Using DirectX in Delphi7?

Hi

I used to use Hori's Delphix compoents for delphi 4.
(http://www.yks.ne.jp/~hori/index-e.html)

Now i have Delphi 7, and it seems that there is no installpackage for this version of delphi.

So... the question is.. is there any update around for DelphiX, or maybe a better alternative?

I need to use graphics and sound simultanesly.

Thanks in advance, and i hope its the right forum... im new here

;) Well, you found a Delphi forum, that's what's important...

How experienced are you at building packages? I'm not surprised that you don't find a D7 package for the components. But if you have the source .DPK and the files that go with it, you could always open the package project file in D7 and let it convert the dependencies for you automatically. Then, save the changes and compile. If there are any missing or invalid unit references, you'll catch them at that point.

Once you get a clean compile, you can just click the Install button on the project manager to add the components to your palette.

I use this method all of the time for component suites when I upgrade versions of Delphi.

:( Hmmm...you should have gotten a dialog that says "This package appears to be in an older format...".



What could be going on is that the code contains conditional-define controlled code, and the fact that the conditional directive is missing is surfacing some broken code. You would have to hunt those down in the code units, and add the respective conditional-defines to the project options.



Okay, to get around errors caused by the compiler settings (which are in the .DOF and .CFG files of the project, do the following:

• Make a list of all of the unit files in the .DPK (In contains, not the ones in the requires).
  
• Copy the files in the list to a new project folder (and ignore the existing package files)
  
• Start an entirely new package project in D7.
  
• One by one, add the files in the list into the new project.
  
• Compile the new project.
  

If that gives you a clean compile, then click the Install button (yes, that small window you see is the project manager for the package) to add the component to the palette.
Give that a try, and see what happens. If it's still busted, there are a lot of fine folk on these boards who would probably take a copy of your component source and build a clean D7 package for you (I only have D6. Sorry).

Oooh, I just noticed something!

The code may not be broken, you could just be missing an important code unit.

I looked at your error:

The operand size mismatch error appears on asm code mov eax,Dest; add eax,TDXRMachine_Color.R+1

If the compiler doesn't know what the class attribute TDXRMachine_Color.R means, because the unit that defines it can't be found (or the uses clause is messed up in the unit where the error appears), then the ASM code line would be seen by the compiler as:

mov eax,Dest; add eax,<unknown>+1

...and, <unknown>+1 is not a valid operand size value!!!

Do a full file search for TDXRMachine_Color. That's your culprit!

Thanks for the update! That's a really good reference site for DirectX programming in Delphi!



And for those of you who are following this thread, the fix to the ASM statement was to cast the operand as a BYTE:

 mov eax,Dest; add eax,BYTE(TDXRMachine_Color.R+1) 

The reason that the record alignment setting didn't have an effect was that the operand was still seen as a WORD operand, not BYTE.

Thanks for the reply Scott.

First of all, my experience with building packages is zero.. meaning i have newer made one before.

But i do have the source .DPK and .PAS files.

The package contains .DPK files for Delphi 3,4,5 so i opened the .DPK for v5. I get this small window with a "compile", "add", "remove", "install", "options" button.. which i believe is normal for packages.

But how do i convert the dependecies?

What i have done so far, was simply hit the compile button, but i get 101 errors, with "operand size mismatch". I believed it was bad compiler settings, but i have tried every setting to no avail

The operand size mismatch error appears on asm code

mov eax,Dest; add eax,TDXRMachine_Color.R+1

I was hoping that its just a matter of the correct compiler settings

I've tried several times to get in touch with the developer, Hori, who made the original packages, but i have never heard from him.

I hope you can elaborate on the conversion of dependecies.

Thanks for your help

Thanks for your help so far Scott. I think im getting closer to the solution.

Well.. the thing you mentioned about the box i shuld get about the "This package appears to be in an older format...", yes, i do get that if i try to open the old d5.dpk file. Sorry for not mentioning that. I answer yes to this box, but end up in the situatuion before.. the error in asm

Anyway, i tried yor suggestion, and rebuilded the entire package. I could add most of the .PAS file, but i got a few "Class XXXX not found" messages on some of the added units, and figured that i just needed to add those units in the ned.. but it did not solve the problem. So i just left those units out. After i try to compile, i get the 101 errors again, and the same error as before "operand size mismatch".

The declaration of TDXRMachine_Color is in the same unit where the error occurs:

Type PDXRMachine_Color = ^TDXRMachine_Color; TDXRMachine_Color = packed record R, G, B, A: WORD; end;

Since i posted 2 lines of code before, i have cut out the piece where the error occurs:

add eax,TDXRMachine_Color.R+1

I was wondering if this was caused by the "Align record field" setting in the compiler setting, which i hve seen so many times before, so i tried all the settings in d7 1,2,4,8, but to no avail. I wonder if its possible to turn it complete off, by setting it to 1?

So.. i have a new package, but ts the same errors

I would really appreciate if someone could help me lift this to D7. If somebody want to take a shot at it, you can download the original package from:
http://www.yks.ne.jp/~hori/DelphiX-e.html

And again.. if someone knows of a better alternative for using DirectX in D7, please dont hesitate to post a link

Search and thou shall find.. and so i did

It seems that i was not the only one with this problem.. Some users have made a update tutorial for D6 users, and it also works with D7.. GREAT!!

If anyone needs to update DelphiX, as its rightfully called, go to this site for help:
http://turbo.gamedev.net/delphixd6.asp

Im off coding some more cool freeware games

My Site:
http://home.worldonline.dk/ingolf17/