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2013, Tuesday May 21

Performance issue in NextGen ARC model

Apart from being very slow during compilation, the Delphi NextGen compiler introduced a new memory model, named ARC.

We already spoke about ARC years ago, so please refer to our corresponding blog article for further information, especially about how Apple did introduce ARC to iOS instead of the Garbage Collector model.

About how ARC is to be used in the NextGen compiler, take a look at Marco's blog article, and its linked resources.

But the ARC model, as implemented by Embarcadero, has at least one huge performance issue, in the way weak references, and zeroing weak pointers have been implemented.
I do not speak about the general slow down introduced during every class/record initialization/finalization, which is noticeable, but not a big concern.

If you look at XE4 internals, you will discover a disappointing global lock introduced in the RTL.

Continue reading...

2013, Monday May 20

Are we the milch cow of Embarcadero?

So Marco did answer to our blog article.
Thanks a lot for taking your time, Marco!
I knew you are an open minded fellow.

When I read this Marco's proposal to make an Open Source third-party library to support AnsiStrings, I was stunned.

This demonstrates a naive (and I know he is not such a guy) misunderstanding of what Open Source is.
Open Source is not the milch cow of big Companies.
Open Source is not the solution when you do not want to fix their own problems.

Marco is fair enough to propose his own contribution to the project.
But why on earth won't they make it part of the official RTL?
But why on earth wouldn't they make it compiler-supported, as it always was?
It is 100% part of their duty.

I understand the fact that Extended was not supported any more at compiler level in Win64.
It did make sense at compiler level (SSE2 only supports single or double).
And some third party users proposed a third party library to handle it via records.

But for such low-level feature as AnsiString, since there was no compiler-level nor CPU-level explanation, I do not see any reason to get rid of it.
LLVM is perfectly able to handle both AnsiString and UnicodeString, with the COW paradigm.

Continue reading...

2013, Sunday May 19

"The shorter code, the better?"

One quick Sunday post, from a comment I wrote in a blog article.

I'm always wondering why a lot of programmers tend to implicitly assume that "the shorter source code, the better".

It is true when it means that with proper code refactoring, making small objects with dedicated methods, the code of your methods will be smaller.
It is true when you do not like to write as a "Copy & Paste" coder, without searching to put common code in shared places.

But is it true at the language level?
I mean, is it just because your ARC or GC model allow you not to manage the object memory, that it is always better?

Just some ideas...

Continue reading...

2013, Saturday May 11

Delphi XE4 NextGen compiler: using byte instead of ansichar?

When I first read the technical white paper covering all of the language changes in XE4 for mobile development (tied to the new ARM LLVM-based Delphi compiler), I have to confess I was pretty much confused.

Two great mORMot users just asked for XE4/iOS support of mORMot.

Win32/Win64 support for XE4 will be done as soon as we got a copy of it.
I suspect the code already works, since it was working as expected with XE3, and we rely on our own set of low-level functions for most internal work.

But iOS-targetting is more complex, due to the NextGen compiler, mainly.

Continue reading...

2013, Wednesday April 24

mORMots know how to swim like fishes

Another great video by warleyalex.

This time, a full FishFacts demo in AJAX, using mORMot and its SQLite3 ORM as server.

See it on YouTube!

Feedback is welcome on our forum.

Update:

I've just uploaded the corresponding source code to our repository.
See sample 19 - AJAX ExtJS FishFacts.
You need to download the corresponding DB file to run the sample.
Enjoy!

2013, Monday April 22

TDataSet... now I'm confused

You perhaps know that I'm not a big fan of the TDataSet / RAD DB approach for end-user applications.
They are easy to define, almost no code to write, and you are able to publish a working solution very fast.

But it is a nightmare to debug and maintain. I prefer the new DataBinding feature, or... of course... ORM!
In mORMot, we have some auto-generated screens, and in our roadmap, we forcast to use some auto-binding features, using a KISS by-convention MVC pattern.

For some users, we made a ORM / TDataSet conversion unit.
And we discovered that TDataSet has a weird, and very misleading definition of its AsString property, for Unicode versions of Delphi.

Continue reading...

