Lazarus Release 2.0.10

[Martin_fr]

3. I am probably not qualified for testing. Out of date, one could say. And even if I was qualified, I do not have the time.

I am replying to this, but not about you. There are many with exactly that answer. "You" in the below, shall refer to all individuals who are unaware of the simplicity.

This is primarily about testing new Fpc, because they have a longer release cycle and that makes it more important.


It is trivial. And quick.

Well I haven't tested it on Linux/Mac. But it should be similar. https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Multiple_Lazarus#Linux

On Windows, it goes as follow
- Download the test installer that we provide (I made announcements for test builds with the new fpc, before it was released)
- Run it.
- Enter a new directory to install too (i.e. c:\laz_test\ )
- Check "secondary install"
- Next page enter a config dir (i.e. c:\laz_test\conf\ )
Done

- Packages:
Well, ok, if you have lots of packages installed, you need to redo that. That is the one point that may add some extra time. Depends how many of them you test.

- Publish projects:
From your original Lazarus, open your projects, and "Export" them to a new folder. (Project > Publish Project)

- Test:
Then open the published project in the 2ndary install. Compile and test it. Compile with -O1 -O2 -O3 and -O4 if you want (and can afford 3 or 4 minutes extra per project)


How long you think that takes?
If you have 2 or 3 projects, you should be done in under half on hour.  (And compilation and download could be done in the background)

---
How much time, do you spent if you install the update (overwriting your current install), and then things crumble and do not work?


Of course if all your projects depend on 3rd party close-sourced packages that are not available for the test release, then indeed you cannot test your projects.

[Birger52]

Understanding it's not really me you're talking to.

First off, the things you outline here, does not seem to take much time. Tho, being retired, the mind does not spin all that fast - luckily, this does not affect the PC - only the typing speed, and other human aspects.

The main thing about "testing" to me, is actually about reporting the errors or malfunctions found - and I assume probably also a qualified guess, as to why things are NOT functioning - which is the main goal and the main time-consumer, in any form of testing.

I have a hard time checking that my own projects are working as they should - also when used in ways they were not intended to, or exposed to stuff they were not supposed to be exposed to.
Having to do it in several other environments, is not really appealing.

[PascalDragon]

The main thing about "testing" to me, is actually about reporting the errors or malfunctions found - and I assume probably also a qualified guess, as to why things are NOT functioning - which is the main goal and the main time-consumer, in any form of testing.

Best leave the guessing of the Why to the professionals who know the inner workings. Already knowing that something goes wrong is the most important part. And of course an explanation what one had done to trigger the problem (which is as important as knowing that something is erratic at all, cause a dev needs to be able to reproduce it to fix it).

[calebs]

Hello all. I think i've encountered a bug with 2.0.10 I've tried to install UECONTROLS from the online package manager but fails when tried to compile BCGRABITMAP.
I didnt have this problems with 2.0.8 or any previous version.
Other components installs fine (zeosdbo, lnet, uniqueinstance and a few more)
Previously i've uninstaled 2.0.8, and cleaned lazarus folder on appdata manually.
Im using windows 10 pro x64 1909 and installed lazarus 2.0.10 x86.
Downloading manually BCGRABITMAP and BCGRACONTROLS and tried to install them gives error on FFont.CharKerning function, appearently didn't recognize it

Thanks and keep good work and sorry for my bad english!

[nachoap]

Great! I'll try it.

I'm working with previous version, 2.0.8, so I'll install 2.0.10 as a secondary installation and I'll try to compile my apps.

Thank you very much!!!

[PascalDragon]

Downloading manually BCGRABITMAP and BCGRACONTROLS and tried to install them gives error on FFont.CharKerning function, appearently didn't recognize it

Use the most current version, that was recently fixed.

[Dan3468298]

Just upgraded to 2.0.10 on MacOS.  Everything went smoothly.  Thanks!

[Igor Antić]

This is how I have a problem with TDateTimePicker and Lazarus 2.0.10. version i368-win32-win32/win64.
The problem is that when I put the value NULL on the TDateTimePicker property DATE, the project will not be translated-executed, as the error states "Error reading DateTimePicker1.Date: Floating point overflow"
While in Lazarus version 2.0.10 x86_64-win64-win32/win64 works fine.

OS windows 10 x64

[Zoran]

This is how I have a problem with TDateTimePicker and Lazarus 2.0.10. version i368-win32-win32/win64.
The problem is that when I put the value NULL on the TDateTimePicker property DATE, the project will not be translated-executed, as the error states "Error reading DateTimePicker1.Date: Floating point overflow"
While in Lazarus version 2.0.10 x86_64-win64-win32/win64 works fine.

OS windows 10 x64

You should have opened another thread for TDateTimePicker problem.

Anyway, NULL is a variant constant.
You should use NullDate constant from DateTimePicker unit:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. DateTimePicker1.Date := DateTimePicker.NullDate;

While in Lazarus version 2.0.10 x86_64-win64-win32/win64 works fine.

If NULL appears to work fine, it's by accident. Just use NullDate.

And to test if a DateTimePicker control has Null value you can use either IsNullDate function or DateIsNullMethod of TDateTimePicker:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. if IsNullDate(DateTimePiker1.Date) then
2.   ...
3.  
4. // or
5. if DateTimePiker1.DateIsNull then
6.   ...
7.  

If this does not solve your problem, please don't continue here, but open a new thread.

Regards,
Zoran

[Wladimir Kowtun]

Thank you very much for maintaining this project. I have been studying Free Pascal for a few weeks; and every day I fall more in love with the language and the Lazarus IDE. 

[flowCRANE]

Anyway, NULL is a variant constant.

Null is not a constant — it is a function that returns cleared variant with set the type to varnull:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. function Null: Variant;
2. begin
3.   VarClearProc(TVarData(Result));
4.   TVarData(Result).VType := varnull;
5. end;

[Zoran]

Anyway, NULL is a variant constant.

Null is not a constant — it is a function that returns cleared variant with set the type to varnull:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. function Null: Variant;
2. begin
3.   VarClearProc(TVarData(Result));
4.   TVarData(Result).VType := varnull;
5. end;

As there are no variant consts, it is just a parameterless function which always returns the same value.
Not a constant at all.

[VTwin]

Excellent, many thanks!

[flowCRANE]

As there are no variant consts, it is just a parameterless function which always returns the same value.

It doesn't matter — a function is a function, and a constant is a constant, and these concepts must not be mixed up, because they describe two very different things. Incorrect nomenclature misleads the readers, so I advise against this type of simplification.

Or just look to the docs, if you don't know what the Null is.

[ssap]

The release 2.10 seem an excellent work.
but I compiled my code, with a lot of numerical issues. and tehst on may own benchmark
It compile well with lazarus 2.10 IDE and fpc 3.20 64 bit code..
but the difference with the fpc 3.0.4 is amazing..
The final numerical result is the same but the time to complete the process requires 145 second with fpc 3.0.4 (inside lazarus IDE 2.0.8 )
and 240 seconds with fpc 3.2.0   (inside lazarus 2.10)
the compiling instruction are the same for  both compiler (given in project option and without optimization)