With TMS WEB Core v1.5 Rimini just released, enthusiast German speaking Delphi web developers can learn about TMS WEB Core and in particular about the new features in the latest release v1.5 Rimini in the upcoming webinar organized by Embarcadero Germany.

Our chief evangelist Holger Flick will take a tour around TMS WEB Core and the exciting new capabilities v1.5 brings to increase your productivity for creating classic web applications, installable mobile applications (PWA or progressive web applications) and cross-platform Electron desktop applications. And this all from your familiar powerful Delphi 10.4 Sydney IDE. Bruno Fierens will also attend the webinar and will assist to handle all your questions. Register now for the webinar to ensure your seat.

Here is the original announcement text for the webinar in German:

TMS WEB Core ist für viele Delphi-Entwickler zu einem beliebten Entwicklungstool für Webanwendungen geworden. TMS Software hat in den letzten zwei Jahren regelmäßige Updates bereitgestellt, wodurch die Anzahl der Steuerelemente und Technologien zur Erstellung beeindruckender Webanwendungen ständig zunahm.

Dieses Webinar konzentriert sich auf die neue Version 1.5 Rimini, in der zwei Werkzeuge vorgestellt werden, die die visuelle Anwendungsentwicklung erheblich verbessern. Die Interaktion mit Webdesignern, die nicht an der Programmierung der Anwendung beteiligt sein müssen, wird viel einfacher werden. Außerdem werden neue Steuerelemente für handschriftliche Unterschriften, Styling, Benachrichtigungsfenster und Web Sharing eingeführt. Schließlich wird es mit der neuen Version möglich sein, datenbankgestützte Electron Desktop-Anwendungen zu erstellen, die direkt mit MySQL- und PostgreSQL-Datenbanken verbunden sind.

Jetz hier anmelden für das Webinar!

TMS WEB Core already has a TWebQRDecoder component to decode QR codes. It's evident that we need something that works the other way around and creates QR codes instead. Meet our new addition to tackle this problem: TWebQRCode.

TWebQRCode is a wrapper around the qrcode.js JavaScript library. qrcode.js is a small library with the purpose of creating a QR code based on a string input.

Functionality

procedure TForm1.WebButton1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  WebQRCode1.Text := WebEdit1.Text;
end;

procedure TForm1.WebButton1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  qr: TWebQRCode;
begin
  qr := TWebQRCode.Create(Self);
  qr.Width := 200;
  qr.Height := 200;
  qr.Text := 'my text';
  qr.GetBase64Async(procedure (AData: string)
  begin
    //do something with AData
  end);
end;

procedure TForm1.WebButton1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  WebQRCode1.Download('myqrcode.png');
end;

Example

procedure TForm1.WebFormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  WebButton2.Enabled := False;
  Application.OnFontCacheReady := DoFontCacheReady;
  AddFontToCache('https://download.tmssoftware.com/tmsweb/pdf/fonts/arial.ttf');
  AddFontToCache('https://download.tmssoftware.com/tmsweb/pdf/fonts/tahoma.ttf');
end;

procedure TForm1.DoFontCacheReady(Sender: TObject);
begin
  WebButton2.Enabled := True;
end;

procedure TForm1.WebButton2Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  PDF: TTMSFNCPDFLib;
  I: Integer;
begin
  WebQRCode1.Text := edtWebsite.Text; //Set URL
  WebQRCode1.GetBitmapAsync(procedure (ABitmap: TBitmap) //Wait for bitmap to load
  begin
    PDF := TTMSFNCPDFLib.Create;
    try
      PDF.BeginDocument('sample.pdf');
      PDF.PageSize := psA4;
      PDF.Header := '';
      PDF.Footer := '';
      PDF.NewPage;
      PDF.Graphics.Font.Color := gcBlack;
      PDF.Graphics.Font.Style := [];
      //Draw with PDF here
      PDF.EndDocument(True);
    finally
      PDF.Free;
    end;
  end);
end;

procedure TForm1.DrawBusinessCard(APDF: TTMSFNCPDFLib; ALeft, ATop, ARight, ABottom: Integer; AQR: TBitmap);
begin
  APDF.Graphics.DrawRectangle(RectF(ALeft, ATop, ARight, ABottom));
  //text drawing would come here
  APDF.Graphics.DrawImage(AQR, RectF(ARight - 95, ABottom - 90, ARight - 25, ABottom - 20));
end;

Yesterday we introduced TWebQRCode as a free component to be used with TMS WEB Core. If you would like to work with ZIP files in a web application then we have good news for you! We created another free component: TWebZip.