2013, Tuesday April 2

Two videos about EXTjs client of mORMot server

Two nice videos, posted by a framework user.

The first one presents a remote RESTful access of a SQLite3 database, hosted by a mORMot server:

After one post in the forum, warleyalex was able to easily add remote filtering of the request:

In addition to the previous video about security (by which the mORMot authentication model seems much more secure than DataSnap's), this is a very nice demo!
Thanks a lot, warleyalex for the feedback and information!

2013, Thursday March 28

Adding some generic-based methods to mORMot

We have just added a TSQLTable.ToObjectList<T: class>() method.

I want to add some generics-based methods to mORMot, for newer versions of Delphi.

What do you think of it?
Have you some method prototypes to propose?

My first concern is that FreePascal does not offer the same syntax.
I suppose some $ifdef... will be necessary here.. :(

Feel free to post your proposal to the forum.

2013, Wednesday March 27

Introducing TSQLTable.Step() method

We have just added TSQLTable.Step(), FieldBuffer() and Field() methods, handling a cursor at TSQLTable level, with optional late-binding column access.

It allows to retrieve results from a TSQLTable / TSQLTableJSON result sets within a "cursor-like" orientation.
That is, no need to specify the row number, but write a simple while aList.Step do ... loop.

Of course, you should better use TSQLRecord.FillPrepare most of the time, and access the data from a TSQLRecord instance.
But it can be very useful, e.g. when working on a custom JOINed SQL statement.

Continue reading...

2013, Tuesday March 26

Delphi is just a perfect fit for the average programmer

On the Embarcadero forums, some user did have a perfectly sane reaction, about a non obvious integer type cast like Int64Var := Int32Var*Int32Var, which may overflow.

We've got to stop becoming, as one poster put it, "human pre-compilers" for Delphi.
The compiler ought to have the common sense to not need the programmer to cast the two integer values.

I respectfully think just the opposite.
;)

Such a type cast is part of the language grammar.
If you know the grammar, you will know how it will be compiled.

To be honest, you have the same in all languages, with more or less range checking, optimization, and implicit conversion.
This is why I like Delphi: it can be mastered by any programmers, whereas truly mastering Java or .Net needs a genius.


Delphi is just... human...

Continue reading...

2013, Monday March 25

SynProject tool 1.18

We have uploaded an updatetd compiled version of our Open Source SynProject tool in SynProject.zip.

Synopse SynProject is an open source application for code source versioning and automated documentation of software projects.
Licensed under a GPL license.

Main feature is a new (better-looking?) template for the generated files.
See our mORMot framework documentation for a good sample of rendering content.

The internal wiki pages related to this tool has also been refreshed.

Feedback is welcome on our forum!

2013, Thursday March 7

64 bit compatibility of mORMot units

I'm happy to announce that mORMot units are now compiling and working great in 64 bit mode, under Windows.
Need a Delphi XE2/XE3 compiler, of course!

ORM and services are now available in Win64, on both client and server sides.
Low-level x64 assembler stubs have been created, tested and optimized.
UI part is also available... that is grid display, reporting (with pdf export and display anti-aliasing), ribbon auto-generation, SynTaskDialog, i18n... the main SynFile demo just works great!

Overall impression is very positive, and speed is comparable to 32 bit version (only 10-15% slower).

Speed decrease seems to be mostly due to doubled pointer size, and some less optimized part of the official Delphi RTL.
But since mORMot core uses its own set of functions (e.g. for JSON serialization, RTTI support or interface calls or stubbing), we were able to release the whole 64 bit power of your hardware.

Delphi 64 bit compiler sounds stable and efficient. Even when working at low level, with assembler stubs.
Generated code sounds more optimized than the one emitted by FreePascalCompiler - and RTL is very close to 32 bit mode.
Overall, VCL conversion worked as easily than a simple re-build.
Embarcadero's people did a great job for VCL Win64 support, here!

Continue reading...

2013, Monday February 25

Using external MinGW/VisualC++ sqlite3.dll - including benchmark

With upcoming revision 1.18 of the framework, our SynSQlite3.pas unit is able to access the SQLite3 engine in two ways:

  • Either statically linked within the project executable;
  • Or from an external sqlite3.dll library file.

