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Ioannis AnifantakisFlag for Greece

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Will FireMonkey toolbar iOS components that don't work yet, be included in future DelphiXE2 updates?

I can see from the following Embarcadero link

"Components Not Used in iOS Applications"

http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/Components_Not_Used_in_iOS_Applications

that several components (infact all the components used to make something better than a "hello world" application), are excluded from the iOS development even if they exist on the FireMonkey pallette when you decide to build an iOS project.

Now my question:

They exist on that pallette when creating an iOS project because they are going to be included in the future, or the Embarcadero developers didn't even bother to exclude them from the toolbar when you decide to build iOS project?

So if development starts and these components are going to be available within a few months (through an update pack) its ok, but otherwise its junk to start programming over something that will never be available for deploy.

On the link I pasted there is NOTHING SAID about future availability of these components to the iOS development. They only note that these components are not used for iOS development.

Also, when it comes to third party non-visual components components (like devart's components), they are also available on the firemonkey pallette, but they do not compile on xcode for iOS development. However on the devart forums they say that their components will be compatible with iOS development within two months.

How are we going to know what we can use, and what promisses we have over this "cross-platform" development after all?

I am so confused.
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Ioannis Anifantakis
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ASKER

Nobody knows or heard something???????????
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There will be monthly updates, but mainly with bug fixes. I do not believe they can actually add new functionality, but perhaps they can get away with little stuff...

However, big things, like SOAP or DataSnap client connectivity native from Delphi for FireMonkey in iOS, that seems to be unlikely IMHO.
So they should not include components in the toolbar at all when you decide to build an iOS project after all, otherwise its natural to expect that these components will become available in the near future on the xcode side.

I don't know...  I was so excited at first, and now I.... don't know :(

Especially now I saw the first update comming up, and its only bug fixes... they didn't include even one new component to the iOS platform.

Guess we have to keep waiting for few months....
don't forget to vote at EDN
Can you paste me the URL for the vote?
The Embarcadero presenter replied:

Voting is done through Quality Central - http://qc.embarcadero.com
 
You can log bugs, feature requests etc. You can vote on existing entries.
At the end of the line,

We get 3rd party components together with the standard ones for the firemonkey platform.  We have to compile and TEST that the components compile ALSO on the XCode.

That is rediculus!  We have no way to know if our components work unless we make a new project, drop the components inside, and try to compile it in xcode and cross our fingers that the project will compile.

THATS BIG FAIL!
John Thomas, the lead presenter at CodeRage6, said to send him your requests and needs.
jt@embarcadero.com
Thank you very much for this information.
I already sent email to John Thomas.

I paste the contents of the email, and I promise to provide here the answers he gives me, as it will be the "real" solution to this question for future reference.

The mail I sent:

-------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir, I was told from a technology thread I opened to provide you my questions regarding FireMonkey questions...



I am refering to an Embarcadero link named "Components Not Used in iOS Applications", which can be found on the following address:
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/Components_Not_Used_in_iOS_Applications

I see that several components (infact most important components), are excluded for the iOS development even though they exist on the FireMonkey pallette when you decide to build an iOS project.  However I see that this page is updated regularly.



Now the questions raised by this are the following:

Q1) The components exist on that pallette when creating an iOS project because they are going to be included sometime in a future update, or not? That is, should developers start coding for iOS with all the available embarcadero components, or their projects will remain unpublished due to inability to compile in xcode both now and in the future?  Is the page updated because the target is to have the list of unsupported components shrink to smaller and smaller, until there are no unsupported components listed?  And if yes within XE2 or future XE3 version?

Q2) Is there a way we can distinguish between supported and non-supported components (embarcadero or 3rd party components) prior to attempting deployment to xcode, or reading component forums regarding iOS development?  In other words, is there some tool to hide currently incompatible components to the iOS?


Q3) Is Android going to be supported in FireMonkey platform in the future (maybe XE3), or the only solution to make both Android and iOS applications is through RadPHP?  In other words, building today for the iOS platform through FireMonkey is an invenstment considering the same project it will also compile to Android apk sometime in the future?




Thank you so much for the time you took reading my email.

Sincerely Yours,

Mr. Ioannis Anifantakis
@Ioannis

I have a corrected email address for John Thomas:
John.Thomas (at) embarcadero.com