New article series, "Pascal and Mapbox":
https://macpgmr.github.io
Even if you don't think you have any interest in mapping, I would encourage everyone to take a look at Part 4, Pascal to JavaScript, and try out or at least look at the Pascal source for the example Web apps. FPC's new Pas2JS "transpiler" is an ambitious initiative worthy of review if you're in the market for Web app development tools.
In real-world Web apps, you'll typically use other "canned" JavaScript libaries (jQuery, Angular, Mapbox, whatever). To use one of these JS libraries with Pas2JS-generated JS, you'll need to first create a Pascal interface unit for the JS library. This is not particularly difficult, although undocumented. Take a look at the included MapboxGL unit for an example.
There are several ways to work with Pas2JS.
(1) Text editor and command line utilities. That's the approach the article takes. Unzip a couple .zips, nothing new needs to be installed. People have been creating Web apps this way for years.
(2) Use Lazarus to create a regular project file for your Web app, edit the Pascal source in Lazarus, compile packages of interface units (several are included with Pas2JS; mapboxgl_pas2js.lpk is included with the article source).
(3) Use a "full" stack of tools like what TMS offers, as demoed in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/A7qjw27WCPU?autoplay=1You don't need (2) or (3) to create a Web app frontend (JS) or backend (eg, CGI app), but not everyone likes to work from the command line.
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