The SQLite3 APIs and constants are defined in SynSQlite3.pas, and accessible via a TSQLite3Library class definition. It defines a global sqlite3 variable as such:

var
  sqlite3: TSQLite3Library;

To use the SQLite3 engine, an instance of TSQLite3Library class shall be assigned to this global variable. Then all mORMot's calls will be made through it, calling e.g. sqlite3.open() instead of sqlite3_open().

There are two implementation classes:

Class Unit Purpose
TSQLite3LibraryStatic SynSQLite3Static.pas Statically linked engine (.obj within the .exe)
TSQLite3LibraryDynamic SynSQLite3.pas Instantiate an external sqlite3.dll instance

Referring to SynSQLite3Static.pas in the uses clause of your project is enough to link the .obj engine into your executable.

Warning - breaking change: before version 1.18 of the framework, link of static .obj was forced - so you must add a reference to SynSQLite3Static in your project uses clause to work as expected.

In order to use an external sqlite3.dll library, you have to set the global sqlite3 variable as such:

 FreeAndNil(sqlite3); // release any previous instance (e.g. static)
 sqlite3 := TSQLite3LibraryDynamic.Create;

Of course, FreeAndNil(sqlite3) is not mandatory, and should be necessary only to avoid any memory leak if another SQLite3 engine instance was allocated (may be the case if SynSQLite3Static is referred somewhere in your project's units).

Here are some benchmarks, compiled with Delphi XE3, run in a 32 bit project, using either the static bcc-compiled engine, or an external sqlite3.dll, compiled via MinGW or Microsoft Visual C++.

Continue reading...

2013, Sunday February 17

Interface-based service sample: remote SQL access

You will find in the SQLite3\Sample\16 - Execute SQL via services folder of mORMot source code a Client-Server sample able to access any external database via JSON and HTTP.
It is a good demonstration of how to use an interface-based service between a client and a server.
It will also show how our SynDB classes have a quite abstract design, and are easy to work with, whatever database provider you need to use.

The corresponding service contract has been defined:

  TRemoteSQLEngine = (rseOleDB, rseODBC, rseOracle, rseSQlite3, rseJet, rseMSSQL);

IRemoteSQL = interface(IInvokable) ['{9A60C8ED-CEB2-4E09-87D4-4A16F496E5FE}'] procedure Connect(aEngine: TRemoteSQLEngine; const aServerName, aDatabaseName, aUserID, aPassWord: RawUTF8); function GetTableNames: TRawUTF8DynArray; function Execute(const aSQL: RawUTF8; aExpectResults, aExpanded: Boolean): RawJSON; end;

Purpose of this service is:
- To Connect() to external databases, given the parameters of a standard TSQLDBConnectionProperties. Create() constructor;
- Retrieve all table names of this external database as a list;
- Execute any SQL statement, returning the content as JSON array, ready to be consumed by AJAX applications (if aExpanded is true), or a Delphi client (e.g. via a TSQLTableJSON and the mORMotUI unit).

Of course, this service will be define as sicClientDriven mode, that is, the framework will be able to manage a client-driven TSQLDBProperties instance life time.

Benefit of this service is that no database connection is required on the client side: a regular HTTP connection is enough.
No need to install nor configure any database provider, and full SQL access to the remote databases.

Due to our optimized JSON serialization, it will probably be faster to work with such plain HTTP / JSON services, instead of a database connection through a VPN. In fact, database connections are made to work on a local network, and do not like high-latency connections, which are typical on the Internet.

Continue reading...

2013, Tuesday February 12

Introducing ZEOS, UniDAC, NexusDB, BDE, any TDataset to SynDB and mORMot's ORM

Up to now, our SynDB database classes were handling ODBC, OleDB providers and direct Oracle or SQLite3 connection.

We have added a DB.pas based layer, ready to be used with UniDAC, NexusDB, or the BDE.
Any other TDataset based component is ready to be interfaced, including UIB, AnyDAC or DBExpress.

