[lazarus] A Little Cleanup

[Curtis White]

On 25-Jul-99 Michael A. Hess wrote:
> 
> Why should they be called the same? Please remember we are making a Delphi
> like tool not a Delphi compatible tool. Do not expect this to be able to
> compile and build Delphi application as they are currently written for
> Delphi. You will be able to use it and write programs they same way that
> you do in Dlephi but not use Delphi code in it's entirity.

OK. Well if that is the case, then why are we even using the same filenames
and component list as Delphi?  We have a huge list of components on the web
site that are all Delphi components. But if we are not trying to make it Delphi
compatible at all, then we shouldn't even worry about those components at all
and should just make up our own based on what GTK and QT offer. It will be much
easier to build if we make up our own component list and do not worry about
if they are called the same thing or act the same as the Delphi components.

For example, I have been working on making the TNotebook component work like and
have the same functions and properties as the Delphi TNotebook component. Then
we would need another component called TTabbedNotebook that is similar, but has
the tabs. If we are not trying to be Delphi compatible at all, then these two
components could easily be combined into one that you could turn the tabs on or
off. 

I don't have a problem with that at all. I was just under the impression from a
lot of the discussion that has taken place that we are trying to be pretty much
Delphi compatible (except for resource ffiles).

If we are not going to be compatible with Delphi, I think it might be a good
idea to start a list of differences as we build/find them. That way when people
want to port their Delphi applications to Lazarus, they will be able to easily
find all the places their code needs to change. As a matter of fact, we could
even create an import tool that would automatically convert their Delphi code to
Lazarus when they "import" it. But we need to know what the differences are. I
could start a web page that contains a list of the Delphi/Lazarus differences,
if we want, unless someone else would prefer to maintain this list. Should we
maintain this list, or not worry about it?

> 
> I am currently working on the layout for the DFM or LFM file which will be
> using XML which is nothing like the Delphi format. Expect there to be some
> differences most likely for the better.
> 

I agree. I much prefer using XML than what Delphi uses.


Curtis