TWebZip is a wrapper around the open source JSZip library. JSZip makes it possible to create, read, modify and download ZIP files directly in a client application. For limitations of the library please check the Limitations page.

Features of TWebZip

procedure TForm1.WebFilePicker1Change(Sender: TObject);
begin
  if WebFilePicker1.Files.Count > 0 then
    WebFilePicker1.Files[0].GetAsArrayBuffer;
end;

procedure TForm1.WebFilePicker1GetFileAsArrayBuffer(Sender: TObject; AFileIndex: Integer; ABuffer: TJSArrayBufferRecord);
begin
  WebZip1.Open(ABuffer);
end;

procedure TForm1.WebZip1ZipLoaded(Sender: TObject);
begin
  //This is the implementation of the OnZipLoaded event:
  //here we know that the ZIP was successfully opened
  //and we can proceed with related calculations/tasks
end;

WebZip1.Add('subfolder/sub.txt', 'I''m in a subfolder!'); //Add sub.txt in the 'subfolder' folder
WebZip1.Add('hello.txt', 'Hello World'); //Adds hello.txt to the ZIP and sets the content to 'Hello World'
WebZip1.Add('hello.txt', 'Hello ZIP'); //Overrides the content of hello.txt

WebZip1.ReadAsString('hello.txt', procedure(AFileName, AData: string)
begin
  //process AData here
end);

WebZip1.Remove('hello.txt'); //removes hello.txt from ZIP
WebZip1.RemoveAll; //removes all of the files from the ZIP

WebZip1.Download('myzip.zip', zcStore); //no compression
WebZip1.Download('myzip.zip', zcDeflateLevel1); //best speed
WebZip1.Download('myzip.zip', zcDeflateLevel9); //best compression

procedure TForm1.WebZip1Progress(Sender: TObject; APercent: Single; ACurrentFile: string);
begin
  WebProgressBar1.Position := Round(APercent);
end;

After a long, intense and exciting development cycle, we have the first public beta of TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code ready for you.
Now you can discover how you can productively create web client applications with the TMS WEB Core framework from the Visual Studio Code IDE.

What we did?

Why we did it?

• WYSIWYG form designer that also renders your HTML templates directly in the design
• Debugging directly from the IDE, step through your Object Pascal code from the IDE
• IDE runs on Windows, macOS and Linux
• The IDE is out of the box high-DPI enabled
• The Visual Studio Code ecosystem has many interesting additional plugins to enhance your development productivity

Who did it?

For who did we do it?

What do we plan?

What do I choose?

The world is busier than ever and unless you are gifted with an incredible memory you need your own agenda to keep track of all the appointments and events. Luckily there are media types that allow you to store and share calendaring and scheduling information: vCalendar and iCalendar. But what is the difference between the two? To put it simply, vCalendar is an older format while iCalendar a newer format that is based on vCalendar. Both formats are widely supported.

vCalendar and TMS WEB Core

procedure TForm1.WebButton1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  vevent: TvEvent;
begin
  vevent := WebvCalendar1.vEvents.Add;
  vevent.DTStart := EncodeDate(2020,8,1)+EncodeTime(10,0,0,0);
  vevent.DTEnd := EncodeDate(2020,8,1)+EncodeTime(12,0,0,0);
  vevent.Summary := 'My first appointment';
  vevent.Location := 'My location';
  WebvCalendar1.SaveToFile('mycalendar.ics'); //default is vv2
end;

