Book Image

Delphi GUI Programming with FireMonkey

By : Andrea Magni
4 (1)
Book Image

Delphi GUI Programming with FireMonkey

4 (1)
By: Andrea Magni

Overview of this book

FireMonkey (FMX) is a cross-platform application framework that allows developers to create exciting user interfaces and deliver applications on multiple operating systems (OS). This book will help you learn visual programming with Delphi and FMX. Starting with an overview of the FMX framework, including a general discussion of the underlying philosophy and approach, you’ll then move on to the fundamentals and architectural details of FMX. You’ll also cover a significant comparison between Delphi and the Visual Component Library (VCL). Next, you’ll focus on the main FMX components, data access/data binding, and style concepts, in addition to understanding how to deliver visually responsive UIs. To address modern application development, the book takes you through topics such as animations and effects, and provides you with a general introduction to parallel programming, specifically targeting UI-related aspects, including application responsiveness. Later, you’ll explore the most important cross-platform services in the FMX framework, which are essential for delivering your application on multiple platforms while retaining the single codebase approach. Finally, you’ll learn about FMX’s built-in 3D functionalities. By the end of this book, you’ll be familiar with the FMX framework and be able to build effective cross-platform apps.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Delphi GUI Programming Frameworks
4
Section 2: The FMX Framework in Depth
13
Section 3: Pushing to The Top: Advanced Topics

Introducing FireUI technology

Mastering techniques related to the positioning and sizing of components, including the smart use of layout components, is a vital requirement for developers striving to keep their applications responsive.

However, even if an impressive level of flexibility can be achieved this way, there are some situations where something more effective is needed to achieve the goal.

The FireUI name includes a number of technologies. Embarcadero has been included in Delphi since version XE7. One of the most significant capabilities that has been added is the view specialization of the UI according to a platform/form factor combination.

In other words, we have so far tried to design our UI according to a one-size-fits-all strategy, trying to add sufficient flexibility to our positioning and sizing strategies in order to achieve a satisfactory result in most situations. As we said at the beginning of this chapter, we may need to adjust significantly some dimensions or UI...