Question

Just for curiosity: why this code gives an AV instead of throwing an exception?

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var fs: TFormatSettings;
begin
  strtodate('2011-01-01', fs);
end;

Answer 1

Your code raises an exception because fs is not initialized.

  uses SysUtis, Windows;

  procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
  var fs: TFormatSettings;
  begin
    GetLocaleFormatSettings(GetSystemDefaultLCID, fs); // what is your short-date format?
    strtodate('2011-01-01', fs);
  end;