Example

procedure TForm3.WebResponsiveGrid1ItemCreated(Sender: TObject; Index: Integer);
var
  cont: TControl;
  btn: TWebButton;
  itm: TWebResponsiveGridItem;
begin
  itm := WebResponsiveGrid1.Items[Index]; //get the grid item

  cont := TControl.Create(WebResponsiveGrid1); //create a dummy TControl
  cont.Container := itm.ElementHandle; //assign the TJSHTMLElement of the item to the dummy control
  
  btn := TWebButton.Create(cont);
  btn.Parent := cont;
  btn.Caption := 'event Add';
  btn.Tag := Index; //set the Tag to the Index value
  btn.Cursor := crHandPoint;
  btn.ElementClassName := 'add-button'; //this CSS class contains the button positions
  btn.ElementPosition := epIgnore;
  btn.OnClick := DoEventClick;
  //Add the ElementHandle of the button to the ElementHandle of the grid item.
  //It depends on your specific item structure, but usually it looks something like:
  //itm.ElementHandle.appendChild(btn.ElementHandle);
end;

procedure TForm3.DoEventClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  ev: TEventItem; //this is a custom TObject class
  vcal: TWebvCalendar;
  vevent: TvEvent;
begin
  ev := TEventItem(WebResponsiveGrid1.Items[(Sender as TWebButton).Tag].ItemObject); //get the ItemObject 
  vcal := TWebvCalendar.Create(self);
  vcal.vCalendarVersion := vv2; //use iCalendar
  vevent := vcal.vEvents.Add;
  vevent.DTStart := ev.StartTime; 
  vevent.DTEnd := ev.EndTime;
  vevent.Summary := ev.Subject;
  if ev.Location <> '' then 
    vevent.Location := ev.Location;
  vcal.SaveToFile('myevent.ics');
  vcal.Free;
end;

After releasing our free TWebQRCode component for TMS WEB Core, we wanted to see if there is a way to make payments with QR codes. While most solutions rely on different services and API keys, there's one European standard that many banks adopted already in some European countries. If you are curious about the full list of supported countries and banks, please head over to scan2pay.info

This standard is called EPC QR code and it is actually nothing more than a structured content that can be used to initiate a SEPA credit transfer.
Structuring the content manually is OK for some people, but we went a step further and updated our TWebQRCode component so you can take advantage of EPC QR codes to request payments with as little effort as possible:

• TWebQRCode.GenerateEPCCode is a new method with parameters based on the EPC QR guidelines. The mandatory fields are the BIC code, beneficiary name and beneficiary IBAN number.
  

  //Generate EPC QR code with mandatory fields
  WebQRCode1.GenerateEPCCode('BIC', 'Beneficiary name', 'Beneficiary IBAN number');
  //Generate EPC QR code to request 5.5 EUR payment
  WebQRCode1.GenerateEPCCode('BIC', 'Beneficiary name', 'Beneficiary IBAN number', 5.5);

• TWebQRCode.CorrectionLevel is a new property where you can set the error level of the QR code. The error level determines how much of the QR code can be missing while keeping it readable. An EPC QR code must be generated with M error level. The GenerateEPCCode method takes care of the correct error level setting under the hood.
• We also updated the JavaScript file that we use in the TWebQRCode component, so if you experience any issues after downloading the component again, please try to clear your browser cache first.

For building web client applications, TMS WEB Core has grown since its inception to an extremely rich framework offering RAD component based web development. Its possibilities are sheer unlimited and its functionality documented via an over 500 page developer guide, over 100 sample applications, lots of short videos, a video training of hours and hours of material by Wagner Landgraf and last but not least the TMS WEB Core book by Dr. Holger Flick.

And still there are so many interesting things to tell about the TMS WEB Core framework, hence this blog with tips & tricks.

