- IDE is very buggy and most of the times it produces "Access Violation" errors and IDE get confused. (In my computer Delphi 7 tries to debug it.)
- Help is very pour and incomplete.
- JavaScript and PHP integration is very complex and buggy. Most of the time JavaScript codes may not work in client side and it is heavily depends on the web browser.
- Some times it is necessary to deploy entire "VCL" directory to the web server otherwise some of the VCL components produces invalid outputs. (specially RichEdit and TrackBar components)
- MySQL integration is pour and buggy.
- Build-in Apache web server crash several times and because of that reason we may not be able to debug/run web application using IDE.
- Some times XML file (xml.php) generated by Form Designer may not compatible with VCL for PHP framework.
- Some of the controls have missing properties.
Actually most of these problems are not very critical (we can fix most of them at the work) and hopefully Qadram Software will fix these problems in there next releases but at the moment Delphi for PHP is not a wise investment for PHP rapid application developments (RAD) and I’m personally recommended to use PRADO framework (http://www.pradosoft.com/) instead of Delphi for PHP. PRADO have same features as Delphi for PHP. The only thing is it does not have drag-and-drop style IDE.Compared with other web application development systems (IDEs) the concept of "Delphi for PHP" is an excellent and it provide complete web application development solution to the PHP, Delphi/C++Builder users, only thing is it need more maturity.
According to my observations Delphi for PHP is not a tool developed by CodeGear (former – Borland), it is developed by Qadram Software and the core of the system – "VCL for PHP" framework is available in Sourceforge.net as an open source free software project, (same as PRADO) so anyone can modify, fix errors or add features to that framework. VCL for PHP is distributed under the terms and conditions of GNU – LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License), and its competitive framework PRADO is distributed under the BSD Licenses.
Note : If you are a Delphi/C++Builder developer it is highly recommended to use PRADO because it’s naming standards and execution patterns are more similar to Delphi VCL.
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