32
votes

Most Delphi developers have a list of Delphi components they wouldn't live without. Not including anything that ships with Delphi (standard VCL or included third-party software like Rave or Indy), what are the components you can't live without, be they commercial or open-source?

One component or product name per answer, please. Please do not post duplicates.

3
  • 1
    "Becomes"? You can make it CV. I think this should be CW.
    – Andreas Rejbrand
    Jun 10 '10 at 19:32
  • Well, there you go. So it is.
    – Warren P
    Jun 10 '10 at 19:42
  • It looks like Virtual Tree View and Mad Except are both well ahead of the pack. FastMM4 is a good answer too, except that it's gray there, since the base FastMM is built into recent delphi's now.
    – Warren P
    Jun 14 '10 at 14:47

48 Answers 48

Active Oldest Votes
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67
votes
  • Virtual TreeView for being the best TreeView/ListView component ever with a very clever concept
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  • 4
    +1 for VirtualTreeView!
    – afrazier
    Jun 10 '10 at 20:31
  • 5
    That's two components!
    – Nick Hodges
    Jun 11 '10 at 0:06
  • 1
    Argh. One component or named suite of components (as per JVCL) per answer please. It makes it really hard to figure out which thing people who upvote you are upvoting.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:22
  • 1
    I upvoted for virtual treeview. We use it in the RAD Studio IDE, and love it.
    – Nick Hodges
    Jun 11 '10 at 15:53
  • Really? Does Embarcadero use this in RAD Studio? The developer must be very proud!
    – Andreas Rejbrand
    Jun 11 '10 at 16:08
44
votes

MadExcept (find easily the cause of strange errors and exceptions).

4
  • This is an excellent tool. I also use the JCL's debug helper stuff, it's less fancy, but works similarly.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:21
  • +1 for MadExcept, it's very good
    – Remko
    Jun 11 '10 at 19:39
  • How about EurekaLog? It's also excellent.
    – Leo
    Jun 15 '10 at 1:54
  • +1 for being free for personal use
    – rajeemcariazo
    Jan 13 '11 at 1:48
43
votes
  • FastMM 4 - yup, I'm still using Delphi 7 thus it is quite necessary. Memory leak tracking is trivial now :)
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  • 4
    For any non experts reading; A slightly trimmed down version of FastMM is now the standard delphi memory manager in all recent versions of Delphi. Without FastMM, or some alternative MM, apps written and built inside Delphi 7 and other old versions of delphi run much more slowly.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:26
  • Other then memory leak prevention and speed, it also fixed some delphi bugs when handling memory incorrectly. Memory leaks do not necessarily cause errors, whereas bad memory handling causes errors like access violations. Also greetings to Warren Postma!
    – Christian
    Jun 16 '10 at 20:07
30
votes

FastReport (The best report engine I have used in my life).

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  • 1
    +1 for Fast Report - it is indeed such a beautiful piece of software.
    – Mark Robinson
    Jun 11 '10 at 9:01
  • 1
    I've been very impressed by this product.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:21
29
votes

Developer Express Quantum Grid, in my opinion the best Delphi grid component due to it's flexibility and features.

12
  • Which grid is this? I'm familiar with the CX and DX DevExpress grids. The DX grid is great, but a bit dated, while the CX grid is "more modern" but very scary to work with.
    – Mason Wheeler
    Jun 10 '10 at 20:56
  • 1
    The CX grid really does look good and flexible, unfortunately it's design is complex it's almost impossible to extend for your own special needs. It's also really, really really SLOW! (I guess all that flexibility comes at a price) I used to use it, now I replaced it with my own grid, and my own gird (an descendant of Delphi's grid)
    – Cosmin Prund
    Jun 11 '10 at 5:12
  • 2
    @Cosmin Prund: I have to agree with you overall: the CX grid is truely excellent-looking and feature-packed, but it's also next to impossible to extend and debug properly. It does also have a few very annoying bugs that lingers from version to version and the speed isn't very good. I'm still using it a lot, though, because, once you know how to use it, you can create good-looking UIs with lots of feature very fast.
    – Stephane
    Jun 11 '10 at 8:30
  • 1
    @Lieven: Maybe they should include an proper "speed" demo. The available Demos include only trivial cases, with just one grid on every form and just a few columns of data. None the less the MasterDetailMultiDemo.exe still manages to be noticeably slow to start!
    – Cosmin Prund
    Jun 11 '10 at 11:15
  • 1
    @Cosmin Prund: I assume you adequatly compared the speed difference between your own implementation and DevExpress' but I would be hard pressed to believe that for a normal sized grid there would be a noticable speed difference. I have yet to encounter a situation where our performance problems (and we do have enough of them) are related to the grid's performance. That being said, if your own implementation is faster and suits your needs, all the better.
    – Lieven Keersmaekers
    Jun 11 '10 at 11:42
25
votes

Eurekalog, which provides us with detailed error logs. It is really so much easier to find an Access Violation or any other bug when you have a stacktrace.