TWebStringGrid cell customization

var
  td: TJSHTMLElement;
begin
  // set text in the first normal cell
  webstringgrid1.Cells[1,1] := 'Hello world';
  webstringgrid1.ColWidths[1] := 192;

  // get the HTML element for the first cell
  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[1,1];

  // change the alignment attribute for the cell
  td['align'] := 'right';

  // change the style property
  td.style.setProperty('background-color','red');
  td.style.setProperty('color','yellow');
  td.style.setProperty('padding-right','4px');
  td.style.setProperty('font-weight','bold');
end;

Adding controls in a TWebStringGrid cell

var
  td: TJSHTMLElement;
begin
  // get the HTML element for the first cell
  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[1,1];

  td.appendChild(mywebcontrol.ElementHandle);
end;

var
  td: TJSHTMLElement;
begin
  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[1,2];
  chk := TWebCheckBox.Create(Self);
  chk.ElementPosition := epRelative;
  chk.TabStop := false;
  chk.Parent := WebStringGrid1;
  chk.Caption := 'check';
  chk.OnClick := ChkClick;
  td.appendChild(chK.ElementHandle);

  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[1,3];
  btn := TWebButton.Create(Self);
  btn.ElementPosition := epRelative;
  btn.Caption := 'Click';
  btn.Parent := WebStringGrid1;
  btn.OnClick := BtnClick;
  td.appendChild(btn.ElementHandle);

  img := TWebImageControl.Create(Self);
  // "users.png" is an image added to the project that will be deployed to the output folder 
  img.URL := 'Users.png';
  img.ElementPosition := epRelative;
  img.HeightStyle := ssAuto;
  img.WidthStyle := ssAuto;
  img.parent := WebStringGrid1;
  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[1,4];
  td.appendChild(img.ElementHandle);
end;

  TForm1 = class(TWebForm)
  public
    { Public declarations }
    procedure BtnClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure ChkClick(Sender: TObject);
  end;

What about TWebTableControl?

Using CSS classes

.redcell { background-color:red; color:white; font-weight: bold;}
.yellowcell { backgrond-color:yellow; color:black; 

var
  td: TJSHTMLElement;
begin
  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[1,1];
  td['class'] := 'redcell';

  td := webstringgrid1.CellElements[2,1];
  td['class'] := 'yellowcell';
end;

procedure TForm1.WebStringGrid1GetCellClass(Sender: TObject; ACol,
  ARow: Integer; AField: TField; AValue: string; var AClassName: string);
begin
  if (ACol = 1) then 
     AClassName := 'redcell';
  if (ACol = 2) then 
     AClassName := 'yellowcell';
end;

And for any other visual controls?

control.ElementHandle.style.setProperty('propertyname','value');

var
  i: integer;
begin
  for i := 0 to control.ElementHandle.childElementCount - 1 do
  begin
    TJSHTMLElement(control.children.items[i]).style.setProperty('propertyname','value');
  end;
end;

Many times a quick and easy way is needed to export some basic data from a grid into an Excel file. We all know that Excel has lots of various features and covering the offered functionalities would require a huge library that we probably don't need for smaller tasks. We wanted to create something for these smaller tasks that covers reading, editing and writing Excel files locally in the client application while avoiding the complexities of a huge library.

TWebXLSX

procedure TForm1.WebFilePicker1Change(Sender: TObject);
begin
  if WebFilePicker1.Files.Count > 0 then
    WebFilePicker1.Files.Items[0].GetFileAsArrayBuffer;
end;

procedure TForm1.WebFilePicker1GetFileAsArrayBuffer(Sender: TObject;
  AFileIndex: Integer; ABuffer: TJSArrayBufferRecord);
begin
  WebXLSX1.Load(ABuffer);
end;

procedure TForm1.WebXLSX1WorkbookLoaded(Sender: TObject);
var
  I: Integer;
begin
  for I := 0 to WebXLSX1.SheetNameCount - 1 do
    WebListBox1.Items.Add(WebXLSX1.SheetNames[I]);
end;

procedure TForm1.WebXLSX1SaveCell(Sender: TObject; ARow, AColumn: Integer;
  AContent: string; var ACell: TJSExcelJSCellRecord);
begin
  if ARow = 0 then
    ACell.cell.style.alignment.horizontal := 'center';
end;

In April this year, we were pleased to release our new product TMS FNC Maps and announce it. TMS FNC Maps bundles all our expertise with using mapping services, with writing cross-platform and cross-framework Delphi code as well as building components for TMS WEB Core web client applications. From the beginning, we made the radical decision to base this work on the new operating system browser Edge Chromium from Microsoft for the Windows platform (where we already use Safari for iOS and macOS and Chrome for Android). From the very beginning of this development, our chief evangelist Dr. Holger Flick was involved and could play with internal versions and give feedback and steer the development.

