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bigstar · 03-13-2011, 03:55 PM

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the delay of full unicode support.

We would of liked to have released 4.0 with full unicode support but it just wasn't an option.

FlashFXP is compiled with Borland Delphi 4.0, We had planned to use some 3rd party unicode components to provide support however after months of evaluating and exploring this option we realized that this solution would not be acceptable.

We purchased Borland Delphi 2007 with plans to migrate from Delphi 4 to Delphi 2007 but after many delays, complications and set backs newer versions of Delphi were released and we barely managed to start migrating to 2007, we decided that to continue migrating to Delphi 2007 was point less at this time and it was put on hold again.

The problem is that migrating FlashFXP from Delphi 4 to a newer version of Delphi is a huge task, we weighed in on the pros and cons and decided that in the best interests of our customers releasing FlashFXP v4.0 without unicode support vs delaying it for another year or two was the best choice.

Releasing FlashFXP v4.0 was critical for us because the prior version 3.6 is not stable or 100% compatible with Windows 7.

I've considered the possibility of using Lazarus (Free Pascal) for future versions of FlashFXP as its a cross platform compiler allowing us to provide FlashFXP for MacOS and Linux, I've just started exploring this option but so far I'm not entirely impressed with lazarus and I'm not sure if it will suit our needs for future releases.

When you factor in the amount of time required to migrate a project such as FlashFXP to a newer compiler with 1000s of changes, just getting it to work is quite time consuming. Now factor in converting everything to unicode and the amount of time has just doubled, if not tripled.

FlashFXP is a family run business and I am the sole developer of the product.

I apologize for FlashFXP not having full unicode support and I hope you all understand that we're doing the best we can to provide unicode support for future releases.

03-13-2011, 03:55 PM
bigstar FlashFXP Developer Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 8,012	There are a number of factors that have contributed to the delay of full unicode support. We would of liked to have released 4.0 with full unicode support but it just wasn't an option. FlashFXP is compiled with Borland Delphi 4.0, We had planned to use some 3rd party unicode components to provide support however after months of evaluating and exploring this option we realized that this solution would not be acceptable. We purchased Borland Delphi 2007 with plans to migrate from Delphi 4 to Delphi 2007 but after many delays, complications and set backs newer versions of Delphi were released and we barely managed to start migrating to 2007, we decided that to continue migrating to Delphi 2007 was point less at this time and it was put on hold again. The problem is that migrating FlashFXP from Delphi 4 to a newer version of Delphi is a huge task, we weighed in on the pros and cons and decided that in the best interests of our customers releasing FlashFXP v4.0 without unicode support vs delaying it for another year or two was the best choice. Releasing FlashFXP v4.0 was critical for us because the prior version 3.6 is not stable or 100% compatible with Windows 7. I've considered the possibility of using Lazarus (Free Pascal) for future versions of FlashFXP as its a cross platform compiler allowing us to provide FlashFXP for MacOS and Linux, I've just started exploring this option but so far I'm not entirely impressed with lazarus and I'm not sure if it will suit our needs for future releases. When you factor in the amount of time required to migrate a project such as FlashFXP to a newer compiler with 1000s of changes, just getting it to work is quite time consuming. Now factor in converting everything to unicode and the amount of time has just doubled, if not tripled. FlashFXP is a family run business and I am the sole developer of the product. I apologize for FlashFXP not having full unicode support and I hope you all understand that we're doing the best we can to provide unicode support for future releases.