-=> Abb wrote with startling eloquence to All <=- 
AN> Well, decided not to bother with 1.0 anymore and start with 2.0 and
AN> deleted Delphi 1. To my shock and horror, all these apps, even though
AN> they are EXE's suddenly don't work because the BDE is gone.
For database programs made with Delphi, you need the BDE to be present
for the programs to run. And, if the tables in your component use the
database (alias) property, the BDE must also be configured with those
aliases.
It's a pain.
AN> There's nothing in any of the helps or manuals regarding
AN> distributing the BDE (unless I've missed it).
Look for a text file called deploy.txt. That covers the essentials.
AN> One of the _main_ reasons I defected from Visual Basic was to get
AN> away with having to include a zillion  files when distributing
AN> them. But yet, unless I've done something wrong, it looks like perhaps
AN> I've been mislead.
You've been partially misled. For non-database applications written in
Delphi you typically don't need to include anything but the .exe. There
are no runtime libraries required like there are with VB.
However, a database application that uses the BDE requires that the BDE
be distributed. In my opinion, this is the greatest weakness in Delphi.
If you want to distribute a database program you're looking at 2 disks
of BDE, with a footprint of several extra megs when installed. This is a
very bad situation for shareware, for example, where you depend upon
downloads and ease of (de)installation for revenue.
Luckily, Delphi is open enough in design that you have alternatives
from several third party companies. I strongly recommend one called
Apollo from SuccessWare. This is a replacement for the BDE that only
requires 300k of .dll files instead of the BDE's five megs. The Apollo
engine is easy to use, fast, and adds a great deal of xBase command
functionality as well. It's priced at about $150 or so - I can dig
up ordering info if you're interested.
EEAS
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20
---------------