This week all pieces of the puzzle fall together. After months of intensive work and collaboration with our development team, the new book from Holger, "Hands-on with Delphi: FNC Maps", is ready for sale. A coincidence or not, but also from this week, the Edge Chromium version Microsoft automatically deploys to Windows 10 operating systems also reached the version needed to use TMS FNC Maps on Windows. So, this means, on Windows it is no longer necessary to download and install a developer specific version of Edge Chromium. But my colleague Pieter Scheldeman will reveal more details shortly. Today is about the brand new book!

If you want to integrate mapping services' functionality such as from Google Maps, Bing Maps, Openstreet Maps, Here maps, TomTom maps, Azure maps in a Windows VCL application, a cross platform FireMonkey application or a TMS WEB Core web client application, TMS FNC Maps addresses it all and the new book covers developing with TMS FNC Maps in great detail over close to 400 pages.

Content

• Get to know the FNC framework, FNC Core, and FNC Maps in a nutshell.
• Learn about FNC Maps in detail: You will find dozens of hands-on examples from installation to modern multi-tier applications with large databases, web services, web, and desktop clients.
• Annotate maps and visualize data using markers with clustering, lines, shapes, pop-up windows and routes.
• Build applications that can handle any geographical data and interact with other Geographic Information Services (GIS). Load GPX tracks from GPS devices, GeoJSON shapes, and Google Earth-specific KML layers.
• Include other mapping services to get directions with turn-by-turn instructions, to geocode addresses, and to determine your geolocation.
• Create reports with a customizable template based on data from maps and databases.
• Allow users to freely customize maps using events or interactive markers and shapes.

• TMS FlexCel
• TMS FNC Core
• TMS VCL UI Pack
• TMS WEB Core
• TMS Cryptography Pack
• TMS XData

How to order

• Amazon USA
• Amazon UK
• Amazon Germany

One tool, one place to help our customers having purchased product bundles find, install, update, get info about and renew the products, that is what TMS Subscription Manager is about.

This new version brings:

• One click to see product version information
• One click to go directly to your account on our website
• See if older product versions are on your system and revert to older version when needed
• Actualized direct links to our new support center or social media
• Adapt folder where the downloads are kept
• Actualized to our latest brand graphics

Stable

TMS VCL UI Pack 10.4 & RAD Studio 10.4.1

More features coming in the near future

• Navigate to an URL
• Load HTML
• Debug through the developer console
• Add a JavaScript to client bridge
• Capture a webpage screenshot
• Execute JavaScript code with support for asynchronous callbacks

What about FNC?

After an intensive development and beta cycle, we are proud to announce the release of TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code v1.0 today! Visual Studio Code is the 3rd IDE that can host the TMS WEB Core framework for web client application development after the earlier released versions for Delphi and Lazarus. TMS WEB Core offers Object Pascal software developers visual RAD component-based web client development with the strongly typed and object-oriented Pascal language.

TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code brings exciting new capabilities

• WYSIWYG visual designer. The designer is a web view and renders HTML/CSS from controls and/or templates “as is” in the IDE.
• Cross-platform IDE. TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code runs directly on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Debugging from the IDE. Debugging of applications running in the browser is possible from the Visual Studio Code IDE itself.
• Uses the OmniPascal Visual Studio Code extensions for fast code completion and syntax highlighting.
• Integrated online-help. Press F1 with a component, property or event selected and help shows up in the IDE.
• High-DPI/Retina enabled IDE. Razor sharp code and designer on any screen.
• Optional TMS WEB Core distribution via the Microsoft Visual Studio Code marketplace.

TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code brings an unparalleled web development productivity

• Large number of included visual and non-visual components: With these components, a RAD approach allows you to build solutions fast.
• Visual data-binding: A data-binding mechanism similar to Delphi VCL data-binding enables to hook-up your client application via client datasets to data sent from a REST API based backend quickly.
• Use existing or custom HTML web templates: The Visual Studio Code IDE has built-in strong support for editing HTML/CSS and a vast array of extensions. This adds even more power to it. The visual designer shows the pages ”as is” using the templates.
• Integrate any existing JavaScript library: The underlying pas2js compiler for transpiling Object Pascal code to JavaScript code running in the browser facilitates programmatic access to any existing JavaScript library. This opens up the huge availability of all kinds of easily available web functionality to integrate.
• Debug using Object Pascal code: All modern debugging capabilities like breakpoints, watches, stepping in code, ... can be done in the Object Pascal code base from the Visual Studio Code IDE.

• Built-in PWA project creation support.
• Built-in Electron cross platform desktop application development support.
• Installable 3rd party component support, including full usage of the TMS FNC component offerings.
• New Object Pascal language features support.
• Modern project creation wizards.
• ... and many more

Get in the front seat today

Intro

• TTMSFNCDirections: TravelMode tmPublicTransport, tmTruck added (for supported services)
• TTMSFNCDirections: GetDirections result Status and ErrorMessage added
• LoadGPXFromFile/LoadGPXFromStream/LoadGPXFromText now also supports elevation and timestamp data
• Events OnCreateGPXTrack, OnCreateGPXSegment for creating your own data structure when parsing GPX files
• TTMSFNCGoogleMaps: Clusters.Text property
• TTMSFNCGeoCoding: Get(Reverse)Geocoding result Status and ErrorMessage added

Edge Chromium

TMS FNC Maps Book

Stay tuned for more!

Speakers

• TMS Software Hands-on with Delphi: Cross-platform Multi-tiered Database Applications: Web and Desktop Clients, REST/JSON Server, and Reporting
• TMS WEB Core: Web Application Development with Delphi
• TMS Software Hands-on with Delphi: FNC Maps: Cross-framework, Cross-platform, Cross-service Mapping Component Library

Get started with TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code

• Gjalt's 101: Get started with TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code

• playlist

• Preview of TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code
• TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code: Videos
• TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code beta is ready for TMS ALL-ACCESS users
• TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code public beta is here!
• TMS WEB Core for Visual Studio Code v1.0 released

• TMS WEB Core: Web Application Development with Delphi

• Online course: Spanish
• Online course: English

This year in February, we launched TMS VCL UI Pack Academic. In April, we launched TMS FNC UI Pack Academic. And now in September, we launch TMS WEB Core Academic!

TMS Academic program

TMS WEB Core Academic

Getting started

Request the academic license now!

I have been a Delphi developer since 1996. During this journey, I have learned new skills and acquired new tools to keep up with the demands of the the software market. In the early 2000s, I learned about AJAX, web services, and basic web design. However, my studies did not require extensive software development for the World Wide Web, and I was happy to go back to developing user interfaces with Delphi in the VCL.

Times have changed significantly since then, and I have to be honest that right now I am still learning about web design for modern web development each day. It has become a major part of my daily routine to learn one new aspect of web development each day. I consider web development a mandatory tool in every software developer's tool belt. Basic web design skills go just along with it.

If you struggle with HTML and CSS just as much as I, look no further. I might just have the video tutorial you need. The best thing about it: It's free. It will start right at the beginning.

From the perspective of a Delphi developer, you will learn step-by-step how to build my application that I built to make ordering my books easier.

As you can see, you can select the store and book title you want to order and the application will navigate to the page for you where you can order the book.

Very simple. Or really? Three months ago, the design of the page would have been an impossible thing to do.

You will learn about:

• Separating application development with TMS WEB Core and web design
• Bootstrap
• FontAwesome
• Using (free) plugins in Visual Studio Code for web design
• Emmets and code completion for web design with Visual Studio Code
• WYSIWYG of your web design in the web browser
• Link you web design to your application controls

Create documentation is boring. At least that's my opinion, and most developers I know also don't like to write it. But that's something we need to do, of course. Thus, the easiest it gets to document things, the better.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

With TMS XData, you create your REST API server using Delphi very easily, but you also get it documented almost automatically using the automatic Swagger generation feature. Since all endpoints are strong typed in server, all it takes is just to enable a single property and have your endpoints listed and testable. This feature has been available for years already.

