Question

I have inherited an application that was built in Delphi, using clx components (TcxMaskEdit, TcxCurrencyEdit). I cannot open this application because I lack the clx components in my copy of Delphi. If I ignore the warning messages, the application opens without those components on the forms and the Win32 library disappears. I cannot get these components because they are no longer carried by the original developer. So, this leaves me with two options: either find a way to get the clx components, or convert them to vcl. The application has had so many man hours devoted to it and is so business critical that it cannot be easily re-written or replaced. So, my question is: how can I convert the clx components to vcl or otherwise obtain these deprecated components? Or is there something here that I’m missing?

Answer 1

TcxMaskEdit and TCxCurrencyEdit are not CLX controls. They’re part of the older Developer Express components (not sure if they’re still around or not). In order to open your project, you’ll need to get a copy of whatever version your application used. You’ll need to ask the old developer what that was, or contact DevEx support and see if they can help you.

(The CLX components have the same name as their VCL counterparts. The only difference is the unit names in the uses clause of your source; the VCL Dialogs unit is replaced by QDialogs, Forms becomes QForms, and so forth. Switching from CLX to VCL is as easy as searching for any unit starting with Q, and removing that single letter if there’s a corresponding VCL unit, and then rebuilding your app.)