Lazarus training for Delphi programmers

This workshop is ideal for Delphi programmers as an introduction to the world of Lazarus as a supplement to your Delphi skills. With over 20 years experience in Delphi programming we have now been implementing for the last 4 years all new projects exclusively with Lazarus, and provides a comprehensive insight into programming with Lazarus.

Target group

Programmers, who …
... already have a number of years experience developing Delphi applications,
... wish to continue to use their existing Delphi VCL and Pascal knowledge,
... take advantage of a similar development environment with an almost identical programmming language,
... want to realize real multi-platform development,
... want to utilize the advantages of an active open source software and community,
... want to choose a future-proof and vendor-independent development environment for the next 10 to 20 years,
... want to save license fees and yet still keep up-to-date.

We will be focusing on the following topics:

1. Introduction to the world of Lazarus

Selecting the correct version, 32 or 64 Bt, CodeTyphon or standard Lazarus.
Installation, parallel installation of multiple versions, portable installation.
The key paths and files of a Lazarus installation.
Lazarus components: What is included, where you can get more, how does the install work?
Limitations when converting existing projects and component libraries.
Differences between LCL and VCL.
Comparison of Lazarus project files and Delphi projects.
Handling the Lazarus IDE; customization options.
Strategies to incorporate large parts of existing Delphi projects.

2. Avoid past mistakes

Does it always have to be components or there is another way.
Dynamic creation of controls and administration in separate lists.
Dynamic form construction.
Use OwnerDraw techniques to extend common components.
Implement complex components on a modular basis.
Constructing your own class libraries.
Should properties be set in the Object Inspector or in your code?
Automatically generate source code.
Assign events at runtime.
Global exception handling and trace logging.
Multilingual and UTF8 support.
A simple calendar application, modeled on the Google calendar.

3. Database techniques

Complex 3rd party DB access components or, even better, the integrated SQLDB components.
Interaction of SQLDB with Firebird and other databases.
Connection, Transaction, Dataset, Query etc.
Data source and data-aware components: advantages and disadvantages.
Alternative methods of data storage and display.
Object class model for data access without DataSource.
Generate and use automated SQL for insert/update/delete/select.
Reporting techniques with Lazarus and databases, report design, interaction with stored procedures.
Multilingual and UTF8 support in the database.
Concepts for high-performance database applications.
A simple database application, illustrating a simple invoicing software.

4. Multi-platform in practice

Installing Lazarus on other platforms.
What needs to be considered in order to use the source code on all platforms?
The major platform-specific basics.
Open the Lazarus sample project on Win32, Win64, Linux, Mac OSX, Raspberry Pi in the IDE, compile and test.
Simple Android applications using Lazarus.
Simple iOS Applications using Lazarus.
Simple web applications using Lazarus or directly using PHP and Firebird.