1
  • +1 and: Eurekalog is great for detecting Memory Leaks as well
    – Remko
    Jun 12 '10 at 8:56
22
votes

TurboPower - No longer a commercial suite, it lives on as open source.

  • XML Partner
  • String Resource Manager
  • B-Tree Filer
  • Internet Professional
  • Orpheus
  • Abbrevia
  • ShellShock
  • Visual PlanIt
  • Essentials
  • LockBox
  • OnGuard
  • SysTools
  • Async Professional CLX
  • FlashFiler
  • SysTools for Kylix
  • Object Professional
  • OfficePartner
  • Async Professional
4
  • Very nice component suite. We use ASync Professional for faxing and reading barcodescanners. Abbrevia is used to open OpenOffice files.
    – The_Fox
    Jun 11 '10 at 6:57
  • I just love how DeveloperExpress came and rescued me from Orpheus grid and editboxes... :-/
    – Vegar
    Jun 11 '10 at 8:55
  • I am a survivor and former user of AsyncPro, which I came to dislike intensely.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:19
  • ASyncPro just works here, but I have to admit that I never did anything with it. The code was created by my predecessor and I never touched it. Abbrevia is fine, because it opened OpenOffice files without a problem while another commercial package (FlexCompress) returned an error.
    – The_Fox
    Jun 11 '10 at 15:00
20
votes

Can I pick a component set? I'd say the JVCL, because it's got a lot of useful stuff in there, over a broad range of categories, that makes my work a lot easier, and it fills in a lot of gaps in the VCL. For example, a more comprehensive set of data-aware controls, a couple different folder-selection controls, and the JVPlugin framework, which is crucial to a lot of my personal work.

8
  • But the website isn't great. Is there a list of all components together with brief descriptions of them?
    – Andreas Rejbrand
    Jun 10 '10 at 20:14
  • I don't think there is, unfortunately. Documentation isn't the JVCL's strong point.
    – Mason Wheeler
    Jun 10 '10 at 20:54
  • 2
    @Andreas - that's a question in its own right. :) stackoverflow.com/questions/1743962/…
    – Sertac Akyuz
    Jun 10 '10 at 21:11
  • 7
    JVCL lacks "focus" unfortunately, it looks like they never reject any component that's donated to the project. Do we really need "a couple different folder-selection controls"?
    – Cosmin Prund
    Jun 11 '10 at 5:15
  • 5
    All the above comments are good comments. I am a JVCL dev, and I would be supportive of a community vote on what to REMOVE from JVCL. :-)
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:19
19
votes

Omni Thread Library

18
votes

Graphics32 - An excellent graphics library that we use in several of our applications.

2
  • Didn't know this one : it seems to be a good one ! Any comment about pros and cons please ?
    – Pierre-Jean Coudert
    Jun 15 '10 at 6:56
  • It uses GDI+, and the results are beautiful.
    – Warren P
    Mar 24 '11 at 18:17
17
votes

I have been using TMS Components for many years! Well worth the money!

For example, TMS has a number of components that can load/save data in a variety of formats (XML, DOC, CSV, XLS, TXT, HTML) and my users love this ability ... using TMS, it was only a matter of writing a few lines of codes. Specific TMS components I regularly use: Scripter Studio and AdvStringGrid (inside Component Pack).

Besides components, I strongly recommend using the GExperts extensions to the IDE.

(Sorry for the lack of links ... I guess I need to earn some more reputation points).

3
  • Please UPVOTE already existing TMS answer instead of adding answers.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:25
  • I've deleted mine, upvoting this one as it's a better explanation. Update: Cool! Deleting my post earned my the "Disciplined" badge.
    – Chris Thornton
    Jun 11 '10 at 16:32
  • Thanks Chris ... didn't mean to duplicate. To the other two posters -- I'm new here, so I don't have enough reputation points to up-vote (believe me, I tried). Just learning from my mistakes, folks.
    – Cesar Marrero
    Jun 12 '10 at 3:38
15
votes

Devart database components(ODAC, MyDAC, SDAC,IBDAC and the newest UniDac).

1
  • Please add IBDAC to that. The best component for using Firebird with Delphi!
    – Steve
    Aug 11 '10 at 21:01
13
votes

CodeSite by Raize

1
  • Is this a component or an IDE plug in? I guess that's a gray area in the question.
    – Warren P
    Jun 15 '10 at 19:27
13
votes

Most Delphi programmers don't know CnPack but it is one of the best tool in IDE enhancement. It is free and open source (thanks to the generous community of Chinese Delphi programmers). It makes code cleaner and more compliant to the coding standards. It improves code completion and many other tools for faster coding.

1
  • Technically not a component, an IDE expert pack, but it's full of GREAT stuff, and so anybody who uses Delphi should check it out. Also, check out GExperts, which is also an IDE expert pack, not a component pack.
    – Warren P
    Mar 3 '11 at 21:57
10
votes

AnyDAC - all what is needed for a fast DB (Oracle, Firebird, Postgres, SQLite, etc) access in one place.

