{"id":892,"date":"2012-06-07T10:36:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T22:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/?p=892"},"modified":"2012-06-07T10:36:08","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T22:36:08","slug":"poll-firemonkey-or-platform-native","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/892\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll: FireMonkey or “Platform Native” ?"},"content":{"rendered":"[Estimated Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes]<\/span><\/span>

We have had almost a year of monkeying with fire now – enough time I think for people to have formed a view as to whether it is truly a viable multi-platform framework for the future, or just a convenient cross-platform solution with limited, genuine utility.<\/p>\n

At the same time, we have had OS X and some iOS support for the same period, with the prospect of more platforms being made available to us Delphi developers in the future.<\/p>\n

So, looking ahead, do we see FireMonkey as providing a solid foundation for a cross-platform future, or would we prefer to see tighter, closer “native” support for MULTIPLE-platforms (both currently supported and envisaged\/promised) ?<\/p>\n

I know what I think:<\/p>\n

As much as I’d prefer to use ObjectPascal, I quickly decided that using Delphi + FireMonkey for OS X \/ iOS was like trying to ice-skate uphill. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that the disconnect between me, my code and the environment I was writing for was going to be a source of nothing but constant pain and frustration, and so decided to learn Objective-C and Xcode instead.<\/p>\n

I anticipate this will be only worse when it comes to Android, so that will mean also tackling Eclipse and Java – a far less enticing prospect for sure.<\/p>\n

Which led me to wonder, am I the only one that finds FireMonkey so disappointing ?<\/p>\n

So I decided to run a poll to (unscientifically) gauge the feelings of the community in this regard.<\/p>\n

The (very) early numbers are quite interesting, suggesting that people see some utility in FireMonkey but also a keen interest in (as I read it, tipping ever so slightly “in favour of”) native platform support at least as an alternative.<\/p>\n

That makes sense to me.<\/p>\n

Even though I do not currently have a use for it, I can see the potential of FireMonkey as a conveniently cross-platform graphics\/visualisation sub-system for use within “platform native” applications. I just wouldn’t want to build my entire app that way.<\/p>\n

What do you<\/em> want ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Estimated Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes]<\/span><\/span> We have had almost a year of monkeying with fire now – enough time I think for people to have formed a view as to whether it is truly a viable multi-platform framework for the future, or just a convenient cross-platform solution with limited, genuine utility. At the same time, we have had OS X […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[4],"tags":[153,94,135,150,151,152],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1TKYv-eo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":735,"url":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/735\/","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":0},"title":"RAD STUDIO XE2: Launch Event Report","date":"04 Aug 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I was fortunate to be present in Auckland at the World Premier of the launch event for RAD Studio XE2. \u00a0There is so much good to report that I really don't know where to begin, so apologies if this post is a bit of a disorganised ramble. \u00a0But here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delphi"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":943,"url":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/943\/","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":1},"title":"FireMonkey to Support Native Controls","date":"02 Aug 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In the comments to my previous post, David Intersimone mentioned that Embarcadero are working on enabling support for platform native UI controls within FireMonkey! The team is working to surface native controls for FireMonkey on each platform. Then developers will have the choice to use vector drawn components in their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delphi"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2104,"url":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/2104\/","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":2},"title":"Delphi for Android Supports Android!","date":"07 Nov 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim McKeeth is getting all excited about being able to develop for Google Glass using Delphi XE5. I'm pleased for him, I really am. It must be a huge relief that Delphi for Android can actually target this Android device. Of course, the very fact that there was any doubt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Android"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":791,"url":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/791\/","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":3},"title":"Why Does My OSX FireMonkey App Think It Is a Console App ?","date":"15 Sep 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Because System.IsConsole is hardwired to TRUE on MAC OS: This is actually also the case for $ifdef LINUX, but nobody is likely to notice that, at least not just yet. :) But it caused me no end of confusion when my FireMonkey app behaved one way on Windows and a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delphi"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1525,"url":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/1525\/","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":4},"title":"RAD Studio in Auckland \/ Android in a VM \/ Touchy Feely","date":"30 Aug 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, not really RAD Studio as such, more like Mobile Studio (whether as part of RAD Studio Ent+ or the Mobile Add-On) since everything shown was oriented around the Android support and emphasising the fact that an application written for iOS can simply be recompiled and will run on Android.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delphi"","img":{"alt_text":"Androidx86","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Androidx86-1024x608.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2231,"url":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/posts\/2231\/","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":5},"title":"Did you get the Memo ?","date":"01 Aug 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"People looking for a cheap Android tablet have a new option from a respected player: The Asus Pad 7 Although not exactly falling over themselves in excitement (it is an entry level, budget device after all), reviewers are finding a lot to like in this device. But Delphi developers hoping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Android"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltics.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}