SListIndexError is a constant string declared in Delphi 4 in the unit Consts.SListIndexError since Delphi 6 is in the unit RTLConsts.{$IF CompilerVersion >= 14.0}
// Delphi 6 and higher
RTLConsts
{$ELSE}
Consts
{$IFEND}Error(SListIndexError, Index) may be replaced by Error('List Index out of bounds (%d)', Index)
| Ansi-fy | Wide Char, Unicode | Units | |
const
C = '...'; |
const
C: AnsiString = '...'; |
||
| CompareText | AnsiCompareText | CompareText | SysUtils; AnsiStrings |
| CompareStr | AnsiCompareStr | CompareStr | SysUtils; AnsiStrings |
| FindWindow | FindWindowA | FindWindowW (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 the same as FindWindowW) |
|
| GetDiskFreeSpace | GetDiskFreeSpaceA | GetDiskFreeSpace (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 calls GetDiskFreeSpaceW) |
Windows |
| GetTempPath | GetTempPathA | GetTempPath (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 calls GetTempPathW) |
Windows |
| LowerCase | AnsiLowerCase | LowerCase | SysUtils or AnsiStrings (Delphi 2009+) |
| ShellExecute | ShellExecuteA | ShellExecuteW (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 the same as ShellExecute) |
ShellApi |
| ShellExecute | ShellExecuteA | ShellExecuteW (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 the same as ShellExecute) |
ShellApi |
| ShellExecuteInfo | ShellExecuteInfoA | ShellExecuteInfoW (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 the same as ShellExecuteInfo) |
|
| SHGetPathFromIDList | SHGetPathFromIDListA | SHGetPathFromIDList (in Delphi Versions >= 2009 calls SHGetPathFromIDListW) |
ShlObj |
| StrAlloc | AnsiStrAlloc | in Delphi Versions >= 2009 StrAlloc calls WideStrAlloc | SysUtils |
| UpperCase | AnsiUpperCase | UpperCase | SysUtils or AnsiStrings (Delphi 2009+) |
In Delphi Versions <= 2007, string was an alias for AnsiString (a single-byte character string type).
In Delphi Versions >= 2009, this changed, and string became an alias for UnicodeString (a multi-byte, UTF-16 character string type), while AnsiString remained available as a type for 8-bit character data.
The change was a major shift to include full Unicode support and has significant implications for the legacy code written in Delphi <= 2007 that is being migrated to Delphi 2009 or later.
In Delphi 2007 and older (ANSI) Length() returns number of bytes, in Delphi 2009 and newer (Unicode) returns number of characters (elements).
| Type / Function | Delphi 7, 2007 | Delphi 2009, XE |
| byte | byte | byte (no change) |
| String | AnsiString | UnicodeString |
| Char | AnsiChar | WideChar |
| PChar | PAnsiChar | PWideChar |
| SizeOf(Char) | 1 byte | 2 bytes |
TEncoding.GetString to properly decode data.// Delphi <= 2007 code — assumes 1 byte per char, breaks silently under Unicode
procedure TrimBuffer(var Buf: array of Char; MaxLen: Integer);
var
P: PChar;
begin
P := @Buf[0];
Inc(P, MaxLen); // wrong stride Char is 2 bytes
P^ := #0;
end;{$IFDEF VER150} // Delphi 7
{$IFDEF VER185} // Delphi 2007 Win32 has VER180 & VER185
{$IFDEF VER200} // Delphi 2009 Tiburon
{$IFDEF VER210} // Delphi 2010 Weaver
Another way to use the UNICODE directive:
{$IFDEF UNICODE}
// Delphi 2009+ logic
{$ELSE}
// Legacy Delphi logic
{$ENDIF}
CompilerVersion than Version constants{$IFDEF} blocks keyed to old version constants. Don’t delete these blindly — audit each one with attention.SetLength and GetMemLength returns the number of elements in the string or in an array. Length for the strings with 8 bit element types (ANSI, UTF-8) gives the number of bytes since the number of bytes is the same as the number of elements, but the Length for the strings with 16 bit elements (UTF-16) is half the number of bytes because each element has 2 bytes.GetMem(Buffer, Length(MyString)); // Allocates half the needed bytes!GetMem(Buffer, Length(MyString) * SizeOf(Char));
AnsiString or pass TEncoding.ANSI (e.g., StringList.LoadFromFile('file.txt', Tencoding.ANSI)) to TStringList.SaveToFile or TStringList.LoadFromFile.