But now XData takes it to another level. A good (if not the best) way to document your source code is to use XML Documentation Comments. In the interfaces and methods that build your service contract, you can simply add specific XML tags and content, like this:

    /// <summary>
    ///   Retrieves the sine (sin) of an angle
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    ///  Returns the Sine (Sin) value of an angle radians value.
    ///  The value returned will be between -1 and 1.
    ///  If the angle is zero, the returned value will be zero.
    /// </remarks>
    /// <param name="Angle">
    ///   The angle in radians.
    /// </param>
    function Sin(Angle: Double): Double;

And Delphi IDE will automatically use it for Help Insight , showing you information about the method on-the-fly. For example, if some developer is trying to use the Sin method of your API, information will be conveniently displayed:

The good news is that, with XData, you can use such XML comments in the Swagger document and Swagger-UI that are generated automatically by XData, improving even more your REST API documentation. Since the API endpoints are generated directly from the interfaced and methods, XData knows exactly the meaning of each documentation and can map it accordingly to Swagger.

By asking Delphi to generate the XML documentation files, and using a single line of code like this:

uses {...}, XData.Aurelius.ModelBuilder;
 ...
   TXDataModelBuilder.LoadXmlDoc(XDataServer.Model);

XData will reuse the documentation and include it in Swagger:

Using different documentation for Help Insight and Swagger

Reusing the same XML comments is nice as you don't repeat yourself. Document your code just once, and the same documentation is used for documenting your Delphi interfaces (Delphi developments) and your REST API (API consumer development).

But, if for some reason you want to use different documentation content for Delphi developers and for REST API users, that's also possible. For example, suppose the following documentation:

Note that tags summary and param are the regular XML documentation tags. They will be used for Help Insight:

And swagger tags with no name attribute (A), or name param-A (B), param-B (C) and remarks (D) will be used exclusively for Swagger documentation:

Customizing tags

You can also customize the tags in Swagger. Endpoints are grouped together inside a tag, which can have a name and description.

By default, the name of the tag will be path segment of the interface service. But you can change it using either swagger tag using tag-name attribute.

The description of the tag by default is empty, but you can define it using the regular summary tag, or optionally using the swagger tag with tag-description attribute.

Consider the following documentation for both IArithmenticService and ITrigonometryService :

The above tags will generate the following output in Swagger UI:

Customizing document header and description

XData also takes the model name, version and description into account to build the final document. You can configure such settings directly by changing some properties of the XData model:

  XDataServer.Model.Title := 'Mathematics API';
  XDataServer.Model.Version := '1.0';
  XDataServer.Model.Description :=
    '### Overview'#13#10 +
    'This is an API for **mathematical** operations. '#13#10 +
    'Feel free to browse and execute several operations like *arithmetic* and *trigonometric* functions'#13#10#13#10 +
    '### More info'#13#10 +
    'Build with [TMS XData](https://www.tmssoftware.com/site/xdata.asp), from [TMS Software](https://www.tmssoftware.com).' +
    'A Delphi framework for building REST servers'#13#10 +
    '[![TMS Software](https://download.tmssoftware.com/business/tms-logo-small.png)](https://www.tmssoftware.com)';

Note that you can use Markdown syntax to format the final text. Here is what it will look like:

You can read more about using XML documentation in Swagger with TMS XData by referring to the official documentation page.

Finally, this video shows in details how REST/JSON documentation works with XData, explaining how Swagger and Help Insight documentation is built from single source, how XML comments can be used, and even more. Lots of useful information there!

We already have an extensive set of powerful and feature-rich UI controls in our TMS FNC UI Pack. But there is always room for some additional tools to help you with your cross framework and cross platform work. In this new release of our TMS FNC UI Pack we’ve added 5 new components which were requested by you, our community of great developers who see the enormous advantages of components that can be used on VCL, TMS Web Core, FMX and Lazarus with just one code base.

