Interesting thread. Let me try and squash a few misconceptions.
I don't think there is such a thing as .NET compatible and I am not sure
what that would mean.Here's what I can tell you.
MapXtreme 2004 has an entirely .NET, object model and interface that is
fully compliant with the specifications of .NET. There is no reason why
any .NET language compiler could not compile code to work with our
assemblies. Each of our Assemblies is tagged with an attribute declaring
CLS (Common Language Specification) compliance. When you do this and
compile your assembly, the build will fail if the compiler/linker finds
anything in the public API that cannot be called from a conformant
language. For example, VB is case insensitive so that 'Polygon' and
'POLYGON' are the same thing to VB even though they are acceptable to C#,
C++ and other languages. If you did this in your code and declared CLS
compliance, your build would fail.
It is true that we have only tested against VB.NET and C#. These are the
most popular .NET languages at this stage. However, C++ and J# are also
well used. As other languages get more use, we may need to test against
them as well. We have every belief that MapXtreme can be used by any CLS
compiler.
Our implementation does include quite a bit of native code (x86 not MSIL
which is Microsoft Intermediate Language) that is called by our MSIL code
to do a large part of the work. Not only do we get some well known
performance from this but that code is well tested and used. Interacting
with Native X-86 (or 64 bit arch) code like this is totally acceptable and
common at this stage in .NET. The .NET platform itself relies heavily on
Windows code for many things. In fact, the CLR (Common Language Runtime) is
itself a COM object. We are looking into the pros and cons of moving more
code to MSIL. There are a number of internal benefits that we would get. We
also might lose some performance so we will take our time to do this right.
However, none of this changes the external interface and the ability to use
MapXtreme from any other .NET code.
The "unsafe" moniker is correct. To mark your assemblies as "safe" you have
to have all MSIL code and there are even restrictions on that as well. The
unsafe/safe moniker is a statement of whether the code, by being entirely
compiled into native code by the runtime, is known to be safe from rogue
pointers and possible memory corruption in your process. Any code
(including all of Windows, for example) is not "safe" is this regard as
there is no way the .NET runtime can guarantee such a thing on code it did
not compile.
I would not expect all of MapXtreme to be "safe" for quite sometime. We
would have to get rid of all our native code including such things as our
public Raster handler and Grid handler specifications. We would have to
rely entirely on garbage collected objects. Indeed, the use of ODBC or OCI
would not be "safe". Having assemblies like this is more often referred to
as having "fully verifiable" code. I expect that you will see much more
growth in our MSIL code base than our native code, however.
I know nothing about Delphi's latest releases and their .NET work. I see
from their site that they have release version 8 for .NET. Someone
mentioned it will not work with MapXtreme. Are they sure? What is the
problem? If it can't then I would be suspicious of the robustness of their
deliverable. There was nothing in their FAQ which would make me think it
would not work.
In addition to the core body of code, a deliverable such as MapXtreme
includes much more. So, for example, we are working hard on constantly
improving our integration with Visual Studio and its visual designers. It
is very possible that Borland's IDE will not support such things because it
is using the .NET SDK not a Visual Studio SDK. But I can't tell at this
point. It would seem to me that Borland will have to stay as compatible as
possible to stay in the game. I wish them luck as competition is good. So,
with any luck, you should be able to use MapXtreme technology from Delphi.
How well integrated it will be another question.
Now that I have said all this I wonder if there might just be some install
issues.
Keep the information coming.
Eric Blasenheim
Software Architect
MapInfo Corporation
Mail List:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: on 09/15/2004 09:09 AM ZE12
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
cc: "MapInfo-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: MI-L MapBasic vs VisualStudio .NET ... MapXtreme 2004
Because of the way MapInfo have written MapXtreme 2004. It is not 100%
.NET
compatible and includes a number of unsafe DLLs. It is not compatible with
Delphi, but is compatible with C# Builder.
MapInfo state that they have only tested it with MS Visual Studio .NET.
Cheers Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Horsbøll Møller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, 15 September 2004 9:01 a.m.
To: Ian Tidy
Cc: MapInfo-L
Subject: RE: MI-L MapBasic vs VisualStudio .NET
Good question, Ian.
I read somewhere, I guess it was with the alpha/beta version og MapXtreme
2004, that the Borland development suite not was supported, but whether
this
is the case with the final version I don't know.
Hopefully they support Borland/Delphi as well
Peter Horsbøll Møller
GIS Developer
Geographical Information & IT
COWI A/S
Odensevej 95
DK-5260 Odense S.
Denmark
Tel +45 6311 4900
Direct +45 6311 4908
Mob +45 5156 1045
Fax +45 6311 4949
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cowi.dk/gis
-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Tidy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:48 PM
To: Peter Horsbøll Møller
Cc: MapInfo-L
Subject: RE: MI-L MapBasic vs VisualStudio .NET
I understand the point you make with having to port code between
technologies when ever Microsoft decide to change or upgrade something.
I was looking at it from a different angle, I use Delphi for .NET and I
thought that one of the objectives for the .NET framework was code
portability (i.e. If you write in VB, C#, Java, Delphi, etc all code is
compiled against a common language runtime "CLR").
My question (not knowing how ESRI have done it) is this, how is the
development environment going to be made available to the user. Am I going
to have to invest in MS VS.NET or will I be able to write code in Delphi?
Cheers Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Horsbøll Møller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, 15 September 2004 8:25 a.m.
To: Ian Tidy
Cc: MapInfo-L
Subject: RE: MI-L MapBasic vs VisualStudio .NET
I'm not sure whether they will build some kind of VBA into MapInfo, but
maybe my point was stupid or just not clear.
Consider this:
What if you didn't have MapBasic now but were using VB to develope
applications for MapInfo. How big a job would it be to port all your VB
sourcecode to VB.NET ?
I don't think that .NET will be the last new technology update from
Microsoft so once in the future we will have to port our sourcecode from
VB.NEt/C# to .NEWNET or whatever this new technology will be called.
Peter Horsbøll Møller
GIS Developer
Geographical Information & IT
COWI A/S
Odensevej 95
DK-5260 Odense S.
Denmark
Tel +45 6311 4900
Direct +45 6311 4908
Mob +45 5156 1045
Fax +45 6311 4949
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cowi.dk/gis
-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Tidy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:17 PM
To: Peter Horsbøll Møller
Cc: MapInfo-L
Subject: RE: MI-L MapBasic vs VisualStudio .NET
This may seem a dumb question, but why will you be limited to MS VS .NET, I
thought as long as you can compile against the CLR you could use any .NET
language.
Am I wrong in my thinking, but this has raised a thought. How are you
going
to get the programming interface? At the moment if you want to write
MapBasic apps you buy MapBasic, in the future with .NET languages will MI
Pro just find made available to as a component to what ever language you
have installed, or will it have some sort of .NET VBA embedded?
Cheers Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Horsbøll Møller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, 15 September 2004 8:08 a.m.
To: Garrett, Robert G [NTK]; Mapinfo-L
Subject: RE: MI-L MapBasic vs VisualStudio .NET
Yes, I now I have nowhere to run... and I don't intend to. I'll stay with
MapInfo until I die, or... he ... well at least for a while ;-)
But how do you see this ? Do you think it's a problem ?
Peter Horsbøll Møller
GIS Developer
Geographical Information & IT
COWI A/S
Odensevej 95
DK-5260 Odense S.
Denmark
Tel +45 6311 4900
Direct +45 6311 4908
Mob +45 5156 1045
Fax +45 6311 4949
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cowi.dk/gis
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