var
LegacyStr: AnsiString;
begin
LegacyStr := AnsiString(MyUnicodeString);
Stream.Write(LegacyStr[1], Length(LegacyStr));
end;
PChar casting)SetWindowText calls the SetWindowTextW.PAnsiChar is explicitly being passed to an API that now expects PWideChar, the compiler will give error. Types must be updated to PChar to let Delphi handle it natively, or explicitly call SetWindowTextA if the ANSI is used.CharInSet appeared in Delphi 2009 to avoid warning: "WideChar reduced to byte char in set expressions". Sets in Delphi can contain a maximum of 256 elements.
function CharInSet(AChar: Char; ASet: TSysCharSet): Boolean;
begin
Result := AChar in ASet;
end;PChar pointer Inc(P) is incremented, it now jumps by 2 bytes instead of 1. If there is manual byte-level parsing, the pointer type must be changed to PByte or PAnsiChar.AnsiString as binary Data buffers to load raw binary data, encrypted data, or file streams, this will now break because the runtime will try to parse or convert invalid UTF-16 surrogate pairs.RawByteString or TBytes (an array of bytes) to fix and completely bypass Unicode conversion logic.TWideStringField instead of TStringField if storing non-ASCII data).AnsiStrings.pas appeared in ..\source\Win32\rtl\common.
TTitleBar by Valient Newman in an attempt to revive an old project and to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 6 and higher.The components TTitleBar v2.01 is available in My Github Repository
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments. Source code is provided free of charge. The software is provided to you “AS-IS”. As such, there is no guarantee of any support whatsoever.
TdfsEllipsisPanel have been made by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2, 2009 and higher.The components TdfsEllipsisPanel v1.20 is available in My Github Repository
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments. All DFS source code is provided free of charge. The software is provided to you "AS-IS". As such, there is no guarantee of any support whatsoever. The component throws an Access violation error and its source code can be used as an example for study.
TdfsGrabBar have been made by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2, 2009 and higher.The components TdfsGrabBar v1.17 is available in My Github Repository
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments. All DFS source code is provided free of charge. The software is provided to you "AS-IS". As such, there is no guarantee of any support whatsoever.
TdfsMRUFileList have been made by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2, 2009 and higher.mdFileNameOnly.
The components TdfsMRUFileList v2.68 is available in My Github Repository
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments. All DFS source code is provided free of charge. The software is provided to you "AS-IS", and all risks and losses associated with it's use are assumed by you. As such, there is no guarantee of any support whatsoever.
TdfsIconComboBox and TdfsIconListBox have been made by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2, 2009 and higher.A dropdown list style combobox that displays the icons that exist in a given file, and a listbox that displays the icons that exist in a given file, either horizontally or vertically.
Features: Optionally, the control can disable itself when the filename is invalid. Optionally, the control can load icons "on demand." This speeds up the initialization process greatly because all icons do not have to be loaded when the control is created. Many file formats can be read from, including: .EXE, .DLL, .ICO .ICL { PCTools? Icon Library .NIL { Norton Icon Library ListBox can simulate a grid of icons, allowing you to set the number of icons to be displayed in both the X and Y direction. This setting can be changed dynamically.
The components TdfsIconComboBox and TdfsIconListBox v1.17 is available in My Github Repository
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments. All DFS source code is provided free of charge. As such, there is no guarantee of any support whatsoever.
TFWTrayIcon by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2009 and higher.The component TFWTrayIcont v1.05 is available in My Github Repository
The component has realization issues for instance with hint display and the use of this component is on your own risk.
The software is provided as is without any garanties and warranty.
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments.
