As I move over to Delphi 2006, I came across an odd new behavior. In Delphi 7 and prior versions, it was very easy to view/edit the project (*.dpr) file. Usually you let Delphi manage that file, but sometimes you want to edit it directly. The “View Unit” button (or CTRL-F12) would include the .dpr file in the list of source code units that belonged to the project. You would select that file and it would open up inside the Delphi IDE.
In Delphi 2006, it doesn’t work that way. The only way you can get access to the .dpr file is to select “View Source” from the “Project” menu. I wonder why they made that change in the behavior. I don’t have to directly edit the .dpr files that often, but there are times where I do need to do so.
The other oddity is the lack of the support for the SCC API fo using your preference for source control. It’s 2006 people, there’s no reason why you can’t pick your own SCC provider for use from within the Delphi IDE. I have no interest in the StarTeam source control bundled with Delphi. We dumped VSS for SourceGear‘s Vault and we have been very pleased it. And I want to use if within Delphi like I can with Visual Studio. While there’s no mysterious force preventing me from running the Vault IDE along side the Delphi IDE, it’s a concentration killer to leave the coding IDE just to check out the file I need to work on. On small projects that I am the sole owner, I’ll just check all of the code out, but on the team projects, you just don’t do that. VS spoiled me by prompting me to check a file out as soon as I started editing it.
I’ve been playing with the 30 trial of EPocalipse‘s SourceConnXion 3 for that last few days. It provides source control integration for Delphi 2005/2006 and so far, so good. I’ve added it to the list things for the boss to buy as part of our migration to Delphi 2006.