1
  • 2
    +1 AnyDAC is actively developed, fast and works with all of the commercial and open source DB platforms we use in our applications. Support is also first rate!!
    – David Taylor
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:57
9
votes

Digital Metaphors' ReportBuilder - because it instantly adds a powerful, consistent, flexible reporting system to my software*, and because DexExpress, TMS and TurboPower components had all been mentioned already :-)

*I know Delphi ships with report building software but it changes over time and quite honestly none of the ones I've seen have come close to Report Builder. We've been using it since it was called Piparti, about a billion years ago, and it never lets you down.

4
  • 7
    Gah! It's hard to say which is scarier to have to work with, RBuilder or the DevExpress CX grid. They're both horribly over-engineered piles of lasagna code that are next to impossible to debug when you try to do something non-trivial and it doesn't work.
    – Mason Wheeler
    Jun 11 '10 at 12:30
  • 1
    Mason - I use both of them frequently, in most of my projects. I'm not disagreeing with you. :-)
    – robsoft
    Jun 11 '10 at 12:52
  • You may call it over-engineered, but when you need to re-write aspects of the report on the fly, as we do all of the time, you come to appreciate how brilliantly written ReportBuilder is. Anything you can do in the Report Designer, you can also do in code. This makes altering the report, and the data it calls, so incredibly simple at run-time. We use this extensively and this is why this component set gets my vote.
    – J__
    Jun 11 '10 at 13:47
  • 1
    Over engineered. Perfect description of DevExpress component source, IMHO.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:24
9
votes

NextSuite (Very nice and light Grid, with other nice looking components).

3
  • Download the "Main Demo". In the Outlook-styled panel of buttons at the lower-left part of the window, select a button. Then click in the ~1 px space right below the button, but above the button under it: EAccessViolation.
    – Andreas Rejbrand
    Jun 11 '10 at 15:33
  • But generally very nice.
    – Andreas Rejbrand
    Jun 11 '10 at 15:37
  • Andreas, I have downloaded the demo(source) and recompiled and it doesn't show the bug, seems main demo compiled with old version of NextSuite
    – Mohammed Nasman
    Jun 11 '10 at 17:59
9
votes

GLScene : OpenGL based 3D library for Delphi

9
votes
  • The Jedi Apilib and the Jedi Windows Security Library: The JWA library aims to provide a conversion from C to Delphi of as many headers as possible from the PSDK etc. The JWSCL (security library) is an advanced object-oriented framework for programming with the Windows security features (ACL, Tokens, etc.)
1
  • +1 excellent libraries.
    – RRUZ
    Oct 21 '10 at 14:37
8
votes

TPerlRegex, which adds regular expression support to Delphi.

2
  • A whole new world opened up when I started using RegexBuddy, Powergrep and the accompanying TPerlRegex component.
    – Lieven Keersmaekers
    Jun 11 '10 at 7:10
  • Agree. RegEx used to be something I had a strong feeling that I should learn, but I didn't know why. Now I know...
    – Vegar
    Jun 11 '10 at 18:08
8
votes

ImageEN - http://www.hi-components.com

8
votes

Raize Components, for all of the subtle enhancements it brings to many of the standard components. Custom framing easily can give any application a bit more polish.

1
  • I mostly like the integration with the IDE. It makes creating a GUI a whole lot faster.
    – Wouter van Nifterick
    Jun 15 '10 at 10:38
7
votes

Personally, I cannot live without TSmiley:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/tsmiley/

2
  • Excellent. Love it.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:18
  • 1
    +1 for making me smile NickHodges committed revision 17 to the tsmiley SVN repository: 17 revisions of a smiley ;-)
    – Remko
    Jun 12 '10 at 8:58
7
votes

TRichView is a must have for almost any kind of application.

6
votes

DSPack: Components and class to write Multimedia Applications using MS Direct Show and DirectX technologies.

6
votes

SpTBX - Great toolbar + controls with skinning support.

5
votes

FastCode and FastMove because without any effort you can make your application lightning fast.

1
  • I've had to add this too, because it is too good to be left out. :P
    – r4w8173
    Jun 14 '10 at 6:53
4
votes

kbmMemtable

It is a very fast in-memory database table, comes with some nice features for saving and reading to files/streams and I'm a real big fan of the way that the resolver works (allowing updates to be resolved to a database if required)

4
votes

Delphi PCRE for Perl compatible regular expression support.

[these should be another answer, please ignore them: FastCode and FastMove because without any effort you can make your application lightning fast. Delphi ZLib wrapper.Scintilla editor Delphi wrapper.]

2
  • an Author asked for ONE component per post :)
    – migajek
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:00
  • I'll consider this one to be for PCRE only. Vote up/down on that one please, folks.
    – Warren P
    Jun 11 '10 at 14:16
4
votes

NativeExcel - A nice Delphi library for working with Excel files!

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