New Lazarus Application - WindSirf

[Windsurfer]

I have just released the first version of WindSirf. It is a GPL3 application (Win 32 only at the moment) for reading and displaying GTS-31 GPS files and tracks.

It can be downloaded from www.windsurfer.me.uk.

How can I add it to http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Projects_using_Lazarus or http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Talk:Lazarus_Application_Gallery?

[jwdietrich]

Great!

How can I add it to http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Projects_using_Lazarus or http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Talk:Lazarus_Application_Gallery?

Before editing articles at the Lazarus wiki you have to log in or register at http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin. The wiki uses WikiText syntax. Extensive help is available from http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Help:Editing.

[exdatis]

Nice!
Best regards!

[Windsurfer]

Thanks for the encouragement.

When trying to register/ log in to the Wiki, my  user name is already in use. It is quite possible that I registered a long time ago and forgot about it. I also changed my email addresses a couple of years ago, so may not be receiving a reply for that reason. Is there a way to check whether user Windsurfer in the Wiki is me or not, and to change the email and password, if it is?

[wp]

When I compile your application it crashes the debugger: "Debugger error: Oops, the debugger entered the error state..." When I run your exe directly I get an error message "Eine Referenzauswertung wurde zum Server zurückgesendet" - in englisch something like "A reference analysis was sent back to the server". Googling for the message text, there is the information that it is related with UAC (User Access Control since Vista). If I turn off UAC the program runs fine. Seriously: Your program will not make many friends if your request your users to turn off security features.

[Windsurfer]

Thanks WP.

The debugger crash is new to me.

The exe error confirms what happens on my wife's PC with Windows 7, as a user with no admin permissions.

The only file that the application opens is the associated ini file for preferences. I do not want to have to register with Microsoft to have a 'recognised' application.

I will look again at the permissions set up in Inno.

If anyone has previous experience with this kind of problem I would welcome any advice.

[wp]

No, the ini file in the exe folder should not be a problem as long as you have write access to the folder (don't run it from the "program files").

After I turn off the option "UI Access" in the project's application settings and rebuild the project, the errors are gone. Why did you set this option? It is off in a default LCL application project.

To the Lazarus architects: What does this option mean?

[Mike.Cornflake]

Good catch.  I've just checked, and I have that setting enabled in some of my projects as well.  Guess I was clicking around trying to learn stuff.

A quick search doesn't reveal what this setting is supposed to achieve.

[howardpc]

The UIAccess is a Windows-specific option, and relates to the inclusion of a manifest file with the application exe (or the manifest can be embedded in the exe, but usually it is a separate XML file).
The Windows OS (since XP) uses the information in the manifest to customise the way the process is handled when it is loaded into memory.
Most often this is used to enable your program to respond to themes, but manifests offer other possibilities, including use of the <trustInfo> tag to control the execution level, so that the program requires administrator privileges to run. XP ignores this tag, but Vista and later enforce it via the UAC.
As wp noted, Lazarus sets the UIAccess to false by default. If left like that, then Lazarus applications will run identically under XP (and earlier) and Vista and later. However, if you tick the UIAccess box your manifest will cause Windows to show the UAC before it lets the user run your program. Of course, rarely is this what any programmer wants!

[wp]

I wonder if this feature ever has been tested, or I am doing something wrong. Even the standard LCL application out of the box, without any code or component added, crashes in the same way like the program of the OP (Win7 w/admin rights, Laz 1.1, fpc 2.6.2). Before reporting this as a bug: is there anything else that is to be considered when activating UI Access?

[Windsurfer]

Thanks for finding that I had clicked UIAcess. I was trying to find out what it did when I did my final clean compile, and then forgot to change it back.

I'll recompile, retest and re-release.

[Update] I have now fixed all problems, and re-released the application. Thanks again to wp.