This week, we had a great webinar on RAD Studio 10.3 Architect edition. For detailed information on Architect edition, please visit Marco’s blog post:
https://community.idera.com/developer-tools/b/blog/posts/what-s-in-rad-studio-10-3-architect-edition
We received a number of questions during the webinar that we wanted to address in a follow-up blog post. Below is the Q&A log:
General Architect Edition Questions
Q: Earlier it was possible to download older versions of RAD. Is that still possible?
A: It is still possible to access previous versions, with some limitations, as described at:
https://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/previous-versions
Q: Are there new features in DataSnap and what are the future plans for DataSnap?
A: We are continuing to provide bug fixes for DataSnap, and also addressed a few issues in 10.3, but don’t have specific plans for DataSnap, as our development for a middle-tier solution that is scalable and follows modern coding style is focused on RAD Server. Some DataSnap improvements are under consideration, but they’ll remain limited in scope. Feel free to reach the Embarcadero product management team if you have specific requests or suggestions.
Q: I am interested in Architect Edition but don’t have any experience building web apps. Can I provide the Ext JS license that’s part of Architect Edition to a web app developer on my team instead?
A: Yes, you can provide the bundled per user license to another member of your team if you’d like.
Q: Now we have inline variables. When will we get the ternary operator?
A: We are planning several language enhancements for coming releases, starting with 10.4, and a ternary operator is under consideration, alongside with custom managed records and nullable types.
RAD Server Questions
Q: One question about licensing RAD Server: I am actually on an Architect Subscription. What will happen to my RAD Server license if I should decide not to renew my subscription?
A: You’ll be able to keep using the last version of RAD Server covered by your subscription, but not update to a newer or updated version of RAD Server.
Q: When RAD Server was first released, there were licenses we needed to buy… For production use, do we as developers need to buy licenses for production deployment?
A: For development, we recommend using the standalone version of RAD Server (based on Indy HTTP Server) for debugging and local deployment on the developer machine. For production, Enterprise edition includes a single site deployment license, and Architect edition a multi-site license. You can still buy additional multi-site licenses for Enterprise, but that would be significantly more expensive than the Architect bundle.
Q: With the Single Site Licenses on RAD Server, are there limits on the number of domains or endpoints it will answer requests to?
A: There is no limitation to the number of domains mapped to the server or the number of endpoints. You can also deploy a load balanced solution with more than one RAD Server instance backed by one single RAD Server database (potentially on a separate machine).
Please also see https://community.embarcadero.com/blogs/entry/scale-and-save-with-rad-server
Q: Is RAD Server using the OData standard?
A: No, we don’t support the OData standard out of the box.
Q: I would like to see some more RAD Server implementation tutorials
A: We are working on a new extended tutorial. A good introduction is in this older white paper (which is still valid as a foundation of RAD Server, originally called EMS):
“RAD in Action: Mobilizing your Business with Enterprise Mobility Services Middleware” at https://www.embarcadero.com/rad-in-action/mobilizing-your-business-with-cary-jensen
Q: RAD Server is a great tool no doubt, but, for ones that have many small clients running solutions written in Delphi, it’s not affordable to migrate to RAD Server, and my question is: What is Embarcadero doing to evolve DataSnap?
A: We recommend having a look at our Enterprise Edition. It comes with a single site deployment license for RAD Server. The small clients could be served with an instance of RAD Server in the cloud or a web location, using multi-tenancy to separate the clients.
Also, the Architect Edition presents a great value, considering all that’s included, including a RAD Server multi-site license and a great set of bundled tools.
For DataSnap evolution, please see the answer above.
Aqua Data Studio Questions
Q: Does AquaFold support InterBase?
A: We currently support InterBase in AQDS through the generic JDBC connector. We plan to add InterBase support to AQDS in the first half of calendar year 2019. Please note that features are not committed until completed and GA released. For information on the generic JDBC, please see the link below.
Q: Does it also support auto completion functions in queries on databases like db2 and oracle?
A: Yes, please see link provided for Options to turn on for Auto completion.
Q: Is it also possible within the tool to check a query from one database engine against data in another server? Or easily import the data cross engine?
A: Aqua Data Studio does not do the translation from one database to another. It is not an ETL tool. It does allow you to compare Schemas, Compare data results sets and create scripts. See the link before the Creation of Scripts and the Tools menu to Import or Export the data.
- There are right click scripting features for “Create” scripts into a Query Analyzer
- There are also the Tools Main Menu or right click menu>Generate Server ScriptGenerate Schema ScriptImport DataExport Data
Helpful link to the Server Script Generator:
Q: Is there also an option/function to convert a JSON file into a relational database structure (tables and columns)?
A: Yes, please see the help file here for all you can do with JSON
Q: Can you also buy Aqua Data separately? And what does it cost?
A: Yes, please see:
https://store.aquafold.com/order/product/72207-AS
Ranorex Question:
Q: Where can I find getting Started Tutorials on Ranorex and Delphi?
A: Please see https://youtu.be/7LFO2N6L93k?t=56
Ext JS Question:
Q: How do I connect a RAD Server backend to an Ext JS web application?
A: That has been demonstrated in several blog posts and webinars:
- https://community.idera.com/developer-tools/b/blog/posts/dataset-mapping-to-json-for-javascript-client-support-in-rad-studio-10-2-2.
- https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/11505/296847/best-practices-for-building-universal-web-applications-with-ext-js-and-rad-serve
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NculJwVfKKA
To learn more about 10.3 Rio Architect, visit https://www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/product-editions