The Project Options in the Delphi IDE has a few option (like the Search Path) each with an ellipsis button (the one on the right having only three dots ... in the image below) to pop-up a dialog.
Recently when printing the 3rd time and up, you get this error in many Delphi programs and the Delphi IDE:
Printer is not currently printing.
In the past this only occurred when you used a TPrinter and forgot to call BeginDoc.
But now it always occurs after reusing the same TPrinter instance for the 3rd time and up. Since the Delphi Galileo based IDEs (8 and higher; likely older ones as well: the source code printing hasn’t changed in a long time). The error actually occurs twice: after starting a source code print job, but also after cancelling the same failed source code print job.
The pattern there is using the Printer() function which has been the way the (un)official code examples have shown for ages (Delphi 2007 Printers.Printer Function [WayBack]; earlier examples like Delphi 7 [WayBack] usually in PDF files).
Like in the Delphi 7 “5-32 Developer’s Guide” page example:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
r: TRect;
i: Integer;
begin
with Printer do
begin
r := Rect(200,200,(Pagewidth - 200),(PageHeight - 200));
BeginDoc;
Canvas.Brush.Style := bsClear;
for i := 0 to Memo1.Lines.Count do
Canvas.TextOut(200,200 + (i * Canvas.TextHeight(Memo1.Lines.Strings[i])),
Memo1.Lines.Strings[i]);
Canvas.Brush.Color := clBlack;
Canvas.FrameRect(r);
EndDoc;
end;
end;
(Yes, that’s back in the D7 days when examples were still using with and not using try/finally statements for resource cleanup).
Actual cause and permanent fix
The printing problems are caused by various recent Windows updates part of MS16-098:
After you apply this security update and you print multiple documents in succession, the first two documents may print successfully. However, the third and subsequent documents may not print.
To resolve this issue, install update 3187022. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
3187022 Print functionality is broken after any of the MS16-098 security updates are installed
This article describes printing issues that occur after any of the security updates that are described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-098 are installed in Windows. You can fix these issues by installing the update that is described in this article. Before you install this update, check out the Prerequisites section.
This update applies to the following operating systems:
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows 8.1
Windows RT 8.1
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows 7 SP1
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
Windows Vista SP2
No solution for Windows 10 yet…
Until you install the fix: workarounds
For your own code (Thanks Remy Lebau for your answer), add this code for your BeginDoc call:
MyPrinter.Copies := MyPrinter.Copies;
You might want to keep including this in your code as you’re never sure when the end-users apply which Windows update.
For the Delphi IDE either:
Press the “Setup…” button in the “Print Selection” dialog when printing source code, then “OK” in the “Print Setup” dialog:
Print Selection dialog
“Print Setup” dialog.
Uninstall the security updated marked in blue (Security Update for Microsoft Windows (KB3177725):
A while ago, I noticed the UCL as a suffix in a few 3rd party Delphi package names.
It was from a version close to the very first FireMonkey release. FireMonkey is based on the OpenGL based VGScene (and in part DirectX based [WayBack] DXScene) which was bought form KSDev in 2011.
Contrary to VGScene and DXScene, the early versions of FireMonkey were buggy and when updating to a new version you had to cope with a lot of breaking interface changes. In Delphi XE2 for instance, there were two totally different implementations (FMX for Windows and OS X; FMI for iOS) that merged after Delphi XE3.
Around Delphi XE6 it became more stable and now – apart from some design issues I wish they had done differently – it is coming along sort of OK for Windows and for cross-platform development.
Compared to the VCL you have a lot less HiDPI issues but the designer is much more layered (which gives you the same design-time pain as WPF) and the default “Live Binding” is still buggy as hell (though if you use something like MVVM or roll your own UI bindings it becomes bearable).
A long time ago – during the Kylix era – Borland developed the cross-platform CLX library which – for the UI part – was based on Qt and ran on both Windows and Linux.
Browsing through the source code I could not find any hints so I really wonder what UCL was about. Was it again based on Qt (which compared to the Kylix era has become much more mature and has widespread use) or a different technology like LCL (given that in Delphi XE2 they used FreePascal to compile for iOS)? I rule out OpenGL as otherwise the VGScene acquisition would have been done a lot earlier.