TFWHint by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2009 and higher.The component TFWHint v1.05 is available in My Github Repository
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments.
DlgTest by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 6, when the design-time and runtime code must be separated.
CBtnForm, ColorAEd, DFSClrBn by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 2, 2009 and higher, where WinTypes, WinProcs units are absent.A Windows 95 and NT 4 style color selection button, which displays a palette of 20 color for fast selection and a button to bring up the color dialog.
This component can be freely used and distributed in commercial and private environments.The component DFS Color Button is available in My Github Repository
This is not a divine revelation, but simply semblance of my personal reference.
In Delphi 2007, AnsiString was the default string type used for general-purpose string manipulation.
This means variables declared simply as string were compiled as AnsiString. This changed in Delphi 2009+, where string became an alias for UnicodeString.
AnsiString in Delphi 2007:Char was an 8-bit (1-byte) AnsiChar, while in Delphi 2009+, it became a 16-bit WideChar (UTF-16) by default.AnsiString was dynamically allocated and limited only by available memory, unlike the older ShortString that was limited to 255 characters.Char now represents a 16-bit character, enabling full Unicode support. Char becomes WideCharstring is an alias for UnicodeString (UTF-16, 2 bytes per character).AnsiString still exists but is used primarily for backward compatibility or interfacing with non-Unicode systems/APIs.PAnsiChar(myWideString), AnsiString(myUnicodeString) and similar, where needed, and be aware of character mapping.Char, PChar needed updates, especially with assignments between ANSI and Unicode types.RawByteString instead of string or Char. RawByteString is AnsiString with no code page set by default (AnsiString($ffff)).$(Delphi)\bin\convert.exe -t Form.txt
$(Delphi)\bin\convert.exe Form.txt
Delphi Form Conversion Utility Copyright (c) Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. Usage: convert.exe [-i] [-s] [-t | -b] <filespec(s) | @filelist> -i Convert files in-place (output overwrites input) -s Recurse subdirectories -t Convert to text -b Convert to binary
Simple corrections brought in THexEditor, THexToCanvas by Valient Newman to make the component meet the requirements of Delphi 6 and higher, when the design-time and runtime code must be separated.
Changes published September 6, 2023
Updated 15 dec 2025
Corrections were made to comply with Delphi 2009 requirements.
Checked in Delphi 7 and Delphi 2007, 2009
This component is used in Activity and Authentication Analyzer
The component HexEditor is available in My Github Repository
THexEditor descends from TCustomGrid, and displays and edits hexadecimal/binary files THexToCanvas is a descendant of TComponent, assign a THexEditor to it, set some properties and you can paint the hex data to a canvas (e.g. printer canvas)
credits to:
John Hamm, john@snapjax.com, http://users.snapjax.com/john/ (s.b. for details)
Christophe LE CORFEC, CLC@khalif.com for his introduction to the EBCDIC format and the nice idea about half byte insert/delete
Philippe Chessa, Philippe_Chessa@compuserve.com for his suggestions about AsText, AsHex and better support for the french keyboard layout
Daniel Jensen, no_comply@usa.net for octal offset display and the INS-key recognition stuff
written by Markus Stephany, mirbir.st@t-online.de, http://home.t-online.de/home/mirbir.st
Project -> Options -> Packages -> Build with runtime packages.unit DockForm;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs;
type
TDockableForm = class(TForm)
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
end;
var
DockableForm: TDockableForm;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
end.
object DockableForm: TDockableForm
...
...
end
While migrating to new versions, Delphi may lack the Proxies file.
This is a common issue while porting components.
If application or expert uses designtime information in Delphi 6 and later, one have to replace
uses DsgnIntf;
with
uses DesignIntf, DesignEditors;
If the [Pascal Fatal Error] ... : F1026 File not found: 'DesignIntf.dcu' message occurs, one must put designide in the section requires in package.
unit Proxies;
interface
function IsProxyClass(ComponentClass: TClass): Boolean;
implementation
function IsProxyClass(ComponentClass: TClass): Boolean;
begin
...
end;
end.