TMS FNC Controls can be simultaneously used on these frameworks:

New to the TMS FNC UI family

TTMSFNCRichEditorHorizontalRuler

TTMSFNCSplitter

TTMSFNCProgressBar

TTMSFNCRating

TTMSFNCWaitingIndicator

TX509Certificate is a component of TMS Cryptography Pack to use X509 certificates. With it, we can sign certificate signing request (CSR) or use it in XAdES, CAdES or PAdES to sign or verify documents.

We can generate self-signed certificates, import them from PEM file, from PEM string, from PFX file.

In this post, I will explain how to import certificate from Windows Certificate Store.

To do that, we have to use the crypt32 DLL and CertOpenSystemStore and CertFindCertificateInStore.

CertOpenSystemStore

function CertOpenSystemStore(hProv: HCRYPTPROV; szSubsystemProtocol: LPCTSTR)
 : hCertStore;

function CertFindCertificateInStore(hCertStore: hCertStore;
 dwCertEncodingType, dwFindFlags, dwFindType: DWORD; pvFindPara: Pointer;
 pPrevCertContext: PCCERT_CONTEXT): PCCERT_CONTEXT;

• X509_ASN_ENCODING
• PKCS_7_ASN_ENCODING

_CERT_CONTEXT = record
    dwCertEncodingType: DWORD;
    pbCertEncoded: LPBYTE;
    cbCertEncoded: DWORD;
    pCertInfo: PCERT_INFO;
    hCertStore: hCertStore;
  end;

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
  Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants,
  System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
  Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls,
  CryptBase, X509Obj, MiscObj;

const
  X509_ASN_ENCODING = $00000001;
  CERT_FIND_SUBJECT_STR = 8 shl 16 or 7;  // values taken from System.Net.HttpClient.Win

type
  HCRYPTPROV = ULONG_PTR;

  _CERT_CONTEXT = record
    dwCertEncodingType: DWORD;
    pbCertEncoded: LPBYTE;
    cbCertEncoded: DWORD;
    pCertInfo: PCERT_INFO;
    hCertStore: hCertStore;
  end;

  PCERT_CONTEXT = ^_CERT_CONTEXT;
  PCCERT_CONTECT = PCERT_CONTEXT;

  function ExtractCertWindowsStore(subjectName: string): TX509Certificate;

  function CertOpenSystemStore(hProv: HCRYPTPROV; szSubsystemProtocol: LPCTSTR)
    : hCertStore; stdcall; external 'crypt32.dll' name 'CertOpenSystemStoreW';

  function CertFindCertificateInStore(hCertStore: hCertStore;
    dwCertEncodingType, dwFindFlags, dwFindType: DWORD; pvFindPara: Pointer;
    pPrevCertContext: PCCERT_CONTEXT): PCCERT_CONTEXT; stdcall;
    external 'crypt32.dll' name 'CertFindCertificateInStore';

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

function ExtractCertWindowsStore(subjectName: string): TX509Certificate;
var
  Store: hCertStore;
  Cert: PCCERT_CONTEXT;
  s: string;
  i: integer;
  Conv: TConvert;
  X509Cert: TX509Certificate;
begin
  Cert := nil;
  Store := CertOpenSystemStore(0, PChar('MY'));
  if (Store <> nil) then
    Cert := CertFindCertificateInStore(Store, X509_ASN_ENCODING, 0,
      CERT_FIND_SUBJECT_STR, PChar(subjectName), nil)
  else
     raise Exception.Create('Unable to open certificate store');

  if (Cert <> nil) then
  begin
    s := '';
    for i := 0 to Cert.cbCertEncoded - 1 do
      s := s + IntToHex(integer(Cert.pbCertEncoded[i]), 2);

    Conv := TConvert.Create(hexa);
    try
      s := Conv.HexaToBase64(s);
    finally
      Conv.Free;
    end;
    X509Cert := TX509Certificate.Create;
    X509Cert.CrtStr := s;
    X509Cert.Decode;
    Result := X509Cert;
  end
  else
    raise Exception.Create('Certificate ' + subjectName + ' not found');
end;

end.