The 2008 Delphi Survey

Thank you for taking the time to take the 2008 Delphi user survey. Your valuable feedback will help guide the future of Delphi. This survey should take approximately 20 minutes to complete. We know your time is valuable and so we greatly appreciate your participation in this annual survey.

Please note that this survey is directed at Delphi developers and thus contains very little C++Builder-oriented content. If you are a C++Builder developer as well as a Delphi developer, please take this survey from the perspective of your "Delphi side". We expect to follow up this survey with another one aimed specifically at C++Builder developers.

Note: If you select "Other" for any answer, please fill in the associated edit box.

Sincerely,
The Delphi Team
 

General Information

1.1.  Many of the questions in this survey will be in regards to the version of Delphi that you've most recently purchased or acquired. Please identify the version of Delphi have you most recently purchased or acquired.
 
 
1.2.  Which edition have you most recently purchased or acquired?
 
 
1.3.  Which version of Delphi do you currently use as your primary "day to day" Delphi IDE?
 
 
1.4.  Please rate your most recent Delphi purchase in the following areas:
 
 ExcellentGoodSatisfactoryFairPoor
Technology
Feature Set
Platform Support (OS, Database, etc.)
Quality
Documentation
Install/Registration
Performance
Value
 
1.5.  Please rate your satisfaction with your most recent Delphi purchase when compared with your previous Delphi purchase
 
 Significantly HigherSomewhat HigherSameSomewhat LowerSignificantly Lower
Technology
Feature Set
Platform Support (OS, database, etc.)
Quality
Documentation
Install/Registration
Performance
Value
 
1.6.  What languages do you currently develop in? (Check all that apply...)
 
 
1.7.  Which statement most closely matches your use of Delphi?
 
 

Platforms

2.1.  For new Delphi applications or those that you are still maintaining, which Windows operating systems will you be deploying applications to over the next 24 months? (Choose all that apply ...)
 
 
2.2.  Enhancements for which Windows development platform more greatly influences your upgrade decisions?
 
 
2.3.  For your development projects, in which order should CodeGear develop the following features to best meet your needs?
 
1
2
3
4
5
 
2.4.  Regarding cross-platform/cross-compilation support, do you require application deployment support for:
 
 

Features

3.1.  How would you rate your use of the following IDE features?
 
 Don't have or Don't know about itDon't Care/Don't UseUse it some of the timeUse it all the time
Block Completion
Class Completion
Code Completion
Current Line Highlighting
Parentheses Matching
Dockable Windows
Code Folding
Structure View
Welcome Page
VCL Designer Guidelines
TODO List functionality
Unit Testing Wizard
UML/Class Modeling
Soap/WSDL Import
Audits and Metrics
History Tab
Data Explorer
Delphi/XML Binding Wizard
Live Templates
Error Insight
Refactorings
Help Insight
Other
 
3.2.  Which Form Designer layout do you prefer?
 
 
3.3.  Please rate your use of the following third-party products:
 
 Frequent use in my projectsOccasional UseEvaluated, decided not to useNever looked at it
Internet Direct (Indy)
QuickReports
IntraWeb
Rave Reports
InstallAware Express
TChart
Wise Owl Demeanor
 
3.4.  Delphi Language Enhancements: For your development needs, please rank the following language features in order of desirability for Delphi/Object Pascal:
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
 
3.5.  RAD Studio Personalities: According to your development requirements, please allocate 100 points across the following RAD Studio personalities to indicate the relative amount of support and features you would like to see CodeGear focus on for your particular needs. Assign any amount to each personality from 0 to 100, so that the total of all entries is 100.
 
Delphi for Win32 Personality
Delphi for .Net Personality
C++Builder Personality
C#/VB.Net Personality
  
 
3.6.  VCL Enhancements: According to your development needs, please allocate 100 points across the following potential VCL framework enhancements to indicate the relative amount of support and features you would like to see CodeGear focus on for your particular needs. Assign any amounts to each feature from 0 to 100, so that the total of all the entries is 100.
 
Ribbon Controls
Updating Grid Controls
OpenGL/DirectX Support
Automatic Form State Persistence
New Databinding Model
Skinning
Accessibility Support
Improved graphics support (better high color image support, vector images, png, etc.)
Vista-specific API and Control support
  
 
3.7.  Please indicate one other VCL feature that you would like to see added or enhanced.
 
 
3.8.  IDE Enhancements: According to your development needs, please allocate 100 points across the following potential IDE enhancements to indicate the relative amount of support and features you would like to see CodeGear focus on for your particular needs. Assign any amounts to each feature from 0 to 100, so that the total of all the entries is 100.
 
Further MSBuild integration
RES file management in the Project Manager
Code Formatter
Class Explorer
More refactorings
Source Control Integration into the IDE
Open Tools API
Keymapping Editor
  
 
3.9.  Please indicate one other IDE feature that you would like to see added or enhanced.
 
 
3.10.  For the next release of Delphi, CodeGear is upgrading the string type to be a Unicode string. While largely transparent, this may have an effect on character and string manipulations. In your code, how frequently do you use the following coding techniques:
 
 I don't do it at allI do some of thisI do a lot of this
Use the string type as a data buffer
Explicitly use the constant value "1" rather than "SizeOf(Char)"
Perform pointer arithmetic on strings or PChars
Use the Read/ReadBuffer or Write/WriteBuffer methods of TStream on strings
Perform operations that assume the Length of a string is the same as the number of bytes in the string
Direct memory manipulation of strings and string data (e.g. Move, Copy, etc.)
 