The ZEOS library (in its latest 7.0.3 stable version, which works from Delphi 7 up to XE3) has also been interfaced, but without the TDataset/DB.pas layer: our SynDBZEOS.pas unit calls the ZDBC layer, which is not tied to DB.pas nor its RAD components, and is therefore faster. By the way, it will work also with the Starter edition of Delphi (which does not include the DB components) - just like the other "regular" SynDB classes.

This is a work in progress, any testing and feedback is welcome!
We had to circumvent some particularities of the libraries, but I guess we have something interesting.

A dedicated "SynDBDataset" sub-folder has been created in the repository, to contain all SynDBDataset.pas-based database providers.
SynDBNexusDB.pas unit has been moved within this sub-folder, as SynDBUniDAC.pas + SynDBBDE.pas units have been added.
SynDBZeos.pas has a direct access to the ZDBC layer, so is not part of the "SynDBDataset" sub-folder.

Here is some benchmark, mainly about Oracle and SQlite3 database access.
Of course, our direct SynDBOracle / SynDBSQLite3 layers are the fastest around, and we can see that ZDBC layer is sometimes more efficient than the TDataset components.

Continue reading...

2013, Sunday February 3

Log to the console

Our framework features an integrated logging class, ready to be enabled for support and statistics.

For debugging purposes, it could be very handy to output the logging content to a console window.
It enables interactive debugging of a Client-Server process, for instance: you can interact with the Client, then look in real time at the server console window, and inspect which requests are processed, without the need to open the log file.

Depending on the events, colors will be used to write the corresponding information. Errors will be displayed as light red, for instance.

Continue reading...

2013, Monday January 28

External database speed improvements

Some major speed improvements have been made to our SynDB* units, and how they are used within the mORMot persistence layer.
It results in an amazing speed increase, in some cases.

Here are some of the optimizations how took place in the source code trunk:

Overall, I observed from x2 to x10 performance boost with simple Add() operations, using ODBC, OleDB and direct Oracle access, when compare to previous benchmarks (which were already impressive).
BATCH mode performance is less impacted, since it by-passed some of those limitations, but even in this operation mode, there is some benefits (especially with ODBC and OleDB).

Here are some results, directly generated by the supplied "15 - External DB performance" sample.

Continue reading...

2013, Sunday January 27

Video about mORMot authentication

A new mORMot user notified on our forum that he just made a short video, about authentication and security with our framework, from the perspective of an AJAX Client.
Many thanks for sharing your experiences!

This video illustrate how RESTful authentication is implemented by mORMot.
It compares also with the unsecured scheme used with DataSnap - pretty informative.

Click here to watch the 5 minutes video.

Each time you are logged, a light session is created on the server, and is the root of all mORMot advanced security attributes.
Also a big difference with the heavy implementation of DataSnap session handling.

Note that the 1.18 upcoming revision feature Windows Authentication, i.e. automatic log with your Windows credentials.
With it, it is not even necessary to enter/remember/manage your login/password pair: mORMot is able to use your Windows domain security to let you connected.

Feedback is welcome on our forum.

2013, Sunday January 20

Adding JavaScript server-side support to mORMot

A long-time mORMot user and contributor just made a proposal on our forums.
He did use mORMot classes to integrate a SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine to our very fast and scaling HTTP server, including our optimized JSON serialization layer.

Today, he sent to me some of his source code, which sounds ready to be included in the main trunk!

This is a great contribution, and Pavel's goal is nothing less than offering
Delphi based, FAST multithreaded server with ORM and node.js modules compatible.

Continue reading...

2013, Friday January 18

Register any class for proper TObjectList serialization

Up to now, the only way of directly serializing a list of class instances as a JSON array was to use a TCollection.

In fact, objects are not alone, just like mORMots tend to have a nice family:

You have either to let your collection class inherit from the new TInterfaceCollection type, either call the TJSONSerializer.RegisterCollectionForJSON() method.
Could sounds a bit over-sized for just a list of objects.

We have just added a new feature, adding a new "ClassName":"TMyObject" field in the JSON object serialization, and allowing it to create the proper class instance on both transmission sides, therefore able to properly let TObjectList be serialized and un-serialized.

Continue reading...

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