment Improvements
- Android Push Notification Support with Firebase
- Delphi Linux FireMonkey GUI Application Support
- Delphi Android 64-bit support
- macOS Catalina (Delphi) and iOS 13 support
- RAD Server Docker support
- Delphi Android 64-bit support
- Delphi iOS 13 and macOS Catalina support
- RAD Server Docker deployment
- Improved App Tethering stability
- Improved iOS push notification support
- Debugger improvements
Delphi 10.4 Sydney and updates (2020):
- Major Delphi Code Insight improvements
- Unified Memory Management across all supported platforms
- Enhanced Delphi multi-device platform support
- Unified installer for online and offline installations
- Windows Server 2019 support
- Parallel programming component updates
- Metal API support on OS X and IOS
- 850+ enhancements and fixes
- Multi-monitor and 4k scaling improvements
- Parallel programming component updates
- New VCL controls: TControlList and TNumberBox
- MSIX app packaging format support
- Installer supports silent, automated installations
- Enhanced Migration Tool
- Major compiler/IDE speed increases (over 30 IDE fix pack integrations)
- Android 11, macOS11, iOS 14 support
Delphi 11 Alexandria and updates (2021-23):
- High-DPI enabled IDE
- VCL styles in the form designer
- FireMonkey design guidelines
- macOS ARM 64-bit target platform
- Android API 30 support
- Many IDE Improvements
- Extensive High DPI IDE quality, plus improved use of the IDE with Remote Desktop
- Improvements with High DPI designers for VCL and FireMonkey and the styled VCL form designer
- GetIt Library Manager enhancements
- Code Insight Across Delphi and C++Builder
- The Delphi LSP engine saw big performance improvements
- The Delphi and C++ compilers for the various platforms were improved in terms of stability and performance
- Improved RTL, UI, and Database Libraries
- Quality-focused release in update 2 and removal of Internet Explorer
- iOS Simulator for Delphi
- IDE enhancements, notably around ToolsAPI and Delphi LSP
- Quality improvements in all areas of the application
- Ubuntu 22 and Windows Server 2022 support