3.11.  The next version of Delphi is planned to be fully Unicode-enabled. As a result, the default string type will change to a Unicode string type. This will be largely transparent, however it may require some simple changes to some of your existing project code in relation to string and char manipulation. CodeGear will provide complete documentation on transitioning to Unicode. Therefore, which of the following statements best describes your expected migration plans?
 
 
3.12.  CodeGear has made an significant and ongoing effort to maintain a high degree of language compatibility between the Delphi for .Net and Native Delphi to facilitate cross-platform development and porting. What are your on going requirements for compatibility between .NET and Native Delphi?
 
 

.Net Usage

4.1.  Indicate below what best describes your usage of Delphi for .Net:
 
 
4.2.  Over the next twelve months, approximately what percentage of your Delphi development will be Native vs. .Net?
 
 
4.3.  Which of the following Delphi for .Net technologies do you use?
 
 
4.4.  Which statement most closely describes your usage of VCL.NET?
 
 
4.5.  Would you buy or use Delphi for .NET in the following IDE configurations?
 
 Definitely NoPossiblyDefinitely Yes
Delphi for .Net in the RAD Studio IDE (Galileo)
Delphi for .Net in the Visual Studio IDE
Delphi for .Net in Eclipse
 

Development Types

5.1.  What types of applications will you be maintaining with Delphi in the next 12 months?
 
 
5.2.  What types of new applications will you be starting/creating with Delphi in the next 12 months?
 
 
5.3.  What is your primary technology used to develop web applications with Delphi?
 
 
5.4.  If you develop web applications with a tool or framework other than Delphi, what tool or framework do you use? (Check all that apply....)
 
 
5.5.  Do you develop your own custom components?
 
 

Database

6.1.  Which databases do you require Delphi connectivity with? (Choose all that apply ...)
 
 
6.2.  Which Delphi database technologies do you use? (Choose all that apply ...)
 
 
6.3.  If you use dbExpress to access your data, do you:
 
 
6.4.  What is the largest database that your applications interact with?
 
 
6.5.  With respect to you largest database-related application, how many end user connections does this application require?
 
 
6.6.  If you use a third-party driver with dbExpress, what are your specific reasons for doing so?
 
 
6.7.  Have you tried Enterprise Core Objects (ECO)?
 
 
6.8.  If you are using ECO, what are the reasons that you do? (Choose all that apply ...)
 
 
6.9.  If you are using ECO, what types of applications are you building with it? (Choose all that apply ...)
 
 
6.10.  If you are not using ECO, which of the following best describes why not:
 
 
6.11.  If you are currently developing ECO applications, what language do you use?
 
 
6.12.  If you are currently developing ECO applications, what framework are you using with it?
 
 

Development Environment

7.1.  What kind of processor does your primary development machine have?
 
 
7.2.  Which operating system do you use to run Delphi on your primary development machine?
 
 
7.3.  How much memory does your primary development machine have?
 
 
7.4.  Please choose the answer below that best describes your use of Virtual Machines with respect to developing with Delphi:
 
 

Localization/Internationalization

8.1.  Which localized language version of Delphi IDE do you use in your day-to-day work?
 
 
8.2.  Which language beyond the above would you like to see the Delphi translated into?
 
 
8.3.  Do you localize your applications into any other languages other than your native language?
 
 
8.4.  If you answered "Yes" to the previous question, what are the main issues that you run into when localizing your applications?
 
 

Documentation

9.1.  How would you rate the following areas of the documentation?
 
 PoorFairGoodVery GoodExcellent
F1 Reference Help
Examples
Procedural/HowTos
Conceptual Overviews
IDE Dialog Help Button Content
Framework/API References
 
9.2.  Please place the following types of documentation in order of importance.
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
 
9.3.  Would you be willing to participate in or contribute to an online documentation wiki to help improve the Delphi documentation?
 
 

Training and Online Materials

10.1.  What method do you use to read the CodeGear Developer Network?
 
 
10.2.  Do you report bugs and make feature requests via Quality Central?
 
 
10.3.  Do you use CodeCentral to upload or download source code or other files?
 
 
10.4.  If your organization requires training, please rate your views on the different types of training shown below:
 
 No NeedStrongly DislikeDislikeNeutralPreferStrongly Prefer
Classroom training at your company site
Classroom training in a "public enrollment" class
Instructor-led training via the Internet (web-conference)
Self-paced training with a mentor via the Internet
Self-paced automated training via the Internet
Private Mentoring
Self-study via books, magazines or Web-sites
 

Registration/Activation/Installation/Licensing

11.1.  What would be an acceptable maximum installation time, in minutes, for Delphi?
 
 
11.2.  What would be an acceptable maximum uninstall time, in minutes, for Delphi?
 
 
11.3.  What is your view of the Auto-Update feature in Delphi 2007/RAD Studio 2007 ?
 
 
11.4.  Do you use Electronic Licensing today?
 
 
11.5.  Would you use a component-based license service from CodeGear for your applications?
 
 

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