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For many years now I have a lot of fun with the freeware fractalprogram Fractal Explorer... and many people more.
Fractal Explorer has proven to be an excellent fractalprogram.
But there is a problem now...

Arthur, the creator of Fractal Explorer hasn't got the time anymore to update the program.
It has to be made compatible for Vista (and later). Some people can still use it, some can't, or there are problems. (I have still XP)
I asked Arthur about updating it. He wrote:

"Probably it is impossible. Or may be very difficult...
FE was created with Delphi 3, which was released in 1997 or 1998 year...
It was not simple to get compatibility with Win 2000/XP because
Delphi 3 not have some declarations for this OS...
To get compatibility with Vista FE needs much never compiler. May be
Delphi 7 (at least), may by more never...

But moving from Delphi 3 to another version is very difficult, because
FE uses many additional components and controls. And some from it
has no compatible versions for never versions of Delphi.
So, it needed to rewrite at least 60-70% of UI code and design..."

I don't understand all this, but I understand I and many others soon can't play with this toy anymore.
Is there anyone around here that is able to update Fractal Explorer for the future?

I was writing a tutorial http://members.home.nl/titiavanbeugen/fractalexplorer/Nederlands/fe.html, but the motivation is gone now, because probably there is no FE anymore to play with :-(

Please contact me, and I will contact Arthur.

damn, i left delphi for the same reasons :D ( upward compatibilty )  and switched to c++ long ago, although i worked with delphi 7 and stuff, i know how hard it is to maintain the plugins and extensions to be compatible with a certain build, it should be possible, but i certainly do not have time for that :(

my advice is to just do it; actually my good friend aexion developed the whole gui for his program (http://aexion.deviantart.com/art/Wanted-86203048) from the ground up using opengl. this did take a ton of work, but if there is a market there should hopefully be some kind of return on investment.

plus, it's an interesting engineering challenge to code a good ui design :)

I don't know much about fractal explorer. I downloaded it a while ago and I just ran it now - it seems to run fine (I have Vista x86), but that can't be worth much, because I know so little that I'm unable to really test the program.

As far as conversion goes - I have never used Delphi, but I have a strong background in .Net. I know modern Delphi can compile direct to .Net. If this is true, than perhaps the best path is to re-implement the UI using C# and either old-school WinForms or the new WPF technologies. This would allow the developer to use the power that is Visual Studio to deal with layout with the security of serious forward compatibility. .Net 1.0 programs from 2002 are still fully and completely supported, on all versions of Windows, without any issues or modifications, and will likely be for at least another five years. The upgrade path to bring 1.0 code to 3.5 code is also extremely smooth, and is handled automatically by the compiler.

As I said, I don't have any Delphi background, but I do know a significant amount about .Net, and if I can be of help with that, I would be more than happy to do whatever I can. As the developer charges $400 for the source code, I can't evaluate it to determine its portability (I cannot write Delphi, but like most developers, I can read almost any computer language put in front of me to extract basic concepts). Maybe if the developer is unable to work on the project in the future (I see the last update was made in 2005), he might consider releasing it as open source and allowing the community to take it over. I would be happy to work on an open source team.

Matt, your suggestion about open source is a good one. I've just written a mail to Arthur what he thought about your ideas.
(not all people with Vista will run into problems)

Titia wrote >I was writing a tutorial ... but the motivation is gone now ...

Dear Titia , I feel sorry about that , but I was short before giving up too these last weeks...

Maybe my experiences can help a bit :

Win Vista & Fractal Explorer - yes there is a really great problem with the installation ( my version Windows Vista Home Premium, in the meantime with Service Pack 1 / Vista Upgrade )

I really tried a lot  - fact :
Fe Version 2.02 is as I realize here, the only working program at last. A l l other versions give an error with a missing file .

But there was another problem at last with 2.02 and the acceptance from frs files & compiler under c .
My last try after a lot was to create a Folder on the Desktop and funny, I could all start from here.
( I think the problem was UAC > R o l l i n g Eyes < , because I could solve in the meantime similar problems with MBF at last too)

***
I knew, there would be problems with program installations & Win Vista.
But I was really astonished allover the last time, that there where not any problems at last with all programmes from Stephen Ferguson, Raimuraito, DG , DGF and all * my * other ones.

Oh, I forgot - Alien Lab, a very old program I like, shows a Grid Design after these different Updates, Win Vista & XP , ok, that´s PC life  :(


Lieve groetjes  ;) :) ;)
Margit

Hi Matt,

I have asked Arthur about it and in answer he has send me the source code !
I will send you a personal note to talk about further action.