Delphi Component/Tool vendors have to support a truckload of Delphi and C++ Builder versions which can be a pain: they have to work around problems in Delphi and C++ Builder versions that have long been abandoned by Borland/CodeGear/Embarcadero/Idera/…
This means that sometimes the Delphi Component/Tool vendors have to work around stuff in a way normal applications vendors would never do.
Recently I learned that sometimes this can be a painful thing: keeping DFM files in binary state.
I’m not kidding about either the DFM file format nor about supporting old versions:
That’s why TeeChart still has most DFM files stored as binary files (again the ‘most’ word).
For version control and searching this is a pain, so normal application developers (the ones not using Delphi XE5 Update 1 for Android work) should run convert.exe with the -t (target=text) switch on DFM binary files.
I’ve quotes two of the G+ comments as they perfectly reflect my point of view: the non-modal search and IDE Insight – introduced somewhere after XE3 – are a dork to use.
I’m doing more Delphi work lately and these being non-modal seriously hinder my work (and it gets progressively worse on a 3K or 4K monitor).
In my book: why implement a feature to emulate the competition when you do it so badly?
So: are there any experts around that bring back the old search and IDE Insight behaviour back?
+Marco Cantù I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but hey:
The new edit field cannot be placed in a position which does not require significant eye-focus change to read. This means it is significantly more cumbersome to use, as focus must be transferred to some “out of sight” area. In addition one does not get the same instant feedback that the IDE did register your F6 keypress. The old one was “in your face” instantly when you pressed F6, so no need to take your eyes off the form you’re designing, and it left no doubt about F6 being registered or not.
The dropdown list with suggestions that pops up when you type is much more difficult to read than the list in the old one, both due to positioning (thanks to the above) and due to length until it’s heavily constrained by input.
From what I recall, the new edit field does not behave the same when invoked repeatedly, requiring more keystrokes to get the same effect compared to the old. I haven’t used XE3 in ages though so I don’t recall the specifics anymore, just that the new feels more clunky to use.
That’s just off the top of my head. Yes I still use it, but not nearly as much as I did, and when I do it’s one to two orders of magnitude slower to use compared to the old one. Not because it searches slower, but because of the issues described above.
+Marco Cantù I second what +Asbjørn Heid said. When I press F6 now, I never know where to put my eyes. In XE3 a dialog popped up which took my attention.
Similarly for the non-modal search, although somehow I’m more used to the modern version now. When compared with VS though the Delphi search is very lacking. The great thing about the VS search is that it gives live feedback on which text in the edit window match the text in the search window. If Delphi would do that it would make an immense difference. It’s definitely worth spending some time in VS using their search facility. And indeed in other IDEs / editors.
There was a lot of negative feedback on both of these changes when they were released. Surely Embarcadero noticed that.
A while ago, StackOverflow user Kobus Smit did some brilliant editorial work that – due to current state of StackOverflow – sort of fired backwards: his question got marked as duplicate before he could post his excellent answer. After that answer was posted, the oh-so pride SO-demi gods never took any energy to revisit to see which answers were best.
His simple question:
How can my Delphi app easily write to the Windows Event Log?What is the difference between TEventLogger and ReportEvent? How do I use the ReportEvent function?
Which somehow should be encompassed by this Delphi 5 question (apparently that 15+ year old Delphi version is still considered current by the SO demi-gods).
The answer summarises and extends existing answers spread out over StackOverflow and adds an EventLog git repository wrapping the ReportEventandRegisterEventSource (which somehow is always a pain: Delphi services for instance often forget that).
Lesson learned when doing editorial work:
prepare both the answer and question in markdown off-line
ensure you mention in the question that the answer is meant as collection of “best of” answers found elsewhere
post the question and answer in rapid succession
cross your fingers for the StackOverflow demi-gods being in a good mood
Embarcadero closes down their spanish R&D office putting some 80 people on the street and diminishing the total Delphi R&D team.
Former Chief Scientist Allen Bauer commented:
The Spain office had taken on most of the IDE, Delphi RTL, GetIT, Installer, some DB, Bluetooth components, IoT, QA, and other miscellaneous tasks. They were by-far the largest single group working on RAD Studio. They were all a wonderful, dedicated, excited group of folks. They were eager to learn and truly enjoyed their jobs. I am deeply saddened by this development.
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
