The Borland Developers Conference (BorCon) | C++Builder 5 Developers Guide

Borland-Sponsored Web Sites

Let's start off with Borland-sponsored Web sites. Borland, obviously, provides some of the most focused and current information for C++Builder available on the Internet. They have several sites that we'll examine briefly .

Borland Home Page ” http://www.borland.com
Borland Developer Network ” http://bdn.borland.com
CodeCentral ” http://codecentral.borland.com
QualityCentral ” http://qc.borland.com

Borland Home Page

The first site listed is Borland's corporate site (as shown in Figure C.1) where you can find product and company information, press releases, technical support contacts, and the latest C++Builder downloads and patches including Help file updates. Be sure to check this site periodically for product updates.

Figure C.1. The Borland corporate home page (http://www.borland.com).

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Also, vendors who produce shrink-wrapped and downloadable software that support Borland products such as C++Builder can partner with Borland and list their products on the Borland Web site. To get a listing of the Tools and Components provided by these developers, look for the Partners, Partner Directory Link and select the product of interest (which is C++Builder). This will open a Web page with links to a wide range of tool and component areas including ActiveX Controls, Case Tools, Installation, Software Utilities, and Web Tools.

Borland Developer Network

The second Web site listed is the Borland Developer Network (BDN), which was formerly known as the Borland Community Web site. BDN contains many relevant articles from staff and independent writers on development topics specific to Borland products and technologies such as Web services, VCL, .NET, and templates. This, by far, is the must-see site for any Borland developer.

Figure C.2 shows the main BDN page as it looks at the time of this writing. Down the left side you'll find links to general areas of interest including a Search window, Shopping area, Chat area, Editorials, and much more. Across the top you can drill down to a particular product area (AppServer, C++, CORBA, Delphi & Kylix, Interbase, Java, Linux, and TeamSource DSP).

Figure C.2. The main page of the Borland Developer Network (http://bdn.borland.com).

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NOTE

To fully benefit and access all the areas of BDN, sign up as a Borland Community member, which is free. Membership provides access to the Downloads page, enables you to get involved in the online chats, provides access to CodeCentral (covered later in the "CodeCentral" section), and lets you participate in the surveys. Furthermore, BDN membership is required upon product registration for qualifying and receiving product updates.

TIP

One of the great opportunities to learn about some of the advanced features of C++Builder is to fire questions at the Borland R&D (Research and Development) team through the regular live chats that are held on specific topics. The schedule of upcoming live chats is available from the Chat page. Some previous topics include the C++Builder compiler, libraries, debugger, and ActiveX. Transcripts of past chats are available.

If you drill down into the C++ area, a list of Neighborhoods will be listed on the left-hand side that include discussion on the following:

Components
Databases
Distributed Computing
Higher Education
Multimedia/Graphics
Platforms
Programming
Tools
Web Technologies

Access into many of these Neighborhoods will reveal a listing of Streets. For example, if you drill down into the Components Neighborhood, the following Streets will be listed.

ActiveX
Linux
Motif
OWL
VCL

No matter which Neighborhood or Street you are on, the Web site will offer access to relevant White Papers, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), and TIPs (Technical Information Papers).

TIP

Because of the similarities between C++Builder and Delphi, you should also look at related Delphi articles and information on the Web. Typically, what's applicable to Delphi 6, for example, can be applied and used within C++Builder 6. Even the VCLs, which are written in Object Pascal, can be compiled and used by C++Builder. The same also applies for CLX components, which are now supported by C++Builder 6.

CodeCentral

CodeCentral, as shown in Figure C.3, is a Web-based repository for code samples related to Borland development products. It's an excellent resource for developers. If you're looking for a code sample on how to make something work, CodeCentral is the place to go. More importantly, if you have discovered a solution to a technical/programming problem with a Borland product you're encouraged to share it with the rest of the world by posting your example code and an explanation on CodeCentral.

Figure C.3. CodeCentral Web site ”(http://codecentral.borland.com).

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CodeCentral provides a links matrix delineated across the top by Product and down the left side by Categories. It's quite simple, and yet very effective. You can also query for code samples by authors or search for a code sample based on a topic.

NOTE

You must be a member of BDN (membership is free) for full access to the CodeCentral and QualityCentral services.

QualityCentral

The fourth and final Borland site to mention is QualityCentral. QualityCentral provides a community-supported repository to capture issues, suggestions, bugs, feature requests , ideas, and feedback for Borland products. In essence it's a bug-tracking system. If you're an active user of Borland development tools such as C++Builder, and you want to identify issues you've stumbled upon and help shape the next version of C++Builder, download and use the QualityCentral GUI at the QualityCentral site. The GUI, as illustrated in Figure C.4, is a client-side application used to submit and track bugs and suggestions to Borland using Web services.

Figure C.4. The QualityCentral GUI application, which is available at http://